I was going to write this blog yesterday but a friend came over and we ended up visiting for a few hours and then I needed to get the prep work started for dinner so that was that. It was going to be a doom and gloom filled blog. Because that's what it felt like yesterday. Roy Moore was about to be elected to the Senate and I just couldn't believe it.
Then a remarkable thing happened. He wasn't.
He lost.
There were half a dozen things that had to happen for Doug Jones to win and they did. And Jones won. And hope crept in to my dark cold hard and I unironically posted a Roll Tide!! and went to bed happy for the state of Alabama, and happy for the rest of us. Amazing. People did the right thing. Because, as it was stated over and over, this wasn't an election based on Left vs. Right it was an election based on Right vs. Wrong. Roy Moore was wrong. So wrong that you made that "I smell something bad" face when you talked about him. Just wrong. And Alabama saw it too. So wonderful.
But...
Then came the cold light of day. Alabama didn't stand up and say, "Roy Moore is not okay." African-Americans in Alabama said, "Roy Moore is not okay." Breaking it down by demographics and 63% of the white women who voted, voted for Moore, 72% of white men and here's the kicker, 73% of Evangelicals. Whereas 93% of black men, and 98% of black women voted for Jones.
White Christian voters looked at their options and went for the man who sexually assaulted teenagers. Which is what I was afraid would happen. And why I thought he would win. What I didn't expect was the huge turn out in the African American community, or the number of Republicans who would rather stay home instead of cast a vote, or cast a write in vote (for Nick Saban in a not insignificant number, roll tide).
It took a few disgusted voters and a massive turn out of others to keep Roy Moore out of the Senate.
Now, for those of you that might not care about the sex with teens angle, he had other things against him as well. He's a homophobe of the grandest order, he doesn't believe women should be able to vote, he was removed as a Justice (TWICE) for ignoring federal law, and the kicker, he thinks that the Great America was when slavery was in effect. And thank you, Mr. Moore, for that one because I think that one was the nail in your coffin. It was the one that mobilized a community of voters against you. Because the exit polls showed they weren't voting for Doug Jones, they were voting against you. They saw you as an embarrassment and a dangerous choice and did what they could to prevent you from being in the Senate.
Which is how it should work. You see someone who is unfit for office you do what you can to prevent them from getting there. Even if you have to vote for a candidate that didn't particularly inspire you. Because that's what you need to do. (Yes, I'm still giving a few of you side eye)
But here is what I was going to write yesterday. The Republican Party has lost me. Now, I'm not a Republican, so you can say, they didn't have you so... And that's true. But that's not what I meant. I mean, what the RNC did when they backed Moore AFTER the accusations came out, when Trump campaigned for him as head of the Republican Party. And what those White Evangelical Voters showed by voting for him is that I really can't do my version of "good people on both sides" speech. If you are still identifying as a Republican after all of this I will believe that you support these sorts of people. That there is something fundamentally wrong with you.
It started after Trump won. Last year before the election I spent time with friends and family members who are Republicans. And most were disgusted with Trump. Some before the Access Hollywood Tape and some after. I had family who said they couldn't vote for him, he was too morally bankrupt. I had a friend who in October after the tape said as the father of daughters he couldn't do it. It was too distasteful. And after the election they all owned up to voting for him. Gleefully in some cases, religiously in others. "Thank God for President Trump." It inspired a few "I see you" posts and blogs. It was like they thought by saying that he was a piece of shit before the election I wouldn't notice that they voted for said piece of shit and were now ignoring that THEY had believed he was a piece of shit and STILL voted for him and now somehow because he won that piece of shit was no longer a piece of shit.
I was angry at the people who voted for third party because they didn't like Hillary enough, but at least they didn't vote for Trump. They still made the selfish bargain that they would feel better not voting for either one instead of doing what needed to be done to keep him out of the White House but I tried (still trying) to understand that somehow they believed she would be just as bad in her own way.
But there is a difference in going third party because you just cannot vote for either candidate and voting for the person who you yourself think is morally corrupt.
And then to double down on Roy Moore? Which the RNC did. And the White Evangelicals in Alabama did? What the hell?
So yeah, just like Sandy Hook broke me with gun control, the past two election cycles have broken me with Republicans.
My last big blog on guns was a month after Sandy Hook. Then when nothing was done, except to loosen more gun laws, I posted that we love our rhetoric more than our children and I was done. And I was right. We had the worst mass shooting in American History (outside of military actions) in Las Vegas and do you know what legislation has been passed? Not outlawing bump stocks which can turn a semi-automatic into a functions like automatic weapon. Not anything that would flag someone who was assembling an arsenal of weapons. Not anything that would track ammo. But a reciprocal concealed carry law. So that if your state allows concealed carry permits by just filling out a piece of paper with your name spelled correctly, you can conceal carry in to any state in the union, even if their law is that you have to actually know how to use your damn gun. Because we love our guns more than we love our people.
You can't convince me otherwise because we show it over and over again.
And right now, until and unless something changes, I believe that Republicans love that R more than they love anything else. Including their daughters. Including their gay friends. Including their non-white friends. Including their own moral compasses.
You can be a conservative and not be a Republican. You don't have to vote for whatever sleaze they shove at you. You can be better than that. But as long as you are proudly calling yourself a Republican, I won't believe that you are.
You finally broke me.
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