On this Sunday Discussion, I wanted to talk about the chaos inside the circus otherwise known as the Alabama Legislature. In the last seven days, Medicaid was almost killed in Alabama, Forever Wild was almost killed, not one tax increase made it out of committee, and no one can agree on a General Fund budget. I mean come on, do you really think anything good will come out of a group of clowns and circus performers? Instead of making Alabama better, the clowns have been herding the elephants, performing corrupt dance moves, and shooting out of the circus cannon, many times!
So, I am styling this post as if you were inside an arena and watching a circus performance. Instead of seeing professional circus performers, pretend that you were instead seeing our legislators in the place of the performers. The clowns are the lawmakers who are funny, I mean clowns are supposed to be funny and do silly things. Do you see some comparisons here, I do! But that’s not all, the dancers and artists in the circus act are the state employees who are being told what to do by the clowns. The elephants in the circus show are the people following the clowns around. And of course, the ringmaster is Governor Bentley, who is having a very hard time controlling the circus!
So I wanted to talk about five things I feel like would move the Alabama circus act to a better place. A place where the economy is better and people are not poor and struggling. In this Alabama circus act, the audience is the poor and disabled, who are forced to pay to watch a circus train wreck! And for the audience, you can’t skip this circus act, you are forced to pay and watch! What would be the first thing I would change in the Alabama circus act? For starters, some major tax reforms! In the current circus act, the poor and disabled are forced to pay a huge ticket price, or taxes, to watch circus performers who do a terrible job making people smile and laugh.
So for starters, I would lower the ticket prices, or the taxes, for the poor and disabled and also not force them to pay and watch this circus act. Instead, I would start up a tiered ticket price system, where the rich have to pay a much higher ticket price, or taxes to watch this circus show. For the poor and disabled, they would pay a much lower ticket price, or taxes. I would do this by reforming the property tax system Alabama has currently. It’s long time for the property taxes, especially those with large timber holdings and farms, to pay their fair share! In fact, if Alabama doubled their property taxes, the state would still have one of the lowest property taxes in the United States.
Second, a circus act usually has ways where you can pay extra to enjoy a better circus experience. In this instance, it would be a lottery and gambling. Right now, every state surrounding Alabama has some type of gambling, from a lottery, to casinos. And every time the jackpots go sky high, people drive to the neighboring states to get lottery tickets. That is money which is leaving Alabama! Why does Alabama not have a lottery and gambling? Is the circus too afraid that the circus boss, or God, will come and strike down on you? It’s long time for Alabama to allow a lottery and casino gambling. It would be a gamechanger for the state, and the state would have more revenues! More revenue would be good for the circus as well.
Third, the circus currently has clowns who are doing some very naughty things. These clowns are saying cuss words, or giving the middle finger, or even taking their clothes off. In comparison, there are lawmakers who should have already stepped aside, especially the speaker of the house who is facing 20+ corruption charges. The state has several lawmakers who only cares about power, and who cares about getting in trouble with the law, they will keep that power until they are dragged out. Kind of like this circus, where the clowns will continue to do bad things until the police come in and drag them out. Doing any naughty things should never pay, even in this circus act, or even in the legislature.
Fourth, this circus act has a Yelp page! And the Yelp reviews are in, and they are very bad! But who cares about those Yelp reviews, the circus will continue to do what they are known to do, even if it harms their business. Kind of like the legislature! Where the calls to change the current status quo is growing, but nothing is being done to make the legislature a better place, instead you keep seeing the name calling and punches being thrown because of anger. If this circus act wants to get better Yelp reviews, it should change up what they are doing so people have a better experience at the show, just like the legislature! How about having the courage to change something up? It won’t kill you to do it!
And lastly, the circus act has too many businesses and sponsors who are controlling the strings and telling the circus what to do. The sponsors want more clowns, and more elephants and cannon shots, something the public does not want to see! The public wants to see something new and awesome! And in comparing this to the legislature, the sponsors are the lobbyists and businesses who are controlling the legislators. They are telling the lawmakers what to do, and if they don’t do it, they pull their financial support to them. And we all know that money is everything these days, especially in elections! So the legislators just follow the herd, and don’t have the guts to something different! It’s time to try something new!
So there you have it! I have just compared the Alabama Legislature to a circus act, and it is a very truthful statement! Which clowns do you have more trust in? The ones you see in a circus act, or the ones down in Montgomery making all the rules? I know that answer; I would rather see the clowns perform in a circus act. The clowns in the legislature are just in disguise, and would do anything possible to make the poor and disabled hurt even more!
Related articles
