September 28, 2017
Tuesday night, the citizens of Alabama elected Roy Moore, a racist, homophobic rodeo clown, as their Republican candidate for the United States Senate. Moore is a sideshow freak who was twice removed from his position as Alabama Chief Justice for his refusal to abide by the United States Constitution. Moore erected a granite monument of the Ten Commandments outside of the courthouse. He believes that homosexuality should be outlawed and that Congressman Keith Ellison was ineligible to serve in Congress because of his Muslim faith (Source: The Seven Most Inflammatory Things Roy Moore has said,” by Nolan McCaskill, Politico, 9/27/17). Moore is an islamophobic theocrat with no fealty to the Constitution and utter contempt for the Rule of Law. He was clearly absent that day in third grade when they taught students WHY the Pilgrims fled England to establish a new nation on this continent. Moore is unfit to serve as a traffic cop, let alone a United States Senator. And yet, here we are.
Alabamans, when given a choice between the anodyne Republican incumbent, Luther Strange and an offensive relic who refused to follow Obergefell v. Hodges and enforce marriage equality, chose the latter. Moore is the apotheosis of the trend of the Republican electorate to choose representatives who neither believe in government, nor understand what it is supposed to do. As if to add insult to injury, sentient carbuncle, Steve Bannon, parachuted into Alabama on the eve of the run-off to tell voters that a “vote for Roy Moore was a vote for Donald J. Trump,” (Source: Politics Video, The Washington Post, 9/26/17). Moore’s campaign had the full throated support of a phalanx of white supremacists from Bannon to Sarah Palin to Brexit demagogue, Nigel Farage.
Although the press is treating Moore’s victory in the general election as a foregone conclusion, we should be aware that the turnout was between 12-15% of the electorate (Source: “Low Voter Turnout Projected in Senate Primary Runoff,” by Rashad Snell, AlabamaNews.net, 9/26/17). Moore’s victory represented a vote of less than 8% of the electorate. Moore’s opponent in the general election is Doug Jones, a former U.S. Attorney who successfully prosecuted the Klan members responsible for the infamous Birmingham church bombing. Despite the fact that there could not be a more Manichean choice, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is dithering about whether to throw full financial support to Doug Jones (Source: “Who Is Doug Jones and can he defeat Roy Moore in conservative Alabama?” by Dave Weigel, The Washington Post, 9/27/17). While it is true that Alabama has not elected a Democrat to statewide office in more than a decade, it is also true that Moore is not merely a conservative candidate, but a profoundly dangerous one. We cannot shrink from the effort of working to defeat him just because it is hard. If our Constitution means anything; if the Rule of Law has any remaining resonance, we owe it to ourselves to give Doug Jones the best possible shot at winning this election. If for no other reason than to support the 1.3 million Black voters in Alabama (Source: Census.gov); if for no other reason than to show that we will not sit passively by while crank racist billionaires, Robert and Rebekah Mercer, bankroll a campaign to dismantle what the Founders we supposedly venerate built brick by brick; if for no other reason than that we owe it to the memories of 4 beautiful little Black girls murdered in a Birmingham church, we MUST support Doug Jones for Alabama Senate.
Dougjonesforsenate.com