Paper synopsis:
The family has been a national political preoccupation since long before the Cold War, and has remained central to American politics even in the post-Cold War era. How did this national preoccupation emerge, and what does it mean for our political life? This paper examines the history and uses of a phrase most frequently invoked in debates on the family in recent political debates: "family values." The paper asks what, exactly, are family values. The term has some intrinsic meaning. Those meanings are not necessarily political. Families value love, mutual support, care and nurture, and loyalty. But in today's political landscape, "family values" means something entirely different. It is a phrase that connotes specific positions on particular issues, and it has highly charged policy implications. The paper examines some of those implications both in the past and in today political environment ultimately asking just what has public life become in the US. As the pendulum has swung back upon the family's responsibility to sustain the democracy, we have seen a withering of political engagement on the part of citizens.