Family Values ain't all bad

David Blankenhorn writes:

(The event he links to, a debate between feminist Susan Brownmiller and anti-feminist Cathy Young entitled “Whose Family Values?: Secularism and Religion in Campaign 2004,” actually sounds pretty interesting. Unfortunately, it’s in NYC, and anyway the webpage writer neglected to include the date of the debate. Oy.)

David has beaten this particular horse quite often – reading his blog, you’d swear that the only people using the term “family values” were sarcastic lefties. As he wrote last year: “My thesis is that the term ‘family values’ is used almost exclusively today as a term of ridicule and accusation.”

I became curious enough to check how major American papers have used the term this week. And although there were, indeed, two or three sarcastic references, a strong majority of the uses of “family values” were either neutral or positive. Here’s a few examples – all from the past week.

• “To me, it is not a political matter to send money to my family in Cuba. To me, it’s a matter of family values.” -Someone objecting to anti-money-transfer-to-Cuba regulations, Boston Globe, September 19.
• “In Missouri, for example, voters ranked moral issues and family values fourth on their list of concerns, after terrorism, the economy and Iraq, but ahead of health care, jobs and taxes.” -Houstin Chronicle, September 19 (Did those voters mean it ironically? Did the pollster? It seems unlikely.)
• “I am for family values and I am the victim of that.” -small-time political conservative candidate quoted in San Diego Union-Tribune, September 18.
• “His stance on family values resonates with me.” -Jeanette Laugen, Bush supporter, quoted in Minneapolis Star Tribune, September 17.
• “Jane Patterson has been named chairwoman of the Parents, Teachers, and Friends Organization’s Sprituality and Family Values Committee.” – From a school news round-up in the New Orleans Times-Picayune, September 16.
• “Our company has always stood for family values. By having a major-league sports team, we can make a difference in a lot of lives. We stand for honesty, integrity and wholesome Christian values.” -Sports team owner Drayton McLane, quoted in The Houston Chronicle, September 15.
• “‘African-American churches will come up to the line much more than other churches,’ said Mathew Staver, president of the Liberty Council, a group that says it defends religious freedom and traditional family values.” – St Petersburg Times, September 15. (Note that the Liberty Council says “Family Values” without a trace of irony multiple times on their website).
• “I’m very proud of Lost in Space. It has good family values, it’s a cool adventure show, and I think it’s positive for people to watch today.” – Bill Mumy, former “Lost in Space” actor, quoted in The Houston Chronicle, September 14.

To me, it looks like David’s concerns are misplaced. “Family values” is used ironically and derisively fairly frequently, of course – and I think that’s a fair use, considering how often “family values” defenders have defended bigotry – but it’s used even more frequently in the old-fashioned, non-ironic way President Reagan intended, if newspaper usage is anything to judge by.