Politicians too often forget family values

Hang on to your vote! The "bait and switch" political season has started. Some political candidates begin saying one thing, and then when elected, do something else.

Most voters have become immune to the campaign chatter and know that what many politicians say during the campaign has little relation to the policies they promote. Once in office, some ignore the problems people face and start pushing their own pet projects. Furthermore, some are quickly cornered by the lobbyists who court them with promises of support for their re-election. Many of those running for re-election are more likely to reap the benefits of paid lobbyists than their opponents.

So, what happens to the moral values and principles upon which many campaign? During that time, they fill the airwaves and voters' mailboxes with the same old sound bites and bumper-sticker slogans — belief in strong family values (some add "Utah values"), local control, reducing taxes, accountability, and fighting for conservative and moral principles. They may talk about moral principles, but it is with narrow meaning. They somehow fail to talk about the broader moral values that bind a democratic society together — kindness, honesty, integrity and the belief in the dignity of every individual.

Once in office, they may give lip service to family values; but, in reviewing the recent legislative history, one can find little focus on solutions facing the needs of today's families. Often, attention is deflected with extensive debate on "moral" issues. Thus giving the perception of the concern for family values.

It's as though they are unaware of the problems the average middle-class working family faces in today's uncertain world. Parents don't know if tomorrow they will have a job or enough money to retire and live a life with dignity. Some cannot afford health care and gamble that they will stay healthy, living one paycheck from foreclosure on their home. We now have more working and single mothers, and more latchkey children. Today, we have parents and students unable to afford college; and schools that find it difficult to change to prepare students for an economy that requires higher skills in order to earn a living wage.

Then there are the poor in our communities, comprised primarily of the sick, the disabled, and the elderly. Unfortunately, more and

more, they are perceived as being there by the "life choices they have made" and not worthy of public assistance. But, somehow, business people are worthy of public assistance.