And so this morning, amidst the continuing financial crisis which is going to shake itself out in ways we can’t even yet imagine, and constrain the future of our country in ways so profound that it may very well hasten our fall from the top of the global trash heap, I get an e-mail from a cultural conservative who wants to talk about:

Abortion.

Because abortion, in the culturally conservative mind, always takes precedence, in each and every case. They are chagrinned, now, that we aren’t talking about abortion - particularly failed abortions where the fetus shows signs of life, and how Obama voted against a bill in Illinois that would have required legal protections and medical care.

I could look up the specifics and provide them all for you. But you know what? I don’t care enough to do that.

Heartless, yes, I know. Because for a certain percentage of the electorate - my correspondent included - abortion is always the single most important issue. Followed by gay marriage. Followed, however many places down the line, by other issues that don’t have so much to do with morality.

Like, you know, the economy.

People are free to think what they want to think and order their political priorities however they like. But particularly in times like these, the idea that “values” are and should be paramount in terms of this election is not simply misguided - it is actively dangerous.

Or, as the Los Angeles Times said last week:

A raft of issues will confront the next president: the faltering economy, Iraq, Afghanistan, the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea, a resurgent Russia, gaps in health insurance, energy policy and climate change. Especially after this week’s turmoil in the financial markets, it’s bizarre to suggest that this election should turn on abortion, same-sex marriage or the relationship between church and state.

But for some, that’s all it ever turns on.