A VOTE FOR MORAL REVIVAL? NO WAY

Across the political spectrum, experts agree that the election of 2004
represents a sharp swing toward old-fashioned Christian values, which
conservatives cheer and liberals lament.

"I have long advocated a stronger tie between politics and the virtues,"
announced veteran conservative moralist Bill Bennett on Wednesday. "Last
night it was evident that the American people agree." James Dobson, founder
of Focus on the Family, said that because of the prayers of Christians,
"God has given us a reprieve"--but a brief one that the president must use
to implement a moral agenda.

Liberal Northwestern University professor Garry Wills is afraid they're
right in thinking we want a crusade to clean up our morals. Americans, he
writes, have come to resemble our extremist Muslim enemies, with our
"fundamentalist zeal, a rage at secularity, religious intolerance, fear of
and hatred for modernity."

Oh, please. Americans don't want the government policing individual
morality any more than they want the NFL to switch to touch football.
America is a live-and-let-live country, and it's only growing more so.

Commentators made much of the fact that "moral values" ranked first on the
list of concerns that voters cited as most important to them, surpassing
the economy, terrorism and the war in Iraq. Four out of five of these
people voted for President Bush.

But "moral values" is a vague concept that may not mean the same thing in
Minneapolis as it does in Dallas or Baltimore. It's entirely possible, I
suppose, that these voters preferred Bush only because Pat Robertson wasn't
on the ballot. But as American Enterprise Institute analyst Karlyn Bowman
notes, moral values are always among the top concerns--including 1996, when
Americans re-elected the notorious womanizer Bill Clinton.

Even if you assume that the people worried about values want James Dobson's
brand of morality, the fact is only 22 percent of the electorate rank it as
their chief priority. No less than 78 percent disagree, which is a
landslide margin.

Religious conservatives think it's no coincidence that in all 11 states
where gay marriage was on the ballot, including the pivotal state of Ohio,
voters approved bans. What is overlooked here is that while voters don't
support gay marriage, they don't necessarily support a federal
constitutional amendment outlawing it. Polls indicate that most prefer
letting the states handle the issue.

Not only that, but most Americans think gays should indeed have access to
the benefits of marriage, just as long as it's not called marriage. A
Washington Post-ABC News poll earlier this year found that 54 percent
support civil unions, with just 42 percent opposed. A couple of years ago,
civil unions were a radical concept.

The gay marriage debate is not about the morality of what gays do in their
own bedrooms. In 2003, the Supreme Court ruled that laws against sodomy are
unconstitutional. You don't see anyone pushing a constitutional amendment
overturning that decision, do you?

Gay rights are just one of the many ways in which Americans are inclined to
support individual freedom over government control. Bennett crowed that
Alaskans rejected a ballot measure decriminalizing marijuana. Actually,
what they rejected was legalization. Marijuana has already been
decriminalized in Alaska--meaning possession of small amounts typically
carries only a fine.

It's one of 12 states that no longer treat pot-smoking as a
crime--including such red states as Ohio, Colorado, Nebraska and North
Carolina. On Tuesday, 72 percent of Montanans voted for Bush--and 62
percent voted for medical marijuana.

What all this suggests is something religious conservatives know but
resent: As a general rule, Americans think morality is a matter best left
to personal choice, not government policy. Their attitude brings to mind
the story about the pastor who got carried away trying to reform his flock,
only to be admonished: "Now you've left off preachin' and gone to meddlin'."

Gambling, once illegal almost everywhere, is now allowed in one form or
another in 48 states. Pornography, which used to be prosecuted, is
abundantly available, even on TV sets in major hotel chains. Abortion
remains legal and widely accepted--even though most Americans say they
regard it as "an act of murder."

Americans are a religious people, and religion does affect their political
views. But we also have a long tradition of keeping church and state in
their separate spheres, while respecting the right of every person to find
her own way to heaven, or hell. This year's election only demonstrates once
again that for most of us, the highest moral value is tolerance.