The Family Values Tour

Okay, KoRn and Evanescence and the other nice people on that summer tour will have to forgive me for the title. I always find it funny that some of the darkest, creepiest, most morose and gloomy bands on earth always can be found on a tour named "Family Values," because they're the last thing anyone would think of when you think of family values.

But that got me thinking, what does family values mean, anyway? I recently had a conversation with a relative, and she was saying that this nation would not be in the state it was in if people "had more family values." I was pretty sure that my definition of it and hers were not the same thing, and her statement "Well, people need to be more God-fearing" only drove that difference home. Then I realized (as she elaborated onward) that that wish for "family values" meant the same thing a lot of the conservative right supports--"traditional" family (where the wife stays home and takes care of the kids and the husband is the breadwinner), an end to accessible abortion, prayer taught in schools, and absolutely no civil marriages/adoptions for the gay community.

I know she has a right to think what she wants to think, but I had to let her know that some of her reasons were wrong and that she left many more effective things out.
You want to talk family values?
I'd start by doing just that--valuing families. Raise the minimum wage. A family living on minimum wage cannot easily support itself, as they would be well below the poverty line. Maybe create accessible childcare at work. That way, not only would new jobs be created (by increasing the need for people to staff and maintain that childcare), but the parents wouldn't have to worry about their children when they're at work.
Another thing would be to improve the public school system. No, I don't mean call for prayer in public schools, but instead of give everyone a safe and clean and accessible environment. If kids are the future, then you need to treat them like a good future. It's disgusting to see how some public schools are clean and bright and have everything the students need and how others are dank and gross and generally unsavory places.
You want to talk about God-fearing?
Then start by living out your words. Why not start with getting rid of some of the evil you've helped create? Allowing millions of people to live on the streets without a home is evil. Not allowing a woman to have an abortion (a relatively safe procedure) when her life is in danger is evil (funny how that crowd never mentions protecting the life of the mother. Is her life less precious than the life of something that's still part of her?). Letting millions of people go hungry is evil. Fostering prejudice against any particular group (and then saying "that's the way things are" or "they're disrupting our way of life") is really evil. All of those are things that threaten the dignity of some families (and of life too).

So why doesn't the family values crowd talk about that or take steps or change all of that? The first place they can start is right here.