In the end, it didn’t matter whether Americans-at-large believed the multiple women who accused senatorial candidate Roy Moore or believed his repeated denials. What mattered was that enough Alabama voters believed the accusers, or at least had sufficient reasonable doubt, to hand a surprising victory to Democrat Doug Jones — this in a state that lies within the reddest stretches of the American political spectrum.
While the final votes have yet to be counted, it strongly appears that a majority of Alabamans wanted to state clearly that credible charges of sexual misconduct — even if unproven and even if the alleged offenses took place decades ago — constitute a moral line that shall no longer be crossed. Among the voters of Alabama, this surely included a significant number of Republicans who either voted for Jones directly, wrote in their own GOP candidates or simply stayed at home last Tuesday.
The significance of this should not be underestimated. It suggests that a great many Americans, regardless of political party or geographical location, have taken a firm stance against sexual harassment, molestation and abuse — a red line long overdue in our culture.
Whether due to the fortuitous, massive and egregious revelations about the ignominous Harvey Weinstein, to the subsequent #MeToo movement or to the fact that the victims’ frustration has simply reached critical mass, it is a welcome development that will ultimately prove redemptive and healing.
On a purely political level, Doug Jones’ victory over Roy Moore might also have certain healing properties in our divisive political era, albeit in an ironic way.
Democrats rejoiced this week in their victory in a traditionally Republican state and the narrowing of the partisan gap in the US Senate. Most Republicans, while sorry about the electoral loss, nonetheless breathed a collective sigh of relief that they won’t have to undergo the painful process of trying to oust Moore from the Senate on their own or carry the unsavory political baggage that his victory would have thrust upon their shoulders.
Democrats and Republicans satisfied simultaneously, and by the same development? How often does that happen these days?
Copyright © 2017 by the Intermountain Jewish News
