A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the tipping point in sexual abuse, and I wasn’t optimistic that society has made it there yet.
However, events in Alabama today revealed that several tipping points might have been reached. And a few others probably haven’t, no matter how strong the evidence is.
- Politicians (especially right wing ones) may have finally realized that there is a point at which the people will not take their politicking any more. That is the point where they sacrifice common decency for political gain. I know, common decency isn’t very common nor often as decent as we would like, but the weight of public opinion has most definitely shifted.
- Democratic supporters (in Alabama, anyway) realized that coming out once or twice and voting for Barack Obama wasn’t good enough. The good fight has to be fought every day, every year.
- Democratic politicians may be learning that they shouldn’t take the votes of the black, Hispanic, and poor folk for granted. They actually have to do something for them to earn their vote. Doug Jones said as much in his victory speech.
- Donald Trump probably didn’t learn anything. Well, maybe he’ll realize that he shouldn’t have wasted the “Embassy Move to Jerusalem” scandal on a low-news week. That sort of distraction would be pretty welcome at the White House tomorrow.
- There is an exhaustion level that the public will not pass. All the Republicans who cast write-in votes were tired of the politicking. Note the statistics:
- Democrats – 50%
- Republicans – 48.4 %
- Yogi Bear and all the other write-ins – 1.7%
Twenty thousand people couldn’t bear to vote for the sexual predator, no matter how much they needed that Senate seat. They were so tired of it, they gave up.
- Republicans are finally figuring out that supporting Trump will not help their political careers. It has been observed that the Democrats could not impeach Richard Nixon. It was only once the Republicans started to see him as a liability with the voters that he got boosted out of office. Could this be the beginning of the end? Dream on.
- I certainly hope that most people got the idea that there should be a division between the church and the state. When the loser refused to give up because “it’s in God’s hands,” it was pretty obvious where he thought his support was coming from. It certainly wasn’t from the voters. One candidate is talking about getting people together for the good of the state and the country, and the other is asking God to overturn the vote of the people. Well, you call it.
- And here’s the unfortunate one. The Republicans will have learned that they can’t count on their usual batch of good old boys to win elections, and will be much more careful in who they choose to run. This is bad for Democratic chances in the 2018 Senate elections, but good for the United States in the long run. When it becomes not politically correct to be a rapist, we begin to have hope for politics, and maybe, some day, hope for the victims of abuse.
- Everybody has learned that denying sexual harassment and abuse doesn’t cut any ice any more. If a good old boy with the support of the president can be defeated in Alabama, there has to be a reason for it. Could it be his sexual assault habits? (Oh, yes, and maybe the will of God, of course.)
And that may be the most important tipping point of all.