Opinion - Josh Moon: Alabama does not deserve better than Gov. Bentley

Alabama does not deserve better than Robert Bentley.

As a number of the state’s Republican Party politicians called on the Republican governor to resign over the latest revelations of his “inappropriate relationship” with a staffer, they mostly did so by reasoning that the Alabama voters “deserve better.”

Time and again, that line has been repeated by politicians, newspaper columnists and average voters – the people of the state deserve better, they say.

But they’re wrong.

The people of this state do not deserve better. The people of this state are getting exactly what they deserve, because the people of this state have, time and again, ignored reasonable, smart candidates – both Republican and Democratic – to vote for pandering, ignorant Neanderthals who profess loudly their morally superior character and promise wholly unconstitutional and un-American intentions.

Editorial: Bentley should resign

The people of this state have elected men and women who ignorantly turn down billions of dollars in health care for the poorest citizens, who routinely set up deals that provide tax riches to those who need it least at the expense of those who need it most, and who have thumbed their noses at the idea of a separation of church and state – unless that church is non-Christian, of course.

And where has that all gotten us?

You have a family values governor who has the worst phone sex tape ever recorded and is on the verge of being forced out of office.

The Speaker of the House is indicted on 23 felony counts, and while a court decision awaits, it would seem impossible that he can avoid a guilty verdict on at least two of those charges.

The state’s attorney general’s office is in shambles, having fired people left and right over the last two years because they tried to secretly aid the Speaker in his defense and the tactics of the prosecutor in the case have come under serious question.

The state’s supreme court is a joke, with a chief justice who routinely seeks to violate the U.S. Constitution and another justice who gave a radio interview about a case the court was considering.

Montgomery Co. Republicans call on Bentley to resign

Another Republican lawmaker was caught up in the Speaker’s shenanigans, pleaded guilty and resigned.

The state’s budget is so screwed up by a tax structure that takes more from some of the lesser earners than it does from the top earners that we needed two expensive special sessions during the last legislative cycle to create an awful budget, and another special session is looming this year.

The state’s Public Service Commission is actively serving the businesses it should be regulating instead of the public it should be serving.

And the leadership of this state has embarrassed us all on a national scale numerous times, as they chased away immigrants with an unconstitutional bill, tried to chase away scared refugee women and children because they were too stupid to understand basic facts or simply didn’t care about them, and prevented scared migrant children from living on the state’s military bases because … honestly, I don’t even know why.

This is what the morally superior, Christian conservative vote has brought to this state.

State Auditor sends report on Bentley to Ethics Commission

We are worse in every way possible. And now, we are being embarrassed on a daily basis by these people, who mostly seek to serve their own greed and egos.

The confusing thing about it all is that despite the overwhelming number of people who claim to be inside a Christian church every time the doors are open, and who can recite on request obscure Bible verses about homosexuality being an abomination, somehow, they overlooked dozens of verses that warn believers to be wary of those who profess their faith with their mouths and not with their deeds.

Which has left us with this bit of irony: For all the hand-wringing and worry about gay marriage, abortion and welfare destroying the America that Christian conservatives love, the real problem was one of the most common warnings mentioned in the holy book their politicians love to wave. Instead of being wary of the wolf in sheep’s clothing, they put the wolves in charge.

And in the end, Alabama is getting exactly what it deserves.