OK George Will — How About “Virtue Voters”
George Will has a commentary in yesterday’s Washington Post titled: Who Isn’t a “Values Voter”? He correctly makes the case that everyone votes according to some set of values and decries application of this description to social conservatives alone. His premise accords with an earlier post on this blog indicating that all law is based on morality and it is merely a question of whose morality.
George almost gets an attaboy. Unfortunately, he also launches into a red herring argument by praising Senators who have voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment as an affirmation of the “value of cultural federalism.” Of course, in an ideal world most social conservatives would probably agree with George. Unfortunately, too many federal courts have a bad habit of ignoring the “value of cultural federalism” these days. Additionally, the definition of marriage becomes key in implementing numerous programs of the modern federal welfare state. In such a welfare state, a national definition of marriage is unavoidable. Finally, it is not exactly clear how passage of a federal marriage amendment undermines federalism anyway. The amendment process was contemplated by the Founders and it is contemplated in the Constitution. Amendment in this fashion is a far cry from amendment by the judiciary. So please George, if you are going to argue against the Federal Marriage Amendment don’t feed us red herrings.
The founders believed the Republic could only survive so long as it remained virtuous. They also believed that family and marriage were the bedrocks of civilization. Absent these prerequisites there is little hope for federalism.
To satisfy George’s concerns, perhaps we should start referring to social conservative voters aka “values voters” as “virtue voters” (ie. those who favor a virtuous government with virtuous policies).