Whose Family Values?

In the linked post, E.J. Dionne comments on the Mark Foley scandal that has riled Washington and beyond. It has the potential to bring down the Republican majority in the House and maybe the Senate. It is a scandal that shows that power can and often does corrupt, especially when there are no checks and balances. When the Republicans came to power in Congress in 1994, they came in with a "reform" agenda. Now, that agenda might conflict with the agendas of others -- as it was and is extremely conservative in nature -- but it was a call to clean up the place. Now 12 years later, the place continues to stink -- maybe even more than it did before.

Though the Conservative Republican mantra has been family values and liberal Democrats have run away from the phrase, it would appear that Republicans such as Denny Hastert are more concerned about power than anything approaching family values. Family Values has been a code word for being anti-gay. Mark Foley's sexual orientation and his need to hide it, though apparently many knew of it, remind us of the dangers of going underground. Still, family values isn't an anti-gay thing, or at least it shouldn't be. Instead, it should be about strengthening the foundational units of our society. Yes, husband and wife (plus children in a significant number of cases)is the the normative pattern. But for various reasons other patterns exist. True family values looks to strengthen these units for the good of the whole community. Anyway, E.J. Dionne offers an excellent commentary on this issue.