There is no moral high ground where there is no truth

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the “moral high ground.” A lot of people like to claim it and many others try to apply it to everything in their lives. I may get in trouble for saying this, but that kind of thinking simply doesn’t work. At least it doesn’t always apply.

Now before you curse me and stop reading, listen to this:

* If your abusive neighbor complains about your barking dog, you could yell back at him that his son’s music is too loud, his wife is so ugly she burns your eyes and he needs a muffler on his car, but that would place you on the same moral ground that he’s on. In that case, you can claim the moral high ground by apologizing and taking the dog inside.

* If a strange man sits next to you at a basketball game and starts making racist remarks about the players, you could call him a white supremacist and a bigot and a scum bag and tell him to go back to Mississippi, or you could take the moral high ground and say, “Sorry but I don’t think that way.”

* And if the cashier at the supermarket accidentally gives you too much change, you can call it a financial windfall and go get a couple of beers, or you can take the moral high ground and give the money back.

But if you’re a politician who wants to be elected to office and you think you can do it strictly by claiming the moral high ground, you need to think again. While Party #1 is gerrymandering voting districts to favor its own candidates, passing state laws to suppress the vote from candidates of Party #2, accepting billions of dollars in contributions from wealthy donors to advance their pro-authoritarian agenda, nominating replacement candidates with low or zero morals to speak of and then soliciting and coaching alleged “victims” to plaster your own representatives with lies and distortions, then you can’t afford to sit back and watch from your perch atop the moral high ground, because it’s only going to get worse if you do.

Look, it’s 2017 and the president of the United States is a mentally damaged, intellectually challenged pathological liar with no code of ethics, no true beliefs, no empathy for anyone but himself and no moral compass, and now he’s got the Congress to swim along in his wake as he bashes his way through everything good about America.

Remember Michelle Obama saying “when they go low, we go high?” Well I love Michelle but I beg to disagree. Her platitude might work as the caption on a Norman Rockwell painting but it’s not true in politics today. The Republican Party is protecting Donald Trump and supporting Roy Moore while demanding punishment for Al Franken. They couldn’t possibly go any lower, and yet the best the Democrats can do to “go high” is to force Franken to resign.  

It’s 2017 and the moral high ground is what you teach your grandchildren when they’re still very young and sitting on your lap. It’s something they teach in Vacation Bible School or youth church camp, unless of course you’re a Trump-supporting, Moore-endorsing anti-LGBTQ evangelical Christian whose idea of moral high ground is bigger and bigger houses, more and better private jets and tax breaks for rich white people. It is NOT the way to win elections.

I’m sorry to break the news, but there can be no moral high ground where there is no truth. If you don’t believe me, try this on:

* Donald Trump is accused by at least 16 women of various degrees of sexual harassment, abuse and assault. He even admitted to some of it on tape. His defense? “They’re all liars. It didn’t happen.” So what is the truth?

* Roy Moore is accused of sexually assaulting young girls including a 14-year-old. His defense? “I don’t know these women. I didn’t do it. It didn’t happen.” So what is the truth?

* At last count, Al Franken is accused by eight women of kissing them or some other similar behavior, but it comes out that the one in the infamous photo had been groomed for the role, manipulated by friends of Trump and coached for weeks before leveling her charges at the Democratic senator. So what is the truth?

It seems to me the Republicans got exactly what they needed this week, and it was handed to them on a silver platter by Democrats riding the moral high ground. In this corner you have Al Franken accused of sexual misconduct. If he admits it, he has to resign. If he says it didn’t happen, Republicans can say, “See, that’s exactly what Trump says, and what Moore says, so it’s like we’ve been saying all along. The alleged victims are lying.”

Meanwhile, Trump is in the White House, Moore is probably headed for the Senate and Al Franken has to resign. How’s that moral high ground working out for you?