What do moral values mean to you?

[dazzleman]

I look at the issue of more values holistically.  Moral values don't really exist as an end in themselves, but to foster the betterment of society.

Strong moral values lead to stronger families, lower crime and ultimately a better economy.  Weak moral values lead ultimately to poverty, a weak family structure and greater human misery.

I think the role of moral values has been seriously distorted.  Those of us who support moral values are called intolerant by people who equate any type of behavior standard with judgment and hate.  These people fail to recognize how high moral values would be of immense benefit in achieving the goals they claim to have.

I think that declining moral values have played a role in widening the gap between rich and poor.  Illegitimacy, broken families, drug use, etc. have trapped many in hopeless poverty and denied educational opportunities to whole classes of children.

Many liberals seem to believe that we can have the type of society that they claim to want without moral values.  This is just not the case.  There should be more of a consensus between conservatives and liberals on the importance of moral values.

[dazzleman]

What´s the difference between "strong" and "weak" moral values? Maybe you are you confused with the difference between authoritarian/intolerant values and liberal/tolerant values, but the latter are just as strong (or as weak) as the first. Nobody favours a society without values because that would be impossible, and because that would be a value itself.

Weak moral values mean that you consider having a child out of wedlock to be as valid a choice as having a child inside marriage, despite what we know about all the financial and psychological disadvantages that children from single-parent homes suffer.

You're right that having no values is a value in itself, and this is the value that many liberals preach.

Liberals often preach individual freedom with socialized responsibility, meaning that people can do whatever they want, and pass the consequences of their actions onto society at large.  This has become the bedrock of modern liberal philosophy.  It will never lead to anything but more problems.