The State of Sexual Harassment i.e. Alabama

Roy Moore has been in the news of late for his Senate run in Alabama. This is not his first stint in the news though. He was famous for being elected to the Alabama Supreme Court in 2001 but was removed in 2003 for refusing federal orders to remove from the Alabama Judicial Building a monument to the 10 Commandments that he had commissioned. This monument on government property was a violation of the Establishment Clause. Curiously, it is also a violation of the Second Commandment (or the First depending on the version of the Ten Commandments from which you select you quote).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thou_shalt_not_make_unto_thee_any_graven_image

"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image" is an abbreviated form of one of the Ten Commandments which, according to the Book of Deuteronomy, were spoken by God to the Israelites and then written on stone tablets by the Finger of God.^[1]"


Either way its removal was the appropriate response.

In 2013, Moore was re-elected Chief Justice but was removed from office in 2016 for directing probate judges to continue to enforce the unconstitutional ban on same-sex marriages. Regardless of whether one holds Man's Law or God's Law paramount, the fact is that same-sex marriage is allowed under the weight of U.S. law and little convincing evidence has been shown that it is not allowed in the eyes of God. Roy Moore blatantly refused to follow the law he had sworn to uphold (i.e. refusing to render unto Caesar as per the Bible) and so was removed from office.

Now he is running for Jeff Sessions' old Senate seat. A flurry of reports of sexual abuse of women including minors has since blown up. Moore has claimed these women are liars. He has also claimed that he didn't know any of these women. That seems a contradictory pair of claims to make. If he doesn't know them then how can he say they're liars? They may be deluded in some way. This would be "bearing false witness against your neighbor" (Commandment 8 or 9 depending on your version of the Bible). There is a history of predatory behavior described by others around him from over the years. A body of evidence seems to describe him as a predator. Are all of these witnesses to his past liars?

Voters in Alabama have claimed that Democrats are just as bad as Moore is, pointing lately to Bill Clinton, Louis C.K., Harvey Weinstein and Al Franken. There seems to be a big difference though. All of these "democratic" men have admitted to their behaviors and have apologized for them and are seeking some form of atonement. Roy Moore is calling his accusers liars rather than trying to resolve the issue like a proper man would (or should). A proper man would try to establish a dialogue to discover if there was any behavior on his part that might cause these women to come forward with such stories. Finding the beam in one's own eye should come before commenting on the mote in someone else's eye.

I do not know if Roy Moore committed anything grievous against these women but I am not sure what these women stand to gain by coming forward. Some have claimed to be Republican voters. I do think that Alabama voters might want to pause before voting for him just until they can get to the bottom of this matter. Many however, have their minds made up. They will vote for Roy Moore even if it were proven that he was a pedophile according to some of the "polls" out there (I used quotes because I do not know the veracity of the sites and/or the reliability of their polling techniques). I have seen some interviews of Alabama voters that have said they would vote for him anyway because he would be better than a Democrat. I don't know why that would be particularly relevant since, if Moore were to step down, Luthor Strange could run in his place and Strange is a Republican too.

I've been told that Alabamans feel that others should stay out of their election and that Alabamans can vote for whoever they want. This is absolutely true. I just wonder why Alabamans would want to vote for such a man. Are they comfortable with being thought of as the state that voted for a pedophile or sexual deviant over a qualified candidate who was not? If Moore is elected without a resolution to this problem, they will be known as the Sexual Harassment State. Are they okay with that? Some undoubtedly will puff their chests up and say "yes, we will" as a matter of honor, I suppose.

Pride is also mentioned in the Bible and Pride has consequences. Alabama will not escape those consequences just because Alabamans have the right to vote for whomever they want. The U.S. of A. is suffering the consequences of the 2016 election because too many voted on their pride and too many didn't vote because of it.

       Yay! Another massacre via a rapid-firing gun. The usual protestations that it is too early to discuss gun regulations because of the feelings of the victims' families etc. There is of course never a good time to discuss regulation of guns in this country. And all of this media fixation and reporting on the massacre is pretty much free advertising for guns and bump-stocks. Gun sales are up as usual after a mass shooting. Gun manufacturers and their investors must be thrilled.
       If you approach the subject when there hasn't been a mass-shooting in a week or two you will be told there is a slippery slope to regulating guns. The government would use such a precedent to take away the guns from their rightful owners is the claim. The government would then be able to take over and become tyrannical to the public. The word communism or socialism will be proclaimed as the evil scourge that would inevitably rear its ugly head in America.
       I find it hard to accept the fact that so many of my fellow Americans believe this sort of thing. Even members of my own family talk this way. Somehow guns became a sacred thing here. More so even than anything mentioned in the Holy Bible. I find it difficult to reconcile the people I grew up with learning the same things at school and church, on the television and around the table.
       We grew up with guns of course. We lived in the countryside. Rural Granville, NY. Farms and a small downtown that was slowly hollowing out. We didn't even have a McDonald's until after I'd moved away. I was not a hunter myself but my father and older brothers were. We also grew up with bows and I learned to pull back the string and aim. I was no Mockingjay but I could usually hit the target. Fishing and hiking and camping were regular activities back in the day. But mass murder wasn't part of our regular "news-cycle."

