An Important Warning From Alabama

And so Roy Moore's aspirations to become a senator are doused. Many are celebrating. I'm not going to comment on the politicking of the event. Whether one agrees with the platforms or Moore or Jones is not of vital interest to me since I see both parties as being owned by the same elites who are not really interested in the welfare of the citizenry. What is concerning to me is the roll that accusations of what is legally child molestation played in this election.

It should bother every and anybody who is concerned about "justice" and fairness, when anyone can decide, 40 years after the fact to raise accusations of serious legal implications. This is especially true with Moore because those same persons had multiple opportunities to make their claims when Moore was a judge and was in the Alabama and national public eye. It was only after having defeated the party preferred candidate did these accusations become public. To say that this was somehow coincidental is to believe the Brooklyn Bridge is for sale.

But politics is politics. We expect mud slinging. Fine. But what was really at stake here was the inherited idea that a person is innocent until proven guilty. That it is entirely unfair to a person to have accusations leveled against them decades after the alleged event. It is without a doubt that had this ambush not occurred that Moore would now be senator elect of Alabama if for no other reason than that decent people do not like persons who are child molesters. But the thing is, there is no evidence that Moore is or ever was one.

The accusation leveled against Moore was of an event that occurred some 40 years ago. What court can go and find evidence of this event from 40 years ago? What witness is going to be reliable 40 years later? What is worse in this case is that we have an actual forged document. Now lets' be clear about forgery, since if this piece is shared on Facebook, they might flag it as "fake". If a document is modified from it's original form then it is forged. So for example, if I write a check for $100 and fail to sign it and someone signs my signature as if I had done so and passed that off to a bank to cash it, they have forged a document. The entire document doesn't have to be made up from scratch. ANY modification of the document that is presented as if it was the original IS forgery. When the yearbook was presented to the public, the signature of Moore including the "D.A" and commentary was presented as written by Moore. This turns out to be not true. This was admitted to by the accuser 1 week prior to the election. Had this been presented in a trial, the evidence would be thrown out and the jury instructed to disregard. Hence legally there is no grounds to convict Moore. Moore, had he been given his day in court would have been acquitted of any and all charges. However; Moore did not get his day in court and may never get his day in court. Now that he has been defeated at the ballot box, there is no need for his accusers to continue. I expect that they will become silent and the event memory holed at least until Jones is seated. Moore will be permanently stained. And so will the nation.

Why? Because now we have ample evidence that we can accuse people of things and ruin their lives without consequence. The accused, if innocent, will unlikely be able to "prove" their innocence, which itself is a profound shift in American culture, because they will unlike have any evidence. How do you prove you didn't grab a booty? How do you prove you didn't go for that kiss? How do you defend against an "off color" joke that you thought was OK because you thought you had a relationship that allowed for that? What if you DID have a relationship that allowed for that kind of joke but some HR policy (or God forbid actual legislation) allows for someone else to be offended on behalf of the person they think to be the victim to make the accusation? Good luck. Of course businesses keen on reducing their liability for the sake of reputation and insurance premiums, not to mention the EEOC and whatever other 3 and 4 letter organizations that are ready to pounce, will quickly sever ties to the now untouchable.

So whether Jones is best for Alabama is for Alabamans to figure out. They have 6 years to deal with that decision. But the new standard of how to lose jobs and other opportunities is going to be felt by everybody. Because now all of us are officially on notice that a single accusation of something "inflammatory" enough in the minds of HR (if one is subject to an HR) can be the end of one's financial life. If it happens to you and you didn't object, on principle, the way Moore has been treated by the press on the issue, then you got what you didn't care about and have no one to blame but yourself.

PS: Since Alabamans are so against the 30 year old chatting up teenagers, I hope they are consistent and pass legislation that modifies their age of consent laws to address that. Failure to do so will only show just how hypocritical the entire situation is.