Home American Principles A Matter of Right and Wrong: Voting for Roy Moore Is Immoral

A Matter of Right and Wrong: Voting for Roy Moore Is Immoral

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Ken Falkenstein
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As a rule, reasonable minds can differ on the merits of candidates for public office. But on rare occasion, a candidate emerges who is so completely repugnant that there is no rationale that can justify supporting or voting for him.
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David Duke was such a candidate. When the former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan won the Republican nomination for Governor of Louisiana in 1991, the national Republicans repudiated him, and President George H.W. Bush went so far as to endorse and personally campaign for his Democrat opponent. I was proud to be a Republican when I saw President Bush’s valiant action.
 
Today, 26 years later, another candidate has emerged who is equally repugnant – Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore.
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This is a man who could not rule out the idea of executing gays just for being gay.
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He believes that Muslims should not be allowed to hold public office – even if they are popularly elected. (I don’t know his position on Jews.)
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He believes that trangender people have no constitutional rights – which literally means that he believes that it is legal for them to be enslaved or even killed.
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And as a state Supreme Court justice, he regularly shunned the Constitution when it conflicted with his personal religious beliefs. He even went so far as to order every judge in his state to violate their oaths and ethical obligations and do the same – which is why he was removed from the bench. Twice.
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All of that should have been enough for the Republican Party to once again say, “No. Enough. This man does not represent our values, and we will not embrace him. In fact, we renounce him.”
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But, alas, there was no President Bush to be found.
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Well, not at first anyway.
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Over the past couple of weeks, evidence has emerged that proves beyond any reasonable doubt that, at a minimum, when Roy Moore was in his 30s and was the elected District Attorney of his county, he “dated” and kissed underage teenage girls. (See Rich Kelsey’s column explaining it in detail.) That alone should be a disqualifier. But there also is strong evidence that he tried to convince these teenage girls to have sex with him and may have attempted to rape at least one of them.
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And lest there be any question of his worthiness to hold public office, there is strong evidence that he used his position as District Attorney to intimidate these young girls into silence.
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And what’s more, the locals have known about it and talked about it for years.

“These stories have been going around this town for 30 years,” said Blake Usry, who grew up in the area and lives in Gadsden. “Nobody could believe they hadn’t come out yet.”

Usry, a traveling nurse, said he knew several of the girls that Moore tried to flirt with.

“It’s not a big secret in this town about Roy Moore,” he said. “That’s why it’s sort of frustrating to watch” the public disbelieve the women who have come forward, he said . . . .

Jason Nelms, who now lives in Tennessee but grew up in nearby Southside, was a regular at the mall when he was a teenager.

He recalled being told by a mall employee that they kept watch for an older guy who was known to pick up younger girls.

Nelms said he was told later by a concession worker at the mall that it was Roy Moore.

Greg Legat worked at the Record Bar, a music store near Sears in the mall, from 1981-1985 . . . . It was a popular place for parents dropping off their teens in the evenings and on weekends.

Legat, now 59, said an off-duty Gadsden police officer named J.D. Thomas told him about various people he should look out for when he was working . . . . One was Roy Moore.

“I asked him, ‘What did he do?'” Legat recalled. “He said, ‘If you see him, let me know. I’ll take care of it.'”

“Him liking and dating young girls was never a secret in Gadsden when we were all in high school,” said Sheryl Porter. “In our neighborhoods up by Noccalula Falls we heard it all the time. Even people at the courthouse know it was a well-known secret.

“It’s just sad how these girls (who accused Moore) are getting hammered and called liars, especially Leigh (Corfman).”

Teresa Jones . . . worked at the Etowah County District Attorney’s Office with Moore. “As a Deputy DA in Gadsden when Roy Moore was there, it was common knowledge about Roy’s propensity for teenage girls,” she tweeted. “I’m appalled that these women are being skewered for the truth.”

She later told CNN that Moore often went to local high school events and other hangouts: “It was common knowledge that Roy dated high school girls, everyone we knew thought it was weird…We wondered why someone his age would hang out at high school football games and the mall.”

Tony Hathcock is a photographer in Gadsden who told CBS News that he’s known Corfman well for five years and believes her. They are both very conservative Republican voters, he said, and both voted for Trump. He said she had nothing to gain from speaking out, but felt safe speaking out now because her children are now adults.

So, no. Reasonable minds cannot disagree on Roy Moore. He is an evil and repugnant man with no apparent redeeming qualities. He is a hateful and sleazy man who has preyed on children and routinely abused his powers as a public official to suit his personal desires.
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Many Republicans argue that they still have to vote for him in order to keep the majority in the Senate. I don’t want the Democrats in control of the Senate any more than they do, especially given this once-in-a-generation opportunity to fill the judiciary with good constitutionalist judges.
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But evil is evil and wrong is wrong. Any man who sexually preys on children, uses his public powers to intimidate them, and uses his powers as a judge to shred the Constitution to impose on the people a theocracy rooted in his personal twisted and distorted vision of Christianity is pure evil. And voting for evil is wrong no matter how you try to rationalize it.
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Voting for Roy Moore is not just wrong. It is immoral. And if you are still supporting Roy Moore in spite of all that is now known about him, you too are a terrible and immoral person. It’s just that simple. No wiggle room. No excuses. There are none. If you support Roy Moore, you are a bad person.
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Author: Ken Falkenstein

Ken Falkenstein is the Managing Editor of Committed Conservative and brings a wealth of experience and expertise in public affairs to the job. Ken served in the U.S. Army in the last years of the Cold War as a Russian linguist for military intelligence and the NSA. After leaving the Army, he earned his degree in Secondary Education from Old Dominion University, where he also wrote a popular column in the student newspaper.

Upon graduation, Ken worked as a Legislative Aide to two Republican members of the Virginia House of Delegates. Ken also served as Corresponding Secretary of the Young Republican Federation of Virginia, managed several successful political campaigns, and managed governmental affairs operations for a local Realtor association.

In 1995, Ken moved to Washington, DC to serve as a Legislative Assistant to Sen. John Warner (R-VA). While working for Sen. Warner, Ken attended law school at night, earning his J.D. with honors from the George Mason University School of Law (n/k/a The Antonin Scalia Law School). Since that time, Ken has practiced as a civil litigation attorney, including serving for three years as an Associate City Attorney for the City of Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Ken previously was a contributor to the highly-regarded political blog Bearing Drift and was a weekly co-host of The Steve Batton Radio Program. In 2016, Ken ran unsuccessfully for the Virginia Beach School Board. Ken is also a former President of the Down Syndrome Association of Hampton Roads.

Ken now lives outside of Denver, Colorado with his wife, Kim, and three sons, Adam, Dylan, and Joshua, who has Down syndrome. Ken’s writing is motivated and informed primarily by his concern for his kids’ future.

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