MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama voters go to the polls today to elect a new senator to replace Jeff Sessions, who resigned from office in order to become U.S. attorney general in the Trump administration. The liberal news media, reminiscent of the presidential election of 1964, has all but ignored the issues that separate the two major candidates, instead focusing on emotionally laden allegations. In 1964, it was the emotional scare tactic that Barry Goldwater, aka trigger-happy Dr. Strangelove, would recklessly start a nuclear war. In this campaign, it’s a litany of sexual misconduct allegations against the Republican candidate Roy Moore.
If the establishment media had not clouded the issues, this election would not have had much chance of even being close. Judge Roy Moore has a reputation of being a strict adherent to the U.S. Constitution as well as the Constitution of Alabama, and there are many solidly conservative Republican voters in the state. The differences that separate Democratic candidate Doug Jones and Republican candidate Roy Moore can be found easily by comparing their campaign websites:
Healthcare:
On this issue the Doug Jones website says:
Millions of Americans have obtained health care through the Affordable Care Act. Reasonable people on both sides of the aisle know the law, which brought the level of uninsured Americans to a record low, needs improvement.
However, I am disturbed about repeated efforts to repeal the bill or weaken it.
The Roy Moore website is vastly different, stating:
We do not need socialized medicine, which will ultimately lead to loss of quality and affordability of health care, as well as a loss of access to the latest medical technology. Obamacare should be completely repealed as soon as possible.
Perhaps this is one of the reasons why some establishment Republicans are currently joining in the negative campaign activities against Roy Moore. They ran for office saying they’d repeal ObamaCare and were willing to vote to repeal it as long as such votes were ineffective, because of the veto power of a Democratic president. However, now that we have a president who would sign such a law, repealing ObamaCare has become a taboo topic for establishment Republicans on Capitol Hill.
Not all Republicans are in opposition to Moore. President Trump endorsed Moore at a rally the weekend before the election, and conservative Congressman Louie Gohmert came to Midland City, Alabama, where he and Steve Bannon headlined a “Drain the Swamp Rally” on the eve of the election.
Education:
The Doug Jones website states:
We must invest sufficient resources to ensure that our educational system provides the skills, knowledge and tools necessary for our children to succeed in a 21st Century economy. Further, we must focus on life-long training and education that meets the needs of employees and employers as the economy continues to grow and change. Providing a quality education to all children is the key to a long-term thriving economy.
The Moore for Senate website takes a more constitutional position:
The federal government should not hamper the educational systems of the states as there is no authority for federal involvement under the Constitution.
The New American has contacted both these candidates requesting to interview them. As of press time neither had responded. Readers who wish to learn more about these two candidates’ positions on the issues can avoid the media circus and do so at their websites:
https://dougjonesforsenate.com/priorities/
https://www.roymoore.org/Positions/
Two Write-in Candidates Are Running
Libertarian candidate Ron Bishop is running as a write-in candidate because of Alabama’s onerous election laws that stifle third parties from being on the ballot. Bishop told The New American he estimated that the Libertarian Party would have needed about 36,000 validated signatures to get his name on the ballot, and that probably would have required about 50,000 signatures to be obtained and submitted for validation.
Bishop’s positions on healthcare and education are similar to those of Republican candidate Roy Moore. Regarding healthcare, Bishop believes:
The Individual Mandate must be repealed. It is simply wrong that one American is required to buy a product of another American in order to make some convoluted system work.
Bishop’s position on education is:
In a society of free people the government should have no role in education. It should certainly have no role in the development of political philosophy that will be utilized by the people in defining the government. For this and constitutional reasons there is no proper role for the Federal Government in education.
Bishop’s website can be accessed at https://ron-lpalabama.nationbuilder.com/issues.
There is another write-in candidate: Lee Busby. The New American was unable to contact him or his campaign staff. His website is https://electleebusby.com.
Plurality Election
This election is a plurality election rather than a majority election. That means the highest vote-getter wins the election, and there will not be a runoff if the highest vote getter does not get 50 percent plus one vote. The primary elections that preceded this one were majority elections, and that is why there was a runoff for the Republican nomination.
Media Circus Continues
The establishment media in Alabama, as well as nationwide, continue to focus on the emotionally compelling but unravelling allegations of sexual misconduct, rather than report on the issues that separate the candidates. Judge Roy Moore denies all the allegations against, particularly in the case of the Beverly Nelson, who accused him of sexual assault, using an inscription in her yearbook, supposedly by Moore, as proof that they knew each other. Moore has denied writing the inscription, and the campaign has suggested that the signature in the yearbook may have been copied from a divorce decree he issued in Nelson’s divorce (the evidence bears this out). Nelson has admitted, long after attributing the entire inscription to Moore, that part of the inscription (the date and location underneath the signature) in the yearbook was written by her. The Moore campaign has requested that the yearbook be examined by a handwriting expert using the proper rules of chain of custody and other standard legal processes. As of press time, these requests have been denied.
Still the establishment media will not stop focusing on the alleged sexual misconduct and start reporting the news about the all-important topic — namely, what type of voting record the next senator from Alabama will have.
Photo of Birmingham, Alabama: Eric in SF via wikipedia
