Do we want a governor who is willing to take a stand against radical Islam, even when the media attacks him for it? Or do we want one who is so afraid of offending someone or losing a vote that he shrinks back when the pressure comes?

That is a question Alabama voters should ask before November 3.

No matter what your feelings are about Tommy Tuberville, one thing is undeniable, the man is willing to take a stand.

Again and again, Tuberville has gone to the Senate floor to sound the alarm about radical Islamic extremism and the influence of Sharia law. He has been mocked, condemned and called a bigot.

He hasn’t backed down.

In January, Tuberville warned, “The enemy is now inside the gates.” In July, he returned to the Senate floor and argued that Americans have spent too long tiptoeing around this issue because politicians are terrified of making someone uncomfortable.

That is vintage Coach Tuberville. You may not always like the play call, but nobody has to wonder which team he is coaching.

And right now, Alabama needs leaders who are willing to say what they believe and stand behind it.

Tuberville has supported legislation aimed at preventing Sharia based discrimination and has repeatedly argued that there can be only one supreme civil law in America, the Constitution.

Contrast that with Doug Jones.

Jones has attacked Tuberville’s approach as politics based on “division and fear” and accused him of religious bigotry.

That gives Alabama voters a remarkably clear choice.

One candidate believes radical Islamism deserves aggressive confrontation. The other believes Tuberville’s rhetoric is part of the problem.

I know where I stand.

This is not about treating peaceful Muslim Americans poorly.

Americans should never mistreat someone simply because he or she is Muslim. But let’t be clear, tolerance does NOT mean surrender.

Religious freedom does not require Americans to abandon the culture, laws and constitutional principles that define this country. 

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Look at the bitter debates across Europe over immigration, assimilation, extremism and competing cultural values. America should learn from those problems instead of waiting until they become ours.

Tuberville has put his position plainly, “Assimilate or go home.”

That message will offend some people.

Leadership sometimes does.

What should frighten us more than an offended voter is a politician who becomes too frightened to speak.

Alabama voters must also reject the dangerous assumption that none of this matters because “Alabama will always be red.”

There is no such thing as an automatic election.

Doug Jones has already won statewide in Alabama once. Republicans who stay home because they assume somebody else will vote are gambling with the future of this state.

This election is bigger than Tuberville versus Jones. It represents two fundamentally different approaches to leadership.

Do we confront dangerous radical ideologies before they gain greater influence, or wait until confronting them becomes politically convenient? Do we insist that newcomers assimilate into America’s constitutional culture, or become so afraid of offending people that we stop defending our own?

Tommy Tuberville has made his position unmistakably clear. Whether you agree with every word he uses or every position he takes, you cannot accuse him of hiding from the fight.

Now Alabama voters must make their position equally clear.

On November 3, stand up. Show up. Vote.

Freedom is much easier to defend today than it is to recover tomorrow.