The American People and Their Moral Values

Michael Anthony Gregorio

Last week after the Presidential election, my friend told me, "All I keep hearing is that George W. Bush won re-election because of bigoted southern Christians who demonize gays and abortions. How is that any different from the bigoted people saying this who are demonizing southern Christians?" I told him to shove off. In this election, voters focused on four main issues: moral values, the economy, terrorism and the war in Iraq. The most important issue given back was moral values. In the exit polls that were taken the day of the election, shown on all television networks covering the election, 79 percent of that vote went to George Bush and only 18 percent to John Kerry. John Kerry should have won this election because he presented to the American people the problems that are significant to us. I am not demonizing anyone, but I think it's a setback in this country when moral values become more important than the real issues that plague the American people. What ever happened to the separation of Church and state in this country? That key constitutional liberty is guaranteed so religion would never influence our government and the government would never influence religion. It's the Supreme Court and the Constitution that dictates what is and is not constitutional in this country, not white Evangelical Christians who decide to go out in massive droves to vote against gay marriage in the state of Ohio. If you're confused about this, let me make it simple. John Kerry lost his Presidential bid because of the anti-gay Bush whose political advisor, Karl Rove, made Ohio (the Florida of this election) his chief strategy to win the election. So while these groups went to the polls and voted to ban gay marriage, they also voted for the born again Conservative Christian. We are living in a socially changing world. We are the next generation of adults and for many of us, we're OK with the fact that the person sitting next to us might be gay or lesbian. Big deal if they are. I would rather have gay friends than a person who tells me that gays should have no rights, and more dramatically, should die, or a woman has committed murder after she has had an abortion. You all on the right (make sure this is in italics) side of things need to think out of the box and look at the changing world around us. Just look at the Electoral College map of the United States and you can see how divided this country is over these issues. We have the right to make personal choices in our lives. I should not have to be subjected to someone else's values if I don't believe in them. This past weekend, Karl Rove said, "Marriage is and should be defined as being between one man and one woman". Who the hell are you to tell the American people that? Just because it has been the norm for the past 5,000 years or so doesn't mean things can't change. That's called tyranny and if I'm not mistaken, that was the reason why we declared independence back in 1776. President Bush will use his second term in office to push for an amendment in the Constitution to ban gay marriage and when that happens, other Supreme Court rulings will fall too to the conservative base. The right to choose will be next and nobody but a woman has that right, not conservatives who are deeply religious. The Supreme Court is aging and nobody but the President, with congressional approval, can appoint a new judge. I don't believe him when he says he will only appoint judges who will strictly interpret the Constitution. He has lied to me too many times. Not everyone thinks that way and they need to realize that. This election was not a "mandate". Matt Foreman of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force said it best that, "Fundamental human rights should never be put up for a popular vote." I fear the direction that our country is heading towards and we will all regret it as our liberal generation becomes the next block of key demographic voters.