Lenny bruce had a bit in his old stand-up act where he said we should all say the N word (though of course he didn't use that euphemism) over and over, and soon enough the slur would lose its meaning and ability to hurt people. I'd like a similar fate for the V word-values-at least as applied to a political context, and it may be that the House page scandal can help. "Values voters"- descended from "Joe Six-Pack" and "soccer moms" and other products of the market segmenters who have invaded our politics-are not all wing nuts. Most are principled Americans with legitimate gripes about what's happened to old-fashioned notions of decency. But the term is loaded and unfair, and was popularized by lazy-minded journalists. It implies that people on the other side— those who, in the smug cliche of the day, "do not share our values"-aren't just wrong but morally inferior.
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