Say what you will about the prophet from Galilee, He wasn't naive. When He said, verily unto you, that hypocrites who pray in the streets to be seen of men have their reward, He knew the score: There can be a real reward for showing folks just how upstanding and good you are. The reward for calling attention to your own goodness may be just an earthly reward, but it is a very useful one. Some people call it fame.
Roy Moore over in Alabama has had his reward for years. Now he's parlayed it into what's almost sure to be a United States Senate seat.
And congratulations to him for it. He's right where he needs to be.
This week Roy Moore, formerly Judge Roy Moore, beat out Donald Trump's pick to win the GOP nomination for the seat left behind by Jeff Sessions. He still has to win the general election in December, but come on: Times have changed. In much of the South, winning the Republican nomination is tantamount to winning the general election. (Remember when it was tantamount to losing?)
It's been a hoot watching the news media cover this special election. Reporters called it a race between the Establishment and a Bible-quoting evangelist, as if quoting the Bible were an eccentricity in these latitudes. (Didn't we just do it?) Besides, how "establishment" can a person be who has the support and backing of President Trump?
Roy Moore's name is probably familiar to Gentle Reader. He's been a judge, off and on, for years over in 'Bama. In 2003, he was removed from the bench because he refused to remove a boulder-sized Ten Commandments monument he had installed in a state judicial building. He won re-election however, before being removed, once more, from the state Supreme Court for telling Alabama's 68 probate judges to deny marriage licenses to gay couples, despite a United States Supreme Court ruling.
Yes, he was removed from the bench twice.
Now he'll likely go into the legislative branch.
If he can get enough of his colleagues to agree on his positions, he'll begin making laws. He can churn them out by the dozens. Even amendments to the United States Constitution, if he can get the votes. He can also be useful at keeping bad laws from being made. That's an under-appreciated skill in Washington, D.C., these days.
Of course, he'll have to deal with folks like Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi on too frequent an occasion. But then he'll also have to deal with more reasonable types like Tom Cotton and French Hill. Roy Moore will be one of 535 elected officials in the Congress. Some of them better than others.
Something tells us Roy Moore will fit right in with opionated types such as Al Franken and Dianne Feinstein, John McCain and Rand Paul. And he'll do the colorful history of the Senate proud, too, joining other characters like Huey Long and Ted Kennedy.
Roy Moore's joining the legislative branch seems appropriate. What a country!
And anything that keeps him as far away from the judiciary as possible can only be an overall good for the nation.
Editorial on 09/28/2017