Trash and filth are out, and family values are in. That’s a possible conclusion from a quick glance at the tickets chosen by both political parties for the U.S. presidential campaign.

It’s also a shift in consensus from 8 years ago, when then Vice President Dan Quayle was ridiculed for pointing out how the implicit values behind television shows can erode family values.

This time Republican candidate George W. Bush is campaigning on the need to clean up the White House and unleash the strength of faith-based groups on social problems.

His running mate, Richard Cheney, is married to Lynne Cheney. She has been outspoken and controversial in her critiques of political correctness and her defense of a common set of national values. She also has blasted away at relativism, the idea that there are no absolute truths, in the spirit of Isaiah’s protest against turning from God’s absolute truths to a self-centered preference for what ever pleases for the moment. “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!” (Isa. 5:20-21).

This kind of perspective might be expected from the more conservative Republicans at the national level. It may be enough a part of the party’s identity that the August convention organizers felt no need to provide a lot of rhetoric about cultural decline and a need for restoration of a moral standard of right and wrong.

What’s interesting is the way the Democrats are indicating some agreement that something is very wrong with American culture and modern entertainment.

At the top of the ticket, Vice President Al Gore has a more conservative history on some issues than he admits these days. He had a pro-life voting record in Congress.

His wife Tipper mounted a national protest in the late 195Os against filthy music lyrics. She and her husband backed away from this kind of protest, as Gore began his 1988 presidential run.

But this year’s party platform echoes her plea in a call for a more responsible entertainment industry. The platform declares:

“Parents are struggling to pass on the right values in a culture that sometimes seems to practically scream that chaos and cruelty are cool.”

What rounds out this trend toward some desire for cultural reformation is Gore’s selection of Sen. Joseph Lieberman as his running mate. Gore would have had to search far before finding a prominent Democrat as outspoken in protests against the direction of American entertainment and culture in the 1990s.

Lieberman also has had a history of forging bi partisan alliances to give more credibility and influence to these protests. He joined with Lynne Cheney, the wife of his counterpart on the Republican side, in a group called the National Alumni forum, to challenge political correctness on university campuses.

He also has allied with William Bennett, a Republican and cabinet member under Presidents Reagan and Bush. Lieberman and Bennett have been giving out Silver Sewer awards, to pressure movie and television executives to some sense of shame over the trash they offer the public. Awards have gone to CBS for airing Howard Stern’s television show and to Seagram for Jerry Springer’s talk show. Rupert Murdoch and his Fox television network also have been honored, or shamed, with this attempt to develop some sense of responsibility for the influence of their entertainment products.

Gore’s selection of Lieberman establishes some kind of consensus in both parties about the need for reform of American culture, especially in the entertainment industry.

The question is whether party platforms or candidates for top federal offices can do much about the problem. In a free enterprise system, the government does not write the movie or television scripts. The way to the reform of entertainment tends to lie at the other end of the political and social ladder, with individual and family consumers. They decide ultimately whether to support films or shows with the pocketbook.

Yet top government officials can encourage trends at times, and that follows the pattern of the nation of Israel in the Scriptures. Good kings often led the nation in reformation and revival, and clearing out the old idols and trash was a first step in the process. Yet the king could only provide some leadership, and then the people had to decide whether to follow.

More recently in America, the ticket selection in both parties suggests recognition that the public has come to some consensus on this subject of family values in entertainment. From the top or the bottom, the time should come when filthy entertainment is sent back to the gutter in social status, similar to the way cigarette manufacturers have become so unpopular.