I was gratified this morning to read an op-ed by Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post, taking up the neglected mantle of moral high-ground on behalf of the left.  It has long puzzled me why we progressives folded so easily to the conservative grab for moral superiority and the Tea Party’s appropriation of the Constitution.  Conditioned as we are, by our embrace of tolerance, to bending over backwards in the name of equanimity; it is, ironically, this very moral dichotomy that seems to have kept us from claiming the high-ground that should so rightly be ours.

Marcus focuses on a portion of President Obama’s remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast as the inspiration for her own reflections on the progressives’ dilemma.  Observing that the resources of private charities are limited in their ability to help all of the desperate and deserving among us, Mr. Obama concluded:

“…And that’s why  I continue to believe that in a caring and and in a just society, government must have a role to play; that our values, our love and our charity must find expression not just in our families, not just in our places of work and our places of worship, but also in our government and in our politics.”

Says Marcus

“Obama’s remarks resonated because I’ve been bristling recently at conservatives’: dual hijacking: morality and the Constitution as the domain of small government conservatives.  I’d like them back.”

Me too.

Why, particularly during the health-care debates weren’t our leaders all over the moral superiority of providing for the needs of the poor and disadvantaged?  Why did all of the arguments have to center on the economics,  a gnarled and arcane discussion that few understood at the time and that leant themselves so easily to defeat in the public forum by conservative truisms.  Why didn’t our progressive champions in Congress stand shoulder to shoulder and loudly proclaim that we must begin to provide universal proactive healthcare for all Americans because it is the right thing to do; because healthcare is a human right?  Why aren’t they making those arguments right now, to put Republicans on the defensive as they try to take back the little progress we have made toward fulfilling that moral obligation?

And what about reclaiming the Constitution for the left?  It isn’t just about protecting people’s right to be selfish, greedy, bigoted and threatening.  In equal parts, it is about protecting the weak, the unpopular and the vulnerable.  It has in it’s framework the intention to champion an enlightened tolerance and the common good over cynical opportunism.  As Marcus says,

“It’s my constitution as much as it is Michele Bachmann’s.”

It bears repeating here and everywhere else progressive opinion is expressed, as often and as loudly as possible. Social responsibility and tolerance are the moral high-ground.  By upholding them we serve the true values of our Constitution.