EmpathyStrengthVoter here on BIG news on the values front that came out today.

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/religion/news/2012/10/01/40145/the-new-values-voters-5-issues-that-expand-the-notion-of-what-it-means-to-vote-your-values/

Here's a paragraph from the great article:

Since 2004 the notion of what constitutes values issues has expanded. Concerns about economic inequality and fairness, poverty, climate change and the environment, immigration (it's about dignity and respect for a fellow human being), gay and transgender rights (civil union equality is about love and commitment), and health insurance reform (which is a moral and economic issue) are now commonly cited as issues grounded in a moral and ethical framework. This is due in part to the tireless work of faith leaders and advocates such as Faith in Public Life, Sojourners, PICO, NETWORK, Interfaith Worker Justice, Progressive Christians Uniting, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, and the Interfaith Alliance—all of which, along with many others, are addressing social and economic issues through a moral lens.

Remember George Lakoff and Jeffrey Feldman?Remember the phrase? The budget is a moral document.Remember President Obama emphasizing "empathy" when he was talking about Sonia Sotomayor? Democrats are slowly learning that values and morality, NOT policy proposals, get to the gut of the swing voter out there and push the right buttons. Republicans know this well and have used it for years to tell the world that they are the moral people. George Bush seemed like a master at framing because he used buzz words from message guru Frank Luntz to convince people of all kinds of crazy things.

We should constantly educate the public about our values. We should never let the other side highjack "values" and convince people that pregnancy termination and same-sex discrimination are the only values to be had and what defines a moral person. Using war as a first resort is a moral issue. Allowing people to buy as many automatic weapons in a month as they want, as the GOP legislated in Virginia, in a moral issue. Mistreating or unfairly attacking the poor and the immigrant is a moral issue. Denying a DNA test to a person in death row is also a moral issue. Rep. Ryan should know that redefining rape to recognize only forcible rape is a moral issue. Lying to the American public the way Romney and Ryan have been doing is also a moral issue. Misleading Catholics that Plan B/morning-after pill causes abortion is a moral issue.