PoliColumn

This is from yesterday's Birmingham News: more tales from Alabama:

There is some profoundly symbolical and intensely disturbing about the fact that the Alabama State Legislature has the time and energy not only to pass a resolution declaring a state spirit, but further the gumption needed to override the Governor's veto of that resolution.

I rarely write out of pure frustration, but the State Legislature is constantly luring me in that direction, and this latest example of legislative myopia has raised my hackles. Now, my ire derives not from the fact that Legislature is celebrating an alcoholic beverage, or even that it is endorsing a commercial product-two of the more prominent objections to this resolution. No, my discontentedness stems from the fact that the Legislature hasn't had time to adequately deal with more important measure, such as the various accountability measures proposed by the Governor, not to mention the structure problems of the state's fiscal health.

Time to deal with pressing matters of need in the state? Not so much. Time to address the clear message sent by the voters last year by the defeat of Amendment One? Nope. Time to vote multiple times on the question of the Official State Whiskey? Sure, plenty of time for that.

No wonder most of the citizens of this state treat the State Legislature as a thing from another world.

Indeed, given that some of the favorite imagery in anti-Montgomery TV commercials includes the swilling of adult beverages by cigar smoking politicians, this all fits right in. I suppose the pattern can be completed by adopting an Official State Cigar.

The part that is especially galling is that our legislators seem unaware of the way they are viewed, nor do they appear to care. And more disturbing than that is the fact that the citizens of our state largely ignore the legislature as a sideshow act.

Now, on the one hand, this is the type of rank silliness one expects from legislative bodies. It's the kind of thing that gets resolutions passed in the U.S. Congress declaring "National Marina Day" (August 9, 2026) or "National Inventors Day" (February 11, 2026). For that matter, constituent promotion is an expected outcome of legislative democracy, and had the official spirit vote occurred in the context of an otherwise productive legislative session, I suspect my reaction would have been less intense. However, given that it unclear how we, as a state, are going to respond to the looming budget crisis, and given that the legislature has passed on even debating such issues as altering the Legislative Immunity Clause in the constitution, and a consideration to move the state's presidential primary out of obscurity in June to a more relevant date, among other issues, one begins to wonder if the State Legislature really cares much about the actual problems of the state.

There is a vicious catch-22 going on here. First, the citizens are largely jaded about the efficacy of the government, so they pay it less attention than it deserves. Second, when the Legislature, or state government generally, does something newsworthy it is typically along the lines of this whiskey resolution or about the various ways that state institutions either do not function properly, or waste funds. As a result citizens become less and less engaged in the process, and as that happens legislators become even less accountable.

We suffer under an unwieldy, archaic constitution, face continual budget crises, and rank towards the bottom of all meaningful education rankings It would seem that if the legislature has time to debate official state spirits, and then have the time needed to override a gubernatorial veto, then they might, just might, have time for more pressing needs as well. However, this doesn't appear to be the case. Look for band-aid to treat the gaping wounds in our budget, and a handful of stopgap measures that simply kick the state's problems down the road.

The voters in our state have to wake and recognize that the power to change this nonsense actually belongs to us. We are the collective boss of state government. The problem is that it is difficult to initiate the collective action needed to get the legislature's attention-and the only way to do that is start firing people. New blood is clearly needed in Montgomery across the board.

It is a cliché, but it is true: we expect more from the coaches of the various sports programs at our universities than we do from the legislature. Lose in football and basketball, lose your job. Do nothing in the legislature, keep your job. There is something radically wrong about this juxtaposition.

I will say this for the people's representatives in Montgomery: they did manage to acquire some publicity for the state. During the "Weekend Update" segment of the April 11th episode of Saturday Night Live, Alabama's new spirit was the subject of a joke. Which, not coincidentally, is what the state legislature is acting like these days.

Posted by Steven Taylor at April 19, 2026 08:55 PM | TrackBack