In the final hour, Roy Moore is down by 10. Is this the end?

A late shocking Fox News poll reported that Moore’s opponent is ahead, 50% to 40%. Along those lines, perhaps in an attempt to cast his lot with the winning team, an opinion columnist at Fox News has concluded that Conservatives should not vote for Moore:

On the other hand, if we do support Moore, the short-term victory will come at a considerable cost to vulnerable women, our own integrity, and the long-term health of the GOP. The moment Moore is seated, his situation almost assuredly will be investigated by the Ethics Committee and might eventuate in a vote to censure or expel him. During mid-term elections, news media “will hang him around the neck of every Republican candidate as Democrats try to drive turnout” among women, independents, and younger voters who rightly think that personal character matters for public office.

A SHOCKING STRATEGY

Here’s a different idea: OK, so let them.

Let there be an ethics investigation.

Let the media spar at him the same way they’ve been sparring with Trump since he won the election. This will further polarize the country, sharpen the battle lines, fracture remaining consensus, and contribute to greater gridlock in government.

That sounds like a bunch of win-wins to me.

If he’s guilty of crimes, then let the Senate produce judicial proceeding and document them in a court of due process.

There’s a fundamental law of economics: when the price of something rises, demand falls. The price of justice is costly. You have to bring proof. There has to be a trial. Let’s put him in office, and then put the burden on the RINOs and Liberals in Congress to toss him out.

Liberals and RINOs realized that calling attention to the fact that Moore spat on federal intrusion when it spat on the Bible was not a winning strategy. So, they dug up accusations of sexual misconduct in an attempt to ruin his character.

STRONG SUPPORT DESPITE THE ACCUSATIONS

Christians are standing by Moore because he is principled in a way that hardly any other public officials are. He believes things, and acts on them with conviction. It is unfortunate that there is controversy surrounding him, but the problem is, there is no ready supply of Christians in government who so clearly see that the Bible remains relevant to politics, not merely the spiritual realm and church.

It’s not like we can just replace Moore with a better-equipped backup. The churches aren’t producing them. They are not preaching to their congregations what the Bible says about modern political issues. The political issues are religious issues: gay marriage, abortion, government welfare. But the pulpits also ought to be preaching on the importance of having a stand-up character. They should be preaching on the immorality of pre-marital sex, the immorality of men using their power to abuse and manipulate women, and the absolute necessity for any Christian to be squeaky clean if they ever want to run for political office. The church ought to be preparing its congregants for careers in politics. This means clearly explaining the foundations of justice and when civil laws are immoral, as well as the importance of having a spotless reputation. But they aren’t.

Roy Moore sees clearly what the foundations for civil law are, and the liberals are doing their best to fight a battle over the rock-hard foundations of justice using the spitballs of political warfare. Moore is standing against this opposition with a sword and battle armor, but he’s worried his supporters are going to strike him down from behind.

We don’t know the truth about what happened 35 years ago, but we do know with judicial certainty what actions Roy Moore took in 2003 and in 2016. Those are facts that are on the record.

WHO WILL REPRESENT YOU

A vote against Moore is a vote for legalized abortion, meaning the legalized murder of unborn babies. The Bible forbids murder. To vote against Moore is to vote against God’s law. It means you want to send a representative to Congress who spits on God’s word. That’s a judicial reality, since we know where Moore’s opponent stands on abortion “rights.”

If Moore is guilty, then let there be a trial to settle the matter. It’s no joke: Christians are really between a rock and a hard spot. The allegations don’t look good at all. If Moore is not squeaky clean, then he has brought this on himself. But the nation is founded upon the right to a fair trial and the promise of due process.

Alabama voters must vote their convictions. But they have to have it clear in their mind what they are voting for, when they cast their vote against Moore on the basis of the accusations made against him.

“It is possible that Moore is innocent,” the Fox columnist wrote. Isn’t that a novel idea? In the absence of a fair trial, in a country whose legal system rests on the principle of innocent-until-proven-guilty, he says it is possible that Moore might be innocent.

How about this: don’t take the plea bargain. Make the system work for its conviction. That would be a strong message to send to the media muckrakers. Raise the price of discrediting our candidates.

Why not fight?

And let this also send a message to the Church: raise up men whose character matches their biblical convictions. The stakes are too high. The liberals don’t judge us by their standard — Bill Clinton, Ted Kennedy — rather, they judge us by our own.