In an election year we have heard a lot from candidates about their belief in values. The implication, mostly, is that one candidate has them and the other does not, or at least has mislaid them somewhere with the car keys.
One candidate could be heard the other day advertising his belief in values of a higher moral authority. This, he said, included getting tough(er) on crime, staying in touch with people, or God, and caring about children.
In better days the campaign hallmark was honesty, not muddling. The effective politicians declared simply that they were in favor of everything that everyone else was in favor of. They declared that they would support anything and everything – temperance and liquor, new roads in every township and taxes in none, compassion for the rich and comfort for the poor.
Values then had nothing to do with getting elected. Have they ever?
– JOHN MARSHALL
