Moore is Far, Far Less Than What This Country Deserves
(Photo credit NBC News)
The vile hypocrisy of the far right is on full, despicable display again as more allegations of pedophilic misdeeds by the “Christian” conservative Senate candidate Roy Moore surface. Moore, a homophobic white nationalist, former judge and prospective lawmaker, has been anointed by many evangelicals as having the mantle of Biblical correctness divinely bestowed upon him. He upholds the Old Testament patriarchy and follows a Dominionist path, claiming that he has done nothing wrong according to his and others’ warped interpretation of scripture. In this interpretation, God is just fine with the flaws of his followers, be they marital infidelity, pedophilia, greed, or any number of other behaviors that many would lump together as sin, just as long as they use their positions of power to further the policies and power of the far-right wing agenda.
Which brings up an interesting point—the pending internecine GOP/right wing war and how Moore’s candidacy figures into it. It’s curious who is lining up in support of and against Roy Moore. Moore is unapologetically backed by Steve Bannon and the alt-right libertarian mouthpiece, Breitbart. In perusing today’s lead stories on Breitbart, there are several that attack members of the more establishment GOP, most notably Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan, who have called for Moore to step down from his candidacy. Interestingly, there is nary a mention of the Moore debacle to be found on the Fox News website as of this writing. Nothing. Nada for the past couple of days, even with the additional accusations surfacing. Fox is finding itself in a strange no-man’s land, as it’s no longer the sole purveyor of fascist extremism, but can’t bring itself to condemn the reprehensible behavior of a candidate whose defeat would throw another obstacle in the way of the flailing Trump agenda. What Fox is peddling on TV at the moment, I don’t know and won’t turn it on in order to alleviate the risk of acute vomiting. Speaking of vomit, the up-and-coming One America News, supposedly noted for its adherence to reporting the facts and nothing more, also has nothing on its headlines page about Moore today. Apparently, an embattled white nationalist candidate who is accused of grossly inappropriate conduct with young girls isn’t factual, despite the corroborating evidence of several reputable people who were aware of Moore’s predilections and actions.
This all is further evidence of the ultra-crazy right-wing insurgency plan to take over the GOP and move the country even further away from the liberal ideas of democracy and rule by the people in exchange for rule by an authoritarian oligarchic elite. Steve Bannon has made it very clear that he and his cadre are hellbent on working to dismantle the system as it currently stands and replace it with a very limited government with the powers to protect property rights, help big business and prosecute wars. Bannon has made it clear that he and his wealthy backers will put everything into the 2018 elections to unseat moderate and establishment candidates and incumbents and replace them with small-government adherents. The rest of the GOP is a bit stymied at this point, not wanting to risk their tenuous hold on the Senate by engaging in open warfare with the Breitbart fringe of the party, but scared that the continuing growth of the white nationalist movement will sweep their candidates out of office and, along with that, their control of and power over the GOP. And Mr. Trump has yet to weigh in on the subject. The official Trump tweets, when they come, could further draw the battle lines in the looming war.
Which brings us to the impotency of the Democrats. Pretty much all of the Democrats have come forward condemning Moore’s actions and have called for him to void his candidacy. But what else can be done? In a not dissimilar situation, to the credit of much of the Democratic leadership, when allegations of sexual impropriety began to surface regarding Harvey Weinstein, a perennial supporter and funder of Democratic causes and candidates, they quickly denounced Weinstein and cut ties with him, calling him out for the blatant objectification of women and his use of his position to control others.
I’m sure in the offices and halls of Democrat leadership and power, there is a burgeoning hope that the possible GOP war will cause its ultimate collapse, leaving the Democrats to clean up in 2018 and beyond. If this is it, if this is all they’ve got, pretty much like the rudderless Clinton campaign, there is little hope for the Democrat Party. Unless the leadership of the party changes and takes a hard turn to the left, reassuming its historic role as the workers’ party and offering some real change that will alleviate the 40-year trend of economic stagnation and growing wealth inequality for the vast majority of people in the U.S., as well as severing ties to Wall Street and big business, then, I fear, the far-right wing of the GOP will continue to accumulate power and control.
Over the next few weeks, leading up to the special election, much more will be written about Roy Moore by people of vastly different political bents with competing agendas. More facts will probably present themselves. Possibly more women will step forth with more damning allegations against Moore. Ultimately it doesn’t really matter. Those who are part of the right-wing cult won’t, and I’ll wager, can’t change their minds and hold Moore and his enablers accountable, even if each and every allegation holds true. Moore has been touted as a “Godly” man who lives according to Biblical precepts. These Dominionist men continually use their positions of power to disparage and rage against “the other,” claiming their moral superiority entitles them to do so. Such rage contributes to the environment of blind trust, where the possibility of altering one’s position is nil despite overwhelming evidence, for if one admits that these aren’t the righteous souls that they claim that they are, then their moral high ground crumbles beneath their feet and their attacks on gays, minorities, liberals, progressives and anybody else that they disagree with are shown to be nothing but hate-filled diatribes with no religious basis being used to keep them in positions of power and control.
Friends, keep reading, thinking, talking and resisting the grease-covered slide towards authoritarianism. It is only through a concerted effort that this can be opposed.
