Behind John Kerry’s Values
By David N. Bass (08/16/04)
John Kerry is infatuated with the word “values.” Everywhere you turn he’s using it. His speech to the Democratic National Convention was fraught with the noun. Kerry boomed about the “values of family, faith, and country,” “fundamental American values,” and the “shared values that show the true face of America.” The word or some variation of it can be found in almost every Kerry stump speech and comment to the media. Even John Edwards is suddenly finding the V-word irresistible.
So, what’s the deal? Do the two Johns really have a heartfelt belief in the Judeo-Christian values that are America’s foundation? Or is their “values” craze a tried-and-true political move designed to make them appear mainstream?
As with many things in the political realm, the answers reveal what’s really in the hearts of these two men.
It’s a given that any politician who fails to present himself as virtuous as George Washington himself is doomed to the ash heap of history. Politicians scramble to pontificate about their deep-abiding values every election year. It’s political suicide to do otherwise. I don’t blame John Kerry for playing the values card. It’s a wise move, one that has paid off for countless politicians in the past and will for countless politicians in the future.
The main issue is not whether John Kerry has values, or that he uses the word as a political tool. Let there be no mistake about it—John Kerry has a set of values. He believes in them just as deeply as you and I believe in our own. That fact is not surprising. Karl Marx had a set of values. Vladimir Lenin had a set of values. Friedrich Nietzsche had a set of values. Every human being who ever walked the face of the earth had a set of values.
In the overall scheme of things, the real question is not whether John Kerry has values. We know he does. Instead of concentrating on whether Kerry has values, we should concentrate on what those values are composed of. The American people should never be satisfied with a potential President simply because he has values. Pulling back the covers and seeing the contents of those values is what’s important.
Unpopular as it is today, the old saying “by their fruits you shall know them” still holds water. Set aside political partisanship for a moment and take a hard look at the “fruits” of what makes John Kerry a person. In other words, what are his values? In the last few months alone, there have been numerous instances that show what Kerry’s true values are.
I’m not talking about his Senate votes or political inclinations. I’m talking about the man himself. When you strip away the political dogma of his stump speeches, every honest American will be forced to admit that Kerry’s values are vastly different from what he claims they are. Instead of being rooted in the Judeo-Christian ethic this nation was founded on, they are more related to the slimy fundraisers we saw at the Radio City Music Hall in July. Pushing aside politics and looking at it purely from an ethical standpoint, can any American still claim Kerry has Judeo-Christian values after he laughed his way through that raunch-fest?
Surprisingly, Democrats don’t miss a beat when Kerry hob-knobs with the smut-producing Hollywood elite, then jets to rural America and boasts about his values. They don’t take pause when he hangs around with people who would have been tried for treason two hundred years ago. They don’t even stop to consider just what John Kerry is made of when he throws his support behind such events as the so-called “March for Women’s Lives,” a rally where enraged pro-aborts expressed regrets that President Bush was never aborted.
Are these the values of “family, faith, and country” that John Kerry is so crazy about? Are these the “shared values that show the true face of America”?
The answer, thankfully, is no. These are not the values that bind America together. But they are the values that bind John Kerry and his liberal pals together. Values are an integral part of any individual. They determine the focus of his or her life. In the case of John Kerry, they determine his focus as President.
As the election season swings into full gear, I have a suggestion for Democrats: Lay aside political bias for a moment and take an honest look at your candidate. It’s not complicated. Don’t ask yourself if the man has values—he does. Instead, ask if those values are really the ones he claims they are.
It’s a searching question. It remains to be seen whether or not voters will come up with the right answer this November.
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