Back in the Days of Yore, there was a humbleness of spirit among most Americans, especially those in public life. So humble, in fact, that for roughly fifty years after the election of William Henry Harrison to the presidency, it was nearly a prerequisite to haul faux log cabins around to campaign events to evoke the humble roots of this candidate or that candidate.

After all, ours was a society of citizens –not nobles– who verily grew out of the earth itself. Aside from the vast bulk of society sustaining themselves in bucolic or agrarian pursuits, most all were imbued with the thought that their lives were ephemeral wisps: from Dust were they Made, and Dust they Shall Be…

God did that, you know: Raised Adam from the dust, and blew life into him. Everyone knew it.

So, there it was– a solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short life was lived out, in complete reverence of their Maker. Our republican representatives and leaders rather reflected this fact, for they were made of the same stuff…

For proof of this, simply read any letter written home by a Confederate or Union soldier of the Civil War, and compare it to Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address. There were many allusions shared one to the other, including the finite nature of life, and being on the side of both Righteousness and God.

But for a bit of ego here, or a dash of good luck there, Honest Abe would have remained a debt-ridden country lawyer from Vandalia. He could have been one of a thousand God-Fearing frontier Americans.

We were lousy with ’em.

Most every American knew they were by nature sinful little clay pots, thrown with love by the Great Potter. There were Church Meeting Houses in the townships long before there were schools, and that’s what the children heard from their earliest days: Here today, gone tomorrow. Sinning every step of the way, but thankfully God sent his Son to Make Us Right with Him.

And, so, when folks of this era went to vote, it was with the foreknowledge that they were voting for men that, like themselves, were imperfect, with closets stuffed with sinful skeletons– but that life was an ongoing testimony to the Saving Grace of Christ.

Today, of course, that’s as trite and unctuous as Lester Maddox’s hair.

Lest it be inferred: I am not making excuses for any slimy past behavior on the part of Judge Roy Moore. If he’s like me, there’s some sketchy stuff I wouldn’t want laundered in public, even if all the crap recently released about him isn’t true. What I am saying is: Thank God no one has followed me around with a cam-corder twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week for the last forty years.

Sadly, though, this is the context of public life today: Where was the cam-corder? When was it turned on? Especially if it’s a confessing Christian, the private life can’t possibly match up to the public persona. But, that’s the Enemy’s game-plan: No one can live up to the standard of Christ, right? So, why bother? See? See? What a, a, HYPOCRITE that Roy Moore is!

…even if what is being alleged about him is a damnable smear, so what? Moore is just a Creepy Christian! Damn him for holding a mirror up the broader culture when he’s near on a pedophile!

As I say, there was a time in our not-too-distant past, when all the candidates knew they were Flawed– but were also Saved. Now, we just know we are all flawed, but thank goodness there isn’t any tape of MY flaws…

If I were in Alabama, I would easily and guiltlessly vote for Roy Moore– and not simply because he’s the 51st vote for amorphous policy Republicans can’t nail to a wall anyway.

Rather, I would vote for Roy Moore because he is one of the very few proved men in American public life that has –and will– actually attempt to live out a life imbued with a Christian world-view, and will take actual, personal slings and arrows defending it– when most of the rest of the Republican edifice will fold like a cheap card-table at the first hint of progressive harrumphing.

Am I troubled by the stories about Moore published in Washington Post? Eh, I know the way the Washington Post rolls (John Dean, call your office, someone named “Clout” is asking for you!), and I am more troubled that we as tradtionalists shrink in the face of such smears by known partisan slander-sheets. Further, I see in Judge Moore a man that has remained faithful and committed to his wife and family for nearly four decades, which would put him in rarified company in mainline Republicanism: Everyone from John Kaisich, to John McCain to Carly Fiorina to Karl Rove to Mitch McConnell has infidelity and seedy divorce in their public past.

Roy Moore doesn’t. And yet, he casts no stones.

If Moore did knowingly assaulted a 14-year old girl, that would be disqualifying– particularly if he showed ANY proclivity to engage in such behavior as a married man, even in his distant past. But, the fact is: The only concrete evidence we have regarding his behavior is his decades-long marriage, and a public life of actually taking stands we as conservatives have been demanding our politicians take– and enduring the licks because of it.

Salacious accusations may titillate. But facts and concrete history are better.

As a contrast: When Bill Clinton ran for re-election in 1996, it had been nearly two years after the actual sworn depositions of “Paula” regarding his sexual harassment had been published in the American Spectator– and yet he was re-elected in a rout. The allegations against Moore are just that: Allegations.

The Democrats are simply better at the political game than are traditonalist: They champion their warriors. We shrink from ours.

For the record: I was –and I remain– a man who could not vote for Donald Trump. His worldview, along with his decades of public life bespeak a man of paper-thin egotism and vainglory which made him a detestable human being, let alone an elected leader.

Roy Moore is none of those things.

I would vote for him. Easily.