       http://news.gallup.com/poll/1645/guns.aspx

       The majority of Americans want stricter gun control. Our Constitution's Second Amendment allows states to have a "well regulated militia" but none of our politicians seem to think we should or are even able to have this regulation. They seem to think it is impossible and some even seem to think that crazy people with guns are part of the price we pay for our freedom to have the Second Amendment. This is asinine of course. If the Constitution says militias should be regulated then they should be regulated. Any other gun ownership is not protected in the Second Amendment and it is time that people begin to understand this.
       Unless you are in a militia, you do not have the right to own or possess a gun. (That doesn't mean you can't have one, it just means that the right isn't in the Second Amendment and so that status can be changed fairly willy-nilly.) If you are crazy then you should not possess a gun. If you are a criminal you should not possess a gun. If you are on a terrorist watch list you should not possess a gun. Most Americans understand this and accept it. Yet our politicians in their "wisdom" have seen that the rights of gun manufacturers to make and sell guns should not be abridged just to protect the lives of American citizens. After all, aren't corporations people too? Don't they have rights? Aren't they making donations to politicians too?
       While corporations have the right to influence elections we actual people will bemoan the lack of political will and disparage attempts to right the wrongs. This is the reason our Founding Fathers left us a "living document" we call the Bill of Rights. We little people do have the right to make changes to the document through our politicians whom we elect. Continuing to re-elect the politicians who are bought and paid for by the corporations will not fix the matter of public dissatisfaction with the direction our country is moving in. There is no incentive for politicians (on either side of the aisle to tell the truth) to make changes that we the people want because we simply don't pay them more than the corporations do. This means electing politicians who will help us make those changes we want.            New blood might just mean voting for the candidate from the "other party" than your own. 2018 is coming and there will be another election. Did you know that? Do you care?

       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_elections,_2018
     
       "Elections to the United States Senate will be held on November 6, 2018, with 33 of the 100 seats in the Senate being contested in regular elections whose winners will serve six-year terms from January 3, 2019, until January 3, 2025. Currently, Democrats are expected to have 23 seats up for election along with 2 independents who caucus with them. Republicans are expected to have 8 seats up for election, with one of those being an open seat as a result of Tennessee Senator Bob Corker's shock decision to not seek re-election in 2018, having served since 2007. The seats up for election in 2018 were last up for election in 2012, although some seats may have special elections if incumbents die or resign, as has already happened in Alabama.^[1] Democrats gained a net 2 seats in the 2016 Senate elections.
The United States House of Representatives elections, 39 gubernatorial elections, and many other state and local elections will also be held on this date."

       These seats will all have the opportunity to affect our government and how it runs and what gets done. How many Americans will actually vote next year? If previous experience is any indication very damn few.

       http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/2014-midterm-election-turnout-lowest-in-70-years/

       "Turnout of the voting-eligible population was just 36.4 percent, according to the projection from the United States Elections Project, run by Dr. Michael McDonald at the University of Florida. That’s down from the 41 percent that turned out in 2010. You have to go all the way back to 1942 for lower numbers when turnout in that midterm was just 33.9 percent. They had a pretty good excuse back then — many adult-age Americans were preoccupied with fighting in a world war."

       We need to vote next year as well as in 2020. We should strive to replace any and every senator and congress-person we can. But waiting for the vote next year is not enough. We need to field candidates we can trust. This means not taking the DNC or the RNC at their word that they have our backs with the candidates they are offering us. We need to be more proactive at getting new candidates on the Republican and Democratic parties and, really I believe this is true, getting a third party instituted. Just one more party will sway both the Republican and Democratic candidates to kow-tow to the public rather than their corporate donors. Then too, a third party may actually fire up the voter base more than ever. With fears of a "spoiler" effect, they will have no choice but to build platforms based on what we the people want.
       Bernie Sanders and Trump both showed that the public does not want business as usual. Whatever you might think of Donald Trump as our president, he was not the candidate the Republican Party wanted. The public didn't want him either but not enough people came out to vote against him and the ones that did come out voted for change. Many suspect, and I am one of them, that if Bernie Sanders had been chosen as the Democratic candidate that he would now be in the White House. Democrats lost because they appeared to have colluded against Sanders in favor of Hilary Clinton for the candidacy and Clinton was a slim bet against the Donald if polls at the time were to be believed.
       If enough people start making the right noises then perhaps the current crop of politicians will begin to take heed and change the way they work. More likely they will try to change the way our laws work before they are booted out of office. All the better to put on their resumes when they look for new work among the corporations. If we want gun regulations to improve and any of the other real changes we want in our country then we have to work for it. Activists don't accomplish anything by sitting around grousing. They do things. They get out and mobilize others. They talk to politicians and even run for offices themselves. If we aren't willing to do these sorts of things then why should we bother complaining? Do we have a right to complain? I don't believe we do.
       Activist. Hacktivist. Slacktivist. I'm sitting here in my room thinking about these words. It feels hollow to me to be thinking that anything I say should matter to anyone. What do I know? And of what I do know, who cares? I chat with people on-line and talk in shops and at work or standing at the bus stop. But I'm nobody. As I re-read the previous paragraphs I found myself wondering if I had it in me to do more than just write a little diatribe and post it on a blog that no one has ever read before or heard or is likely to ever hear of. I don't think I'm the activist type. I like to read my books and watch my movies and play my games. I like to grouse about the government and the state of the world and of teenagers and children and parents of today. I wouldn't like people prying into my business or my past, into the things I'm ashamed of or embarrassed by. But I don't think I'd take a bribe. I don't think I'd hurt someone on purpose. I think I'd talk with them and listen. People used to tell me I was a good listener. But it would be a lot to learn. Just thinking of the enormity of it all, I find myself feeling old and tired and at the same time shy and weak-kneed as the first time I asked a girl out to the prom. I don't want to change but I want my countrymen to do so. I am behooved to do so if they must, right?