Published in the Rocky Mountain News 11/10/2004

Winners have defined the moral issues

Four years ago I voted for President Bush because he was a "uniter, not a divider." Most people now concede that this nation is more divided than it has been in years. The simmering issues of cultural, economic and moral elitism are painfully real. It appears that the judgmental fury of evangelicals and one-issue "traditional" Catholics have delivered the presidency.

This was the first time in my life I voted for a Democrat for president. I was a lifelong Republican and a Catholic until about a year ago. Now I don't know what I am. I find myself wondering if intolerance has been redefined as a "value." Moral issues like war, economic disparity, the environment, union busting, and bigotry do not measure up to current political or religious standards.

Should faith be a dividing line? The moral issues have been defined by the winning party. The rest of us believers and nonbelievers have been kicked into the category of evil "secular humanists" and are no doubt condemned to perdition - at least until 2008.

John Kerry had a noble thought about no losers in an American election, but I hope the biggest loser in this election was not the truth.

Timothy D. Allport
Littleton