A commanding majority of Alabama citizens are indisputably conservative and largely Christian. They hold traditional values and cherish liberty, so it stands to reason that Alabama would be a red state. Alabama enjoys a reputation for being a deep red state, and the Alabama legislature fervently wants Alabamians to continue believing that. Why do most folks believe it and is Alabama a truly deep red state? How do we measure a red or blue state? We can examine political make up, economics, and governance.

Republicans obviously dominate the state at all levels. There has not been a Democrat governor in over two decades and that doesn’t seem likely to change anytime soon. After over a century of Democrat domination since the Civil War, the Alabama legislature finally flipped from Democrat to Republican control in 2010 and Republicans have maintained a super majority ever since. Most counties are dominated by Republicans and some counties have no elected Democrats. So, it’s safe to say Republicans completely control Alabama politically.

Economically, Alabama is prosperous and, in some areas, arguably booming. Regularly ranked in the top 3 to 5 states in the automobile industry, Alabama has become an automobile manufacturing powerhouse. The defense, space, and tech sectors in Huntsville continue rapid expansion. Despite the City of Birmingham’s perennial problems, the Birmingham metropolitan area is still thriving. Led by spectacular growth at the Alabama beaches, tourism is relatively robust. The Port of Mobile boasts double digit annual growth for over a decade. Alabama has an undeniable pro-business climate that is demonstrably bearing fruit which is a Republican hallmark.

Vigorous economic growth particularly in manufacturing with good paying jobs benefits all Alabamians, but has Alabama sacrificed the rights of average folks to cater to big business? With Republican super majorities for over a decade, are we enjoying conservative governance?

Beyond solid economic development, what notable accomplishments has Alabama scored for its citizens? Despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars on prisons, we still can’t manage our prisons properly and are under constant threat of federal intervention. Healthcare is vanishing from rural areas, but the state has done little to address this gross deficiency. Apparently inspired by their Democrat roots, Governor Ivey and the legislature imposed a new ten cent tax on gas some years ago, but our roads are still worse than Mississippi.

Not as bad as California or Colorado, Alabama has a persistent homelessness problem, but there is little effort to address it. Alabama spends some $1.3 billion annually on mental healthcare to still have the worst mental healthcare in the nation, but the legislature never asks the hard questions of the state’s mental healthcare monopoly. To add insult to injury, Governor Ivey and the legislature cynically gutted the authority, independence, and purview of the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs to bring them to heel under the boot of the corrupt and ineffective Alabama Department of Mental Healthcare.

President Trump was returned to the White House by winning the working-class vote. He understood that working Americans were left behind by the hedge fund economy and a government catering to illegal immigrants at the expense of legal citizens. His policies are focused on bringing back good paying jobs, stipulating real wage growth, and bringing costs down. The Alabama legislature applauds Trump, but they don’t emulate him.

Bizarrely, it was Democrat Minority Leader Anthony Daniels that introduced and passed the tax cut on overtime pay which greatly benefited Alabama workers, but it will only be effective a short lived 18 months. Unlike Trump, Alabama Republicans oddly declined to stand up for working folks and are letting that tax cut on overtime expire. They claim it would deprive the Alabama Education Trust Fund (ETF) of too much money, but the ETF is flush with cash. In 2015, the ETF was $6 billion and by 2024 it grew to $11 billion and more this year, so in a decade it essentially doubled. Did the quality of Alabama education double over that period?

The short answer is no. Alabama education is still failing most Alabama students, but the Alabama Education Association (AEA) is quite content with fully funded generous retirement accounts. The legislature isn’t particularly curious about the sad state of our schools, but they will take money from workers to keep the AEA well fed.

This is the recurring theme in Alabama politics. Big business, the lobbyists, and special interests always get what they want, but the hard-working taxpayers are told to wait. Some 15 years ago, the people demanded Alabama abandon the Common Core curriculum; the legislature drug their feet, and a decade later just renamed it to hide it. The people have been clamoring for school choice for years. The legislature finally passed a weak program that’s supposed to start this year, but the demand was beyond their meager allotment. So, parents of some 36,000 children have been told to wait while they figure how much they will actually fund for the coming school year.

It was the same during the overblown COVID scare. Was deep red Alabama leading the way like then almost purple Florida? No, Governor Ivey was spewing progressive propaganda blaming the independent minded “unvaxxed.” Alabama workers being penalized asked the legislature to uphold their rights and got little more than a nod.

Alabama is surely run by Republicans and certainly pro-capitalism, so it parades as a red state. However, when it comes to individual liberty, not so much. There are many contributing factors to Alabama’s red in name only problem. One is that state level Republicans are not that conservative in practice or simply weak, and it’s notable that more than a few elected Republicans are former Democrats.

The largest factor is the fact that Alabama has been a one-party state for over a 150 years. Democrats held unassailable power until 2010 when Republicans took over, but the result has been the same. The big business and special interests power structures have remained intact and retained all the power in the state. In short, there is no accountability.

Alabama is not poor and spends a lot of money, but it makes little progress for the working class because the ruling class is satiated. Democrats could do better as the loyal opposition to demand more accountability, but they are in disarray with little power. Alabama just needs to start electing no kidding conservative defenders of liberty and not just mediocre yes men. Pray that true conservatives will run in 2026 and give Alabama a better brand of Republicans.

“Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin” (James 4:17).

Pete Riehm is a Navy Veteran, conservative activist, and columnist in south Alabama. Email him at peteriehm@bellsouth.net or read all his columns at http://www.renewamerica.com/.