Can We Please Just Separate Church and State?

Most, if not all, libertarians are fed up with the Republican party's embrace of evangelical Christians. Even reliable conservative George Will has spoken up about the annoying use of the term 'values voter.'

This phrase diminishes our understanding of politics. It also is arrogant on the part of social conservatives and insulting to everyone else because it implies that only social conservatives vote to advance their values and everyone else votes to . . . well, it is unclear what they supposedly think they are doing with their ballots...

Attempts to assign values-seriousness can get complicated: Freedom and happiness are valuable. Arguably, governmental actions that did much to increase freedom and happiness in the past half-century were state laws liberalizing divorce. These made important contributions to the emancipation of men and especially women from mistaken marriages. Perhaps the most important of these laws -- it was among the most liberal and was in the most populous state -- was signed by a divorced governor, Ronald Reagan. What do socially conservative values voters make of that?

Freedom and happiness. Let's not forget about those concepts that motivated our Founding Fathers to rebel, fight a bloody homeland war and establish a new Republic. But in case you thought it was safe to go back into the water and vote Democrat, hold your ballots, for they are pandering to the same 'values vote,' as this Wa Post article describes. Just how is a libertarian to vote this November? Even my liberal mother, who has voted in every election that she could in her 76 years, is thinking about sitting this one out.