THOUGHTS ON THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

To the Editor:

I heard exit polling determined the No. 1 issue with voters this year was
"moral values," and that of those voters, 80 percent voted for President
Bush. This reveals a fundamental failure by Democrats to articulate their
values and communicate how their values are moral.

It is immoral to start an unjustified war. It is immoral to weaken laws
aimed at deceptive practices driven by corporate greed. It is immoral not
to pay a living minimum wage. It is immoral to incarcerate U.S. citizens
without charge and without a right to counsel. It is immoral to oppose a
citizen's right to die with dignity, as President Bush has done in opposing
the Oregon Death with Dignity Act.

It is immoral not to use the power of science to search for cures for
diseases using fertilized eggs that are going to be destroyed anyway. It is
immoral to rape the environment. It is immoral to burden our grandchildren
with obscene deficit spending. It is immoral to deny a sick person the
right to use medicinal marijuana.

Separation of church and state is not only constitutional, but the moral
way to conduct government. As for how straights think of gays, tolerance is
a virtue -- and moral. And, yes, it is even moral for a woman, her
religious leader and her family -- rather than the government -- to decide
whether to carry a pregnancy forward.

Democrats had better learn how to express their moral values. And not next
election cycle. They need to start now, with every debate on every issue
every day. Voters in the South, Midwest and near West have shown they think
in those terms, just not thoroughly enough.

Dan Wulz

Henderson