… When conservative politicians and pundits invoke “faith, family, and country,” many progressives cringe. On one level, this attitude is understandable. For decades, some leading right-wingers have added a mean-spirited twist to these mainstream values, with sometimes-tragic results. They have invoked “faith” as a reason to restrict the rights of women or gay people, “family” in a way that disparages single mothers, and “patriotism” as a cudgel against those who question wrong-headed wars. So too, politicians have employed “law and order” to evoke fear of black people or to justify putting undocumented immigrants in cages, and valuing “hard work” as code for adopting an overly punitive approach to people down on their luck.
Because progressives appropriately reject the harsh right-wing interpretations of these values and have observed the often divisive and demeaning way they have been wielded in our public discourse, some stopped talking about these ideas altogether, sticking to a discussion of public policy solutions and an array of facts, rather than the powerful values that underlie them. Research suggests this was a mistake, because voters are swayed more by a politician’s articulation of values than policies. CONT.
Simon Greer & Richard D. Kahlenberg, The Century Foundation