Doug Jones' win over the odious Roy Moore is good news, yes, but the particulars of the race bode ill for the health of our two-party system.

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Tuesday night was definitely one for the books: a nail-biting photo finish that saw the lead go back and forth a time or two, until Doug "Left Jab" Jones managed to surge ahead of Roy "Molester" Moore, and stay there.

The initial response is one of surprise and elation. A lot of Jones' supporters -- either unconvinced by the polls, or afraid to believe them after the fiasco of 2016 -- were convinced it was going to be a sad evening, filled with gloating from the usual rightward suspects.

Instead, we have a sigh of relief. We have a Senate that is in play, again. We have a sensible, well-meaning Democrat on board in a body that desperately needs a voice of reason.

And we have the satisfaction of giving Steve Bannon and the Trumpster Fire in Chief a big old middle finger.

(Trump's first tweet on the subject was surprisingly cordial. One wonders if he actually wrote it.)

That's the good news. But there is a big heap of nasty, badly-done spinach to go with our electoral steak.

Put bluntly - it shouldn't have come to this.

There is no reason that Roy Moore -- a loony crank whose understanding of the Constitution is, frankly, laughable -- should have been on that ballot. The debacle over the Ten Commandments was bad enough, but his other antics on the bench were sign of his inability to govern within the law.

With each new pronouncement from his camp, in the waning days of the race, his true ugliness became clearer and clearer. Were we really better off during the era of slavery? Would we be served well by denying women the right to vote? Were trans people and gays really to blame for all our problems?

And yes, there's that thing about underage women. Oddly enough, that didn't seem to diminish his support too much.

And that's the really troubling thing, here. A historically illiterate, constitutionally challenged troll who'd been thrown off the Alabama Supreme court not once but twice, and had numerous issues concerning his sexual behavior -- some if it with minors -- was somehow neck-and-neck with a fairly middle-of-the-road Democrat for most of the night.

It should not even have been close. It should have been a cakewalk for Jones. Moore should have been pasted into glue.

Instead, he enjoyed a real race -- one that came with the support of many establishment Republicans, who at first waffled when presented with his sexual peccadillos, but then came around as the time came closer.

We expected such idiocy out of 45. We didn't expect it from the so-called leaders of the American conservative movement.

To be fair, saner heads from that side of the aisle did poke their heads above water to say "no." The National Review cried enough, as did Michael Steele and Alabama's other Senator, Richard Shelby.

But they were some lonely voices crying from the wilderness, and their warnings were largely written off as the bleating of treacherous RINOs, left behind by the Trump brigade.

And that's the real problem, here. In the current age of American politics, it seems that the conservative side of the equation is willing to back anyone -- no matter how damaged, broken, or odious -- provided they're not a Democrat.

That is not a good sign.

To succeed, both streams of American thought -- conservative and progressive -- need to be present, otherwise things quickly get out of balance.

Both streams also need to be run in a relatively sane, well-considered manner. Cranks and kooks will always be there, and sometimes may be right, but there should be limits as to what a party will tolerate.

This race has shown us, unequivocally, that the Republican party will not only tolerate someone like Roy Moore running for the Senate, but that its leadership would actually cheer him on, and its people would vote for him in nearly-victorious numbers.

That's a terrifying omen of bad things to come. And while the Left might be able to cheer for having won -- and use this as a bell to hang around the necks of all Republicans for some time to come -- this election shows that one side of our national conversation has lost a good deal of the morality it claims to champion.

Hopefully this acts as a signal to the saner heads to begin the process of weeding out this victory at all costs mentality, and get back to some basic decency and principles. But given the tenor of our political discourse, this may just be sign that next time they need to find a bigger, better Roy Moore to trundle out in front of the voters -- warts and all.

Hopefully next time he'll date older women.

Authors Website: http://rant-farm.blogspot.com/

Authors Bio:

J. Edward Tremlett is a lot of things, currently. He's back in the states after a seven-year stint in Dubai, UAE. He's been published in such diverse places as The American Partisan, the International American, The End is Nigh, Pyramid Magazine and Worlds of Cthulhu.

He's proudly in the thrall of the evil people who make bad things happen all around the world. He gets paid to shill for them on sites just like this, and is well-paid to do so. He also stole your car, ate your lunch, and had an amazing time with your lover while you were at work. But don't tell anyone. The machine is listening, always.

Please be aware that numerous things that are said are not to meant be taken seriously. Please be aware that serious things that are said are meant to be taken numerous ways. Please be seriously numerous with those things that are meant but not said, rather than said but not meant. Please be. : )