Since coming up with this idea for The Bluestone Project, I have yet to meet someone that doesn’t immediately know what I mean by “divided nation.” I make no secret of my own beliefs, because I hope that you and I can discuss our similarities and our differences. I hope we can understand the other’s actions, but something stopped me in my tracks recently, and I think it sums up our current, moral predicament.
In light of allegations that Roy Moore actively sought out and performed indecent acts with underage girls– some of them as young as 14 years old, and against their will– Alabama Governor Kay Ivey has said YES, she believes the women who came forward as victims. She believes that Roy Moore pursued, and sometimes accosted them, but she is still voting for him, because he is a Republican.
This website with a right-center bias, according to Media Bias/Fact Check, says it here.
Allegations against politicians, and the endless debates of “did-they-didn’t-they” have been going on for eternity. Yet, here we are, hearing that the first female Governor of Alabama in almost 50 years believes the allegations to be true, but will still vote for Roy Moore, because “Republican” is more important than “statutory rapist and child molester”.
Yes, I left “alleged” off there, because Governor Ivey believes that these girls were molested. Governor Ivey believes these stories. To her, Moore is a child molester.
I’ve heard enough voices to know the quick response, saying, “What about Senator Al Franken, he assaulted people,” and “Bill Clinton did X and Y.” All I can ever say to this is, what does one person who may have hurt people have to do with anybody else who also may have hurt people?How is that an excuse to do nothing?
One is a Republican, the other is a Democrat. Our political divide is so entrenched that we’ve come back around to the ancient Code of Hammurabi, where an eye for an eye is justice. Our country has reached a point where anything, and apparently I mean anything, is better than identifying with that other side. Rape and molestation can be considered forgivable crimes, so long as the person committing those acts falls within our political label.
I have zero doubts that you’ve heard the expression, “An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind,” but who can take the first step towards healing this divide, when any concession towards the other side feels like a betrayal of your own? Is this who we are? Is this what it means to be an American right now, and most importantly, is this who you want to be?
I don’t.
My last post was about accepting responsibility for the issues facing our country today. Now, I invite everyone currently reading to extend an olive branch across that divide to somebody you think will never understand your viewpoints, because you cannot understand theirs. Nobody said this was easy, but otherwise, we’re all stuck on different sides of the No Man’s Land in some great cultural war. And if we’re willing to compromise our own morals enough to side with a believed-molester, then I have to wonder what else we’re giving up.
The Bluestone Project 