Democrats Strongly Back Family Values
Article in the Nogales International
August 19, 2005
Lou Anne Kirby, Sonoita, Arizona
In the 1960s, I carted my kids around in a little hatchback English Ford with a bumper sticker that read, "Poverty is not good for children and other living things." Neither is war, but that was a battle for others to fight. In my near-sighted way, I thought I was raising my children under the most difficult of all possible circumstances. It was hard to say which aroma was more common on high school campuses, patchouli or marijuana. Hair got longer, skirts got shorter and language got earthier.
I was and still am a Democrat because the Democratic Party stands in support of families across a wide range of issues from a living wage, to adequate child care to affordable housing, to safe workplaces, to public education, to clean water and a protected environment.
These are "family values" and they belong not to the Republicans or the Democrats, but to all Americans. I know the '60s were a walk in the park compared to what parents face today. To all the threats families dealt with in the past can now be added the destructive influence of the entertainment industry.
We respect the First Amendment right to freedom of speech, but at the same time, we can all be very clear about one thing. In this era when sexual predators lurk behind layers of camouflage on the Internet, there can be no constitutionally protected right to invade the privacy of our homes with pornography or to troll the chat rooms looking for victims.
Urgent issues
As urgent as are the Internet issues, I am also concerned with the steady erosion of decency in movies and on television, especially in advertising. This evening I watched a family program in the 8 p.m. time slot on a broadcast channel. During the hour, I saw ads for two R-rated movies and a famous lingerie company. The movie trailers had flashes of foreplay and scenes of violence and all three ads displayed nearly nude bodies and seductive movements. Apparently no one is rating the ads.
In theaters, ratings creep has filtered down to the animated features for children. Imagine "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" or "Cinderella" with characters that noisily release gas or pull gobs of wax out of their ears? Apparently barnyard humor sells as well to general audiences as sex, nudity and violence do to adults.
Abandonment
In the '60s, I often felt the rest of the village was doing precious little to help me raise my brood. I can imagine today's parents feel the same sense of abandonment as they struggle with schools that fail their children, health care that costs too much, child care that is scarce and expensive, and a host of destructive influences, outside their homes.
Democrats support families. Certainly we have serious and sometimes irreconcilable differences with some Republicans on issues that they have defined as "family values." Gay rights, school prayer, stem-cell research, the right of a woman. to choose not to bear a child, evolution and assisted suicide come to mind: The press calls these "wedge issues" because they create unbridgeable chasms between the parties and between neighbors.
I suspect that if we were not forced into rock-solid positions by the politics of our times, a good many people on both the right and the left, would find common ground. For instance, I believe Democrats could do more to discourage abortion, while preserving a woman's right to choose. I do not speak for the Democratic Party or for anyone but myself. Abortion is a terrible and desperate thing. It is sometimes a better choice than the alternatives. That is not a decision I could ever make for someone else. I do know that prior to Roe v. Wade, people of means had access to safe, legal abortions. They found a sympathetic doctor or they traveled to another country. Their money gave them options not available to most women.
Many people in my own party and among Republicans will disagree with me about abortion, for opposite reasons. Honest disagreement is something we should welcome, We are stronger for having our beliefs challenged.
