As I turned on All Things Considered on NPR, Debbie Elliott was talking to Robert Siegel about the senate race between Judge Roy Moore and Doug Jones. I was anxious and my stomach was somewhat queasy. I desperately wanted Doug Jones to win, but that wasn't it. I had no clue whether or not the allegations about Judge Roy Moore seeking out teenage girls sexually in the 1980s were true. I wasn't even overly concerned about them. People change, and that was a long time ago. As a Christian, I believe in the atonement, of redemption, of turning around one's life, and moving on. No, what bothered me was that although he was denying the allegations, the allegations could very well be true, and yet all those self-proclaimed Christians appeared to be willing to vote for him, not because they knew he was innocent, but because they could not bring themselves to vote for a Democrat. Their political identity seemed to be stronger than their moral identity. They were more concerned about their party losing a seat in the senate than the trauma of a fourteen year old girl. They had become more focused on the large picture than the fate of the individual players. They had become more concerned about the machinery of the senate than the worthiness of the office holders. Life had been reduced to a game of political strategy.
I feared a society where we lose sight of individuals. Sure, Judge Roy Moore might be innocent. He could be the victim of political mischief, but what about those girls? A fourteen year old girl cannot consent to something so life-changing as sex. At that age, you try on a new personality every day. Statutory rape is rape for a reason. Power dynamics. Kids are not adults. It seemed many voters in Alabama were willing to possibly place an unrepentant predator in office just so the other party didn't gain political leverage. To me that was an omen of worse times to come. I felt the democrats were a little better on that front, but not much. As a country, we were losing sight of the sacredness of the individual. We were acting like wolves, our brains seemingly hard-wired to small allegiances, such as party affiliation, above overarching universal cultural values. The phrase I'm avoiding is, we were acting tribally. It's not that tribal societies aren't guilty of what we call tribalism, it's that tribal used that way is a pejorative term because nation states don't behave any differently.
Of course, it could be some Judge Roy Moore voters just felt he should be given due process. I get that. It's just that, from the various radio interviews I'd heard, that didn't seem to be the case. He wouldn't have had a chance if there had been a Republican alternative. Voters in Alabama considered themselves to be choosing the lesser of two evils. How messed up is that? The thought that It's better to put a child molester in office than a Democrat. To me, it was a clear sign of a broken nation, a complete failing of democracy on so many levels, the two most important being: first, the political parties had demonized the opposite ideology to the point where voters would rather support a possible pedophile over a candidate from the other team; second, the nation seemed to have forgotten that democracy and a one-party system are in fact incompatible. Each party needs the opposing party if our representative system is going to stay intact. It is having a choice between divergent views that makes our system work. No divergent views, no choice; no choice, no liberty.
For the first time in my life, I felt the fabric of my country was coming unraveled. Not because of this one election. Not even because the election of Donald Trump. It had been building for some time, going way back to Newt Gingrich's war on public television back in the 90s. But it was so exaggerated now. Perhaps that is why I had wanted to buy an ice cream truck and give ice cream to the world. I just wanted some way to bring us all together again.
I realized then though how immature my thoughts were. Besides, what impact did I ever have on the world? None. That would never change. Nothing had always been my world. Nothing would remain. That was okay. I'd grown to love insignificance. Outside my job, I had little pressure. I had my garden in the summer, and in all seasons I could take a walk up the canyon whenever I wanted to. I had an amazing family. What more could anyone want?
I felt an enormous sense of relief. I would not have to bring up the ice cream truck issue with Marci again after all. Reason had prevailed. I was free, saved from momentary ambition.
