Moral values.

I really have nothing to say about the elections that hasn't been said already. The only thing I want to get off my chest is: I hate this phrase "moral values." I despise that my country--founded on a strong seperation of church and state--has been hijacked by the religious right and suddenly "moral values" are more important than the economy, the floundering war in Iraq, education, health care, etc.

What's scary is that I was writing the above as a slightly-hyperbolic observation . I didn't realize that "moral values" was literally the number one issue in the electorate choosing the president. (Terrorism was number two, the economy's number three.) Let me get this straight: people are really more concerned with making sure that gays can't marry than with making sure that there's not a dirty bomb snuck into the U.S.?

If you think that's scary, check out this chillingly vague missive from Bill "Moral Majority" Bennett: "Having restored decency to the White House, President Bush now has a mandate to affect policy that will promote a more decent society, through both politics and law." Decent? What does that mean? I shudder to think.

Earlier, I was almost releived that Kerry didn't get the job. My thinking was this: we're in a huge Bush-created mess right now (Iraq, the economy, etc.). If Kerry took it on, we'd here nothing but "He's screwing it up" for the next four years, getting blamed for Bush's disasters. That was a flicker of a thought this morning. Now I can clearly see how the Christian jihadists are licking their chops, ready to pounce and further chip away at the wall seperating church and state. And it troubles me.