On December 21st, Bill Shipp wrote, in the Athens Daily Banner, that no Democrat is willing to say, "The Democratic Party is in danger of losing black votes by the thousands for one simple reason. We have become the party not of African Americans - but of gays and abortionists. That is how we are most identified. Those issues do not resonate in the black community any better than they work in white communities. We saw the beginning of serious slippage among black votes in last month's election. Part of the reason: Blacks object to gays and abortions."

Sorry Bill, the reason that no true Democrat says that is because it is not true.  It is simply another Right-wing distortion of reality.  Democrats and Liberals/Progressives are not in danger of losing the votes of anyone who believes in nurturant family moral values and applies them to his or her politics. Black, white, gay, women, Hispanic - it doesn't matter.

We believe in the same family values as do most Americans. Empathy, responsibility, and the strength to carry out those responsibilities.  Protection, fairness, and fulfillment in life.  Freedom, opportunity, prosperity, and community.  Service, cooperation, trust, honesty, and open communication.  These are our moral values - the values of most true Georgians and most true Americans.

Gay rights, women's rights, African-American rights, the rights of the disabled.  They are all the same. They are basic civil rights.  They are basic human rights. Most African-Americans, just like most Americans, believe in basic civil rights and the right of all people to be treated with dignity and respect.

Our job is to not move to the Right, but communicate our positions in terms of our basic moral and family values. The same values held by our founding fathers when the wrote the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.

George Lakoff writes that in this country, about 40% of the population use this basic Nurturant-Family moral value system in their political lives. Another 40% use the Strict-Father family moral value system in their political lives.  These two populations form the base of the Democrat and Republican parties.

The remaining 20% are the so-called "undecideds." They use Nurturant-Family values at home but also Strict-Father values in politics, or vice versa. They are not really undecided.  They simply use both moral metaphors, and apply them separately to home, or work, or politics.  To win elections, we need to focus on these mixed moral-metaphor voters and convince them to support Nurturant values in both their family and their political lives.

So we don't talk about abortion, instead we talk about the right of a woman to end an unwanted pregnancy. Or, better yet, we want the government out of the business of controlling women's lives or telling them what to do with their own bodies.

We don't talk about same-sex marriages. We talk about the sanctity of deep and abiding love in a life-long committed relationship. After all, isn't that what marriage is all about?  Do you want the government telling you who you can and cannot marry?

There is nothing wrong with our values. Our values are fine. We do not need to move to the Right. We need to stay on message and move the frame our message in our moral values, not theirs.

Contact Sander Bellman