Vote on Values?

I consider myself a generally tolerant person, trying to appreciate another person’s perspective. That said, something that tends to get my blood boiling is when I hear someone say “I vote on values,” or likewise, when people will vote for politicians based on one isolated factor, such as abortion, gun control, religion. On a separate post, I will delve into if values even have any place in government (short answer: No), but the current topic is values as a basis for voting.

It is no surprise that a value-based decision process delivered us George W. Bush, arguably the most incompetent president in US history. Value-voting also nearly brought us within a heartbeat of President Sarah Palin (phew!). Call me crazy, but could we perhaps vote people into office based on their competence, being the best and brightest our country can produce, rather than if they are the kind of person we’d like to have a beer with?

As we are now staring down the barrel of the current global recession (maybe depression), wouldn’t it be great if our elected leaders who we are relying on were actually our country’s best and brightest? “Value voters” are so focused on their representatives matching their values, they seem to not mind (perhaps prefer?) an equivalent match in terms of their rudimentary grasp of economics, history, foreign policy, etc. Now that’s representation! I do not have a degree in history, or a PhD in economics. But I would like my government leaders to have such relevant expertise. Our elected leaders have immense responsibility and power. That being the case, I WANT them to be intellectually superior to me. We don't send children or the elderly to war, because they are incapable of being soldiers. So why do we send incapable representatives to Washington?

That said, I will empathetically speculate that many people vote on values because of the potentially overwhelming spectrum and complexity of politics (in part due to the self-contradicting Republican and Democrat platforms). Therefore, value-voters choose one issue to focus on. But I’m going to stop my sympathy there. If you are a person who can’t manage to educate yourself even a little beyond one myopic issue, perhaps you should reconsider if you should be casting a vote at all.