Family values

:This article discusses "family values" as a moral concept. For the rock music tour, see Family Values Tour.

Family values in U.S. politics

Since 1980 the Republican party has used the issue of family values to attract socially conservative voters, especially those in the South and Middle America. The use of "family values" as a term became widespread after a 1992 speech by Vice President Dan Quayle that attributed the Los Angeles riots to a breakdown of family values. It remains a core issue for the party, playing a significant role in President George W. Bush's re-election in 2004. The Democratic Party has also tried to used the term of family values, using their definition, to attract social conservatives to its own ranks. However at present the Democratic Parties definition of family values is incompatible with social conservatives, indeed social conservative Democrates are now increasingly attracted to the Republican party for this reason.

Related Topics:
1980 - Republican party - South - Middle America - 1992 - Vice President - Dan Quayle - Los Angeles riots - George W. Bush - Re-election - 2004 - Democratic Party

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While family values remains a rather vague concept, social conservatives usually understand the term to include some combination of the following principles:

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• Support for marriage as a lasting bond between one man and one woman
• Family organization which has the husband as head of the household and the wife primarily as homemaker
• Support for laws, public education, and popular media that promote (or at least act compatibly with) the current view of traditional Christian morality
• Support for two-parent families as opposed to single parent families
• Parental responsibility for and control over their children's education.
• Discipline of children, sometimes including corporal punishment.
• Rejection of homosexuality as a natural sexual orientation, and behavior or appearance inconsistent with traditional gender roles
• Rejection of abortion, and sometimes contraception as well.

Organizations that promote conservative family values

• American Decency Association
• American Family Association
• Catholic Legion of Decency
• Christian Coalition
• Concerned Women for America
• United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Office for Film and Broadcasting