Values:
A key part of issues facing 2005 state legislature

		Eye on the  Capitol  John Huebscher

The discussion over how much moral values influenced voting behavior in the 2004 election will continue for some time.

However one comes down on that question, there is no escaping the fact that key issues facing the 2005 legislature have moral implications.

It is also true that a number of these issues will implicate the moral priorities for public life identified by the U.S. bishops in their statement: Faithful Citizenship: A Call to Catholic Political Responsibility.

This list of the issues with moral implications facing Wisconsin's lawmakers is incomplete. But even at this early stage of the 2005-06 legislative session it reminds us of the strong interconnection between moral questions and matters of social policy.

Protecting human life

The moral priority of Protecting Human Life will come into play as the legislature takes up the governor's biotechnology initiative and determines whether it will permit or fund research that includes the destruction of human embryos. It is hard to imagine any issue that will pose so starkly the question of whether technological progress and economic development should come at the expense of early human life.

Preserving families

Our state's commitment to the moral priority of Preserving Families and Communities will be measured by several major questions in the upcoming session.

How much help will we give parents in living out their role of primary educators of their children? Will the parental choice program remain available to those parents in Milwaukee who want to utilize it? Can we make its promise available to others? Will the state continue to affirm those parents who choose public schools by adequately meeting the needs of their children? Will the role of government in fostering the community's vision of the common good be strengthened or undermined by our budget priorities?

All these questions will be front and center in the upcoming budget debate.

There is also the question of how our law defines marriage in Wisconsin. Should the state Constitution affirm the traditional vision of marriage as a relationship between one man and one woman? What are the consequences of not doing so?

Pursuing social justice

The moral priority of Pursuing Social Justice is also implicated by public policy choices. Will Wisconsin adjust its minimum wage law in a way that allows workers to earn a living wage so essential to their development? How seriously will the legislature address ways to expand access to affordable housing and affordable health insurance for those in our state who currently are denied such access?

In a state that has spent the last decade grappling with an expanding prison population, will we be open to discussion of alternatives to incarceration?

Global solidarity

The moral priority of Practicing Global Solidarity may not seem like a major concern for a state legislature in the Midwest. But war in Iraq and catastrophe in South Asia drives home the truth that tremors and waves in one part of the world touch Wisconsin and present all of us with moral choices.

In such a context, we will debate whether immigrants who lack legal status retain a moral claim to education, health care, and the ability to live in a mobile society.

Not all of these questions are equal in importance or moral significance. But each of them compels us to make moral choices. Each provides an occasion for us to define what we value for ourselves and for our neighbors. These issues - and others that could be mentioned - remind us of the size of the task before us.

John Huebscher is executive director of the Wisconsin Catholic Conference.