The personal is political: fact or aspiration?
by John Craig
I'm not the first to observe that the discovery of something called morality in the US elections seems likely to impact on our own poll. Nor am I breaking new ground in observing that if we can better connect politics to the feelings people have about the world, so be it, but that it ought not to be at the expense of open political debate. Against this background, I wonder what will happen in the coming months to issues that have always been politically emotive. In the news today, the LGA call for the issue and dangers of prostitution to be included in sex education - just the kind of question our two main parties may find it increasingly difficult to resist treating as soundbite fodder. However issues such as this play out over the coming months, I hope the facts (suitably contested, of course) can occasionally stand in the way of a good fight. In this regard, two articles struck me this week; one about the way the abortion rate declined under Clinton and is growing under Bush, the second [via the trusty metalfilter] about divorce rates being higher in red US states than in blue. Desirable or not, the translation of personal morality into public policy is never simple.