I am not even convinced they've done a brilliant job of drawing a line from these wrongs to the degradation of American society or any other such "problem", nor have they really done much of a job presenting America with real solutions to the complex "problems" underlying these things. Heck, I am not even convinced anyone on the Right has proven most of the Republicans' cultural issues to be "problems" at all.

They don't need to.

What was really proven in the last two elections was that the majority of cultural regions of America respond to a the pure concept of "Right and Wrong" first, before the complexities of the underlying issues. And this is the angle the Left has completely overlooked.

I will have to admit a personal bias here. When it comes to cultural and economics issues, I lean toward the Libertarian side of things. And since "values" is really a cultural issue, I think the Left should have a logical foothold on such issues. It has been proven over and over throughout history that legislating morality is a very tricky subject. Personal and religious prejudices run rampant. Laws regarding morality, more often than not, generally are found to be at best foolish, at worst very dangerous.

But that doesn't mean there are not rights and wrongs. And that doesn't mean a cultural anarchy is the best form of government. Racism, sexism and religious persecution have all been defeated or lessened by government intervention. And- even looking through the eyes of today's right wing cultural worldview- there is something to be said for the insurance, in very specific situations, of tried-and-true principles trumping the chaotic way in which new cultural standards are born.

However, the debate here is not on the merits of either side's specific issues. Its about having the logical gumption (for lack of a better term) of defining a "right" and a "wrong" within one side's issues. And it is not as if the Left has not been lobbed some softball issues from the Right.

The FCC is embarking on a fifties-era censorship campaign to protect the American people from swear words and breasts. Shouldn't the Left be pronouncing this as an absolute and unequivocal wrong?

An entire class of people- homosexuals- are being discriminated against via real, live legislation, without any scientific or sociological backbone. Shouldn't someone on the Left at least explain the parallels between these policies and laws protecting racism and sexism in generations past?

The government is spending millions of dollars fighting a drug war that is both impossible to win, but logically is not protecting anyone from anything, in the end. While we all know hard-core drug use is, at least, a symptom of a greater problem- shouldn't Democrats have the fortitude to define a right and wrong in this arena?

Again, many Americans will always disagree with the Left's positions. That's why we have a democracy. However, I'd be willing to bet that if Democrats took a simpler, "It is wrong for government to do X, it is right for government to do Y" approach, the results- both politically (e.g. winning elections) and in execution (e.g. really solving issues) would be a lot closer to what their Republican counterparts have.