In the court of public opinion, I see myself as a juror with the exact same responsibilities as a juror in a court of law. The question, though, is not whether or not someone will go to prison, the question is whether or not I, as a juror, will vote to sentence someone to historical infamy.

This is why I was probably the only guy (other than the suits at NBC) who believed Brian Williams deserved a second chance. This is why I refuse to write off Bryan Singer, Woody Allen, George Takei, Charlie Sheen, and Roy Moore — all of whom have faced accusations involving the worst kind of misconduct.

It is indecent and immoral to signal your own virtue, to surrender to the left, to join a political lynch mob, when the benefit of the doubt exists. And in the case of all those listed above, it does.

Moreover, these tribal political lynchings can lead to terrible things, like what happened in Alabama Tuesday night.

The Republican in-fighting, what Roy Moore’s loss means for 2018, the top five winners-and-losers, that is all mental masturbation in the face of the Big Picture, the existential battle for the God-given rights of the smallest and most vulnerable minority in history — the individual.

As I wrote last week, I do not agree with what Roy Moore believes about homosexuals; that gay sex should be criminalized. And I do not agree with what he believes about Muslims; that they should not allowed to serve in public office. Nevertheless, too many within the Republican establishment (and in Alabama) fell for the media narrative that said those beliefs are disqualifiers for public office.

Sorry, no — no, they are not. In a perfect world we might have the luxury to aspire to such pure ideals, but we do not live in a perfect world. Rather, we live in a world where Democrats and the media are on a secular crusade to crush the individual and strip us of our civil rights.

For anyone concerned with personal freedom — the very issue that must be, by a wide margin, the highest priority of every good American — supporting and voting for Roy Moore should have been the easiest choice in the world. Because the alternative, the reality of life in a country where Democrats and their media run things, is unthinkable.

Roy Moore is not perfect, far from it; and his views on gays and Muslims prove he is far from perfect on important issues of personal freedom. But look at his opponent’s horrific record on civil rights…

Christian bakers and florists forced by the state to participate in the sacramentalization of sin that is a same-sex wedding.

Your young daughter exposed to the mentally ill men sharing her bathroom.

Gun confiscation.

Christians forced to pay for and supply birth control and abortion pills.

All of us forced to purchase overpriced, government-regulated health insurance.

The left’s tip-of-the-spear in the form of online Social Justice Warriors bullying a troubled porn star into performing with men who have sex with other men.

A fascist media and online mob shaming entertainers like Taylor Swift for not condemning President Trump.

The boycotts and hate campaigns to put pizza parlors out of business over religious beliefs that reach back to Moses.

Waves of unskilled Democrats invading our country by both legal and illegal means to serve only one purpose: cancel out our vote.

From conception-to-partial-birth, abortion is the most appalling act of violating an individual’s civil rights imaginable.

We live in the real world, a world where elections have consequences, where those consequences become more alarming by the day as Democrats and their media move to the hard left. In this real world, the choice between living under the yoke of what I have listed above and a Roy Moore, is not even a choice.

Not that he ever expressed any serious desire to, but it also matters that Moore had zero chance of instituting his most noxious beliefs. It is simply a fact that while Democrats have abandoned the ideals of personal freedom found in classical liberalism, most of us on the right have seen the light and filled that space. We are now the champions of live and let live, a fight we will lose if we lose sight of it in the fog of purity and ego.

Democrats and the media are thisclose, are just one presidential election and one Supreme Court pick away from instituting their secular theocracy. After Alabama, they are even closer.

If we do not keep our eyes on the civil rights prize, all is lost.

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.