Without a doubt, the biggest issue our state is facing is creating jobs and getting our economy back on track.
Recent reports show that our statewide unemployment rate is at 6.3 percent, which represents more than 134,000 Alabamians who can’t find a job.
We have seen thousands of jobs leave the state, while the jobs that we have been creating do not pay a livable wage or come with benefits.
Alabama’s textile industry – one of the largest segments of our economy – has been decimated, while plants, mills and factories across the state have been closing shop.
Recently, International Paper announced they are closing their mill in Lawrence County – one of three mills owned by International Paper in Alabama. This closure will cost the state 1,100 jobs.
Our construction industry is hemorrhaging jobs at a faster rate than nearly every other state in the country. In 2011, we lost 2,700 construction jobs in one month alone!
Under Gov. Bob Riley’s leadership, Alabama granted over a billion dollars in tax incentives to ThyssenKrupp to bring a steel plant to Mobile. After less than two years in operation, ThyssenKrupp closed the plant and is now trying to sell it to the highest bidder.
Over the past three years, our state has lost nearly 6,500 education jobs, including 2,000 teachers, and lost 3,000 state employee jobs. State leaders have celebrated these job loses, which they call “rightsizing.” But these state leaders don’t seem to understand that these educators and state employees are customers and taxpayers that our economy relies on.
The loss of these jobs has had a devastating impact on our economy. What makes it worse is that what few jobs we are creating are not the kind of jobs that pay a livable wage or come with benefits like health insurance or a retirement plan.
For example, Medicaid enrollment in Alabama has gone up 20 percent over the past five years, which means that the jobs we are creating do not come with benefits like health insurance.
Another indicator is the rise in the number of Alabamians receiving food stamps. Over the past five years, food stamp enrollment has increased 61 percent, which means that the jobs we are creating don’t pay enough to feed a family of four.
At the same time, state leaders have cut funding for education by more than 20 percent over the past five years.
Alabama’s economy is struggling because we have relied on low-skill, low-wage jobs as the backbone of our economy. Now these jobs are being shipped overseas or are being phased out of existence.
The jobs that are being created in this country now require a higher degree of education and training. That is why so many businesses look at Alabama and then move on.
With one of the largest high school dropout rates in the country, and with fewer than 24 percent of Alabamians holding a college degree, it is becoming increasingly difficult to recruit business and industry to Alabama. These businesses need a workforce that is able to do the high-skilled jobs they offer, and that requires education.
If we are going to get our economy back on track, we have to do three things.
First, we need to use targeted tax incentives that come with job commitments and allow us to get our money back if the business does not bring the jobs it promises or does not keep them here for a minimum of 10 years.
We need to go back to the way we recruