Here come da judge!

Three cheers and a tiger for Judge Roy Moore!!! To no-one's surprise (except perhaps the Republican establishment), the firebrand former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court soundly defeated Senator Luther Strange in a special primary runoff yesterday.

Since Alabama is about as solidly Republican as it's possible to be, Judge Moore's election to the United States Senate in December is now just a formality.

The New York Times calls the outcome of the closely watched race "a humbling blow to President Trump and other party leaders days after the president pleaded with voters in the state to back Mr. Strange." It is not.

To be sure, Judge Moore was opposed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republican grandees who have opposed and obstructed President Trump. What was strange (pun intended) was Mr Trump's endorsement of Senator Strange. It's never easy to read the President's mind, but I think we can put this down to loyalty. During his short term in the upper house of Congress, Senator Strange was a strong supporter of the President, voting the right way as and when required. The President's endorsement recognized that.

But... a couple of days ago President Trump uttered an aside -- almost a throw-away line -- to the effect that his endorsement of Judge Moore might have been a mistake. I don't think it was. I think (and I am waiting for Scott Adams to say something similar) that Mr Trump gave Senator Strange his stamp of approval knowing that doing so would: a) placate the Republican establishment and show himself to be a team player, b) confuse the progressives and snowflakes who can't imagine voting for anyone that Mr Trump likes, and c) fire up the populists and hard right (Hello, Steve Bannon!) and make them work even harder to get Judge Moore elected. Which is exactly what happened!

To me, the selection of Judge Roy Moore bodes well for the future of the USA since it shows that voters are not as concerned as the liberals, SJWs and lamestream media... not to mention the United States Supreme Court... about the separation of church and state. Judge Moore stood up for Christian values -- the values on which America was founded -- on issues such as "gay marriage". In 2014, in an interview with AP, he declared, "The moral foundation of our country is under attack," and that the "government has become oppressive, and judges are warping the law."

Judge Moore is also famous for his refusal to remove from his courtroom a plaque showing the Ten Commandments. (The statue shown in the picture came later.) He told the Montgomery Advertiser that his intention in hanging the plaque was to indicate the importance of the laws given by God to man. It was not his intention to create controversy, he said, but "I wanted to establish the moral foundation of our law."

What is law but the expression of a set of principles and beliefs? Certain things are right; certain things are wrong. The question to be answered is which set of principles and beliefs should have the force of law in our society.

Do you want to live your life according to the customs and practices of Islam? Then you have no problem with Sharia law (but see "Sharia Law: Saudi king pardons gang-rape victim", WWW 26/9/17). Do you think the code of laws which govern our daily behaviour should have no reference to any religious creed? What you want then, is a legal code based on secular humanism, which is just as much a religion (belief system) for the liberals and progressives as Islam is for the Muslims or Christianity for traditional Catholics and evangelical Protestants.

Judge Moore stands for and stands up for the old-time religion, the Christian values on which the USA was founded, which, if restored to their rightful place in its courts and legislatures can indeed Make America Great Again. God bless him!