Alabama lawmakers will convene this week in Montgomery for a Special Legislative Session with the sole purpose of passing a balanced budget.
You will hear legislators say there is not enough money to fund the essential services of state government. What they are really saying is they do not have the courage to reform a broken system that was designed by a once-powerful liberal teachers’ union and perpetuated by over a century of Democratic control.
You will hear legislators say they are “fundamentally opposed to raising taxes,” but see no way around it. What they are really saying is they are fundamentally committed to maintaining the status quo, fundamentally committed to funding the bureaucracy.
You will hear legislators say casino gambling is the answer. What they are really saying is they are so desperate to grow the government they are willing to abandon our state’s values and culture to make it happen.
But in addition to those voices, I am confident you will also hear legislators say the people of our state are taxed enough already, and it is time for serious reform. What they are really saying is they have the backbone to stick to their principles.
As I write this, I sit in an airport terminal in a European nation so saddled with debt their socialist leadership is helpless to jumpstart the country’s sluggish economy. This serves as a reminder that no nation — and in our case, no state — has ever taxed itself into prosperity.
Our state faces a crisis, but it is not the trumped up budget crisis many people in Montgomery would have you believe. No, our state faces a crisis of leadership.
Let me speak directly to Alabama’s Republican legislators for a moment.
You were swept into power in 2010 on a platform of “136 years of Democratic control is enough.” To your credit, you kept many of the promises on which you campaigned. You passed tough ethics reforms. You cut wasteful spending. You pushed economic development. You championed school choice.
As a result, you faced an all-out assault in 2014 by special interests so desperate to regain their stranglehold on the state they funneled tens of millions of dollars through a labyrinth of front groups to defeat you.
You won. You overcame adversity, time and time again.
But as Lincoln famously said, “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”
You now have complete power. Whatever happens this week, it will be because Republicans choose to do it.
You have been placed in a unique position at a unique time in our state’s history.
I would argue it’s by God’s design. Others might just call it fate.
Either way, you are the first Alabamians in decades who have the opportunity to bring lasting reform to the state we all love.
What will you do? How will you be remembered?
Will you cave to the pressure of special interest groups and entrenched career politicians — including those in your own Party — or will you lead?
Do not allow the Montgomery Bubble to become a reality distortion field, sealing you off from the people who elected you.
You told us you would reform. You told us you would cut. You told us you would hold the line. You told us you would not raise taxes.
We believed you.
This will be the week we find out if “Republican” really does equal “conservative.”
Don’t. Back. Down.
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— Cliff Sims (@Cliff_Sims) June 9, 2015
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