There has been much talk of late regarding the belief that the Democratic Party must lurch rightward on so-called "moral" issues. This notion is based on the proposition that liberals simply cannot win in the red states across the country. (This of course leaves out the fact that North and South Dakota are represented by 5 Democrats and one Republican, for instance, or that Wyoming has a Democratic governor) The real problem with this discussion is that it completely leaves out the other side of the equation.

Surely if the Dems move rightward on these "moral" issues, there might be a slight shift towards them in conservative areas. Although this seems pressing in the short run, it would be even more dangerous to ignore or deny that there would be serious ramifications and countless votes lost if the will of the base is not sufficiently considered.

E.J. Kessler of Forward--a national Jewish publication--writes of this exact dilemma in this week's issue. In "Dems' Talk of 'Values' Seen as Risk With Jews", he writes this: [free registration required]

As Democratic leaders scramble to come up with ways to connect to so-called "moral values" voters, they risk alienating one of the fundamental pillars of the party's base: American Jews, 75% of whom backed Democratic candidate John Kerry.

If politics in America have become a culture war, there's no question which side most Jews are on. Polls have repeatedly found that on a host of social issues, including abortion and gay marriage, American Jews fall decidedly to the left of the overall population.

Fighting to feel comfortable in a predominantly Christian society, Jews for two generations have often expressed concern about the infusion of religious rhetoric into the national political discourse and have been at the forefront of Democratic efforts to enforce a strict separation of church and state. As social activists and party cadre, many Jews have agitated for the most liberal of political positions — and generally looked to the Democratic Party as the secular embodiment of their religious liberalism. Yet, with even Jewish lawmakers taking the lead in calling for a new, more values-based Democratic approach to winning centrist and conservative voters, the majority of Jewish voters and many Jewish campaign donors — historically a key source of funding for the Democrats — could find themselves alienated from the party that has been their home since before FDR.

Kessler explains that there is indeed a conversation among Jewish Democrats over whether the Democratic Party should be more willing to infuse "morality" and "values" into the campaign, but nevertheless there is a general apprehension against swinging too far in that direction. This is insightful for the Democratic community as a whole as the party--individual candidates and individual voters, to be precise--will have to decide whether it is worth it to try to pander to more conservative voters (some of whom might not ever be willing to support the Dems).

The fact is, as the Times Frank Rich so brilliantly writes this week, that "John Kerry's defeat notwithstanding, it's blue America, not red, that is inexorably winning the culture war, and by a landslide." The majority of the nation clearly prefers watching television that does not fit well within the "values" of red America, whether in the form of Paris Hilton's reality show or following the Scott Peterson trial; what is more, the vast majority of "Americans approve of some form of legal status for gay couples, whether civil unions (35 percent) or marriage (27 percent)."

As the Democrats begin mulling over the future of their party, I hope only that they are cognizant of the fact that they can win on "moral" issues, even if they don't become conservatives overnight.