I think the debate over America's moral position comes down to this:
Republicans want the best outcomes based on solutions that fit into
preconceived notions of what society should look like. So even if there
are few tangible harms that point to our moral decay, any move away
from their vision of society is evidence of declining virtue.
Democrats, on the other hand, are more concerned with outcomes, even if
that means upending the way things were (or accepting that they have
been upended and cannot be restored).
...it seems like the debate over morality in America has less to do
with moral outcomes and more to do with a vision of how society should
look based on idealistic remembrances of how things were.
-- "Our great moral decline." The Economist (March 2, 2012)