Dr. Forbush Thinks

True Values

This weekend while sitting in church listening to the sermon I was inspired. This isn’t the first time and hopefully not the last. For why else would I go to church except for the occasion to be inspired. The subject was on values and the comment was “we all have values. We know what our personal values are, because these are the issues that provoke emotion in us.” He went on to give examples, like a person who gets angry when he sees a scratch on his car. Or and person who really cares when they see a person begging on the street. Not only that, but our values can actually be ordered by the strength of our emotional response. For example, if the scratch on the car provoked more anger than the sadness provoked by the poor beggar we realize that our own material goods may score higher on our values index than our care for the poor.

After listening to this I began to wonder how this emotional response quotient could be used to measure the two political parties. Since the Republicans are claiming to be the party of values, just what are these values? The Republicans also claim that the Democrats don’t have values. So, does that mean that Democrats are not emotional beings? So, lets compare these two parties and the values they demonstrate.

First of all we need to look at the things that evoke emotions in each of the parties and why those emotions are evoked. We need to go beyond to words that are spoken, because each of the parties evokes strong emotions by their use of spin, deception and lies. Each party gets angry when they hear the other party distort the facts. This is because each party believes that the values of their party supercede the value of truth. This is clear and I won’t argue about it.

Beside deception what really makes Democrats angry? There are quite a few I will list here, and there are surely many that will be left off this list, but the point is to find the values that underlie the collection of issues. First there is the war in Iraq. Then there is the destruction of the environment by corporations. There are also the social issues of helping the poor, health care for the sick and equality for all. But, what makes Democrats so angry about the war in Iraq? I would claim that the waste of life is number-one on the list, and the waste of money would be second. Why does the destruction of the environment anger the average Democrat? I would contend that it is the waste of life in the forest for the profit of a corporation. And why is health care important? The lack of treatment for those who can’t afford it often leads to death. What about helping the poor? Helping the poor increases the dignity for these people. Corporations easily exploit people who lack dignity. In fact improving the dignity of all humans regardless of race by promoting equality also increases the dignity for all.

So, the Democratic values at the very heart of all these important issues tend to value life and human dignity above other values. Life? But what about abortion? The Republicans tell the world that they are the party of life, because they want a law against abortion. Well, actually many Democrats would not be able to bring themselves or a family member to have an abortion. But, this does not mean that a law against abortion would save more lives. This is because many black market abortions would continue to be performed regardless of the law. This is just like the drug laws – they do not prevent people from taking drugs. In addition to this many women will try to induce miscarriages with sometimes-fatal results. It is quite possible that an abortion law could actually increase the number of human deaths instead of decrease the number. If the Republicans actually valued life, then they would promote birth control methods which would reduce the number of abortions. They would promote assistance for pregnant women to make the fear of being a single mother more bearable and less fear provoking.

So, lets look at the issues the Republicans fight for. They want tax cuts for the wealthy. They want to prevent homosexuals from getting married. They want to pass abortion laws. They want corporations to use natural resources at very little cost. They want to cut spending on social programs. They promote America as the ideal culture and minimize other cultures. Like I said, there are many more issues but any other issue will most likely support the underlying values of the Republican Party.

So, why do Republicans get so angry about taxes? This is because Republicans value material possessions above any social programs. What about abortion laws and their opposition to birth control? This stems from the value of punishing the sinful. This value is based on the idea that anyone who is pregnant and doesn’t want to be pregnant must have sinned. If they sinned, then they deserve to be punished by being forced to raise a child. This same idea of punishment to the sinful extends to the idea of homosexual marriage. Republicans believe that marriage is a privilege and homosexuality is a sin. Therefore rewarding a sin with a privilege goes against their value of sin and punishment. Also, Republicans value creating wealth above the value of environment. Republicans value American culture above any other culture from around the world. Therefore, learning from other cultures tends to be difficult with this value.

If we look at these values we can see that material possessions and punishing the sinful are certainly the top values of the Republican Party.

So, what were Jesus’ values? Since the Republicans tend to claim a mandate from God, we would expect that Jesus’ values and the Republican values would be close if not identical. Jesus’ values would be written in the Bible and it should be obvious, because whenever Jesus’ emotions are evoked we would know that he is taking about his values, or acting on them. Well, the only time he really got angry was when he attacked the moneychangers in the Temple. This was because these people were disrespecting God by selling things in the Temple. Jesus certainly valued God above money. So, if we rank the Republican values as punishing the sinful first and material possessions second then maybe they are still in line with Jesus.

But, there was the story about the crowd taking the adulterous woman out to be stoned. Jesus saved her by telling the people that the man without sin should throw the first stone. All of the people left and Jesus forgave her. So, I am guessing that punishing the sinful wouldn’t be very high on His value list.

So, what were Jesus’ values? Well, we know this because the apostles asked Jesus this what He thought was the greatest commandment (Mat 22:36 - 40) He said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

It funny, but I don’t see material possessions on this list. I don’t see tax cuts for the wealthy. I don’t see punish the sinners. I do see “Love God” and “Love thy neighbour.” Now, which parties values are closer to Jesus’ values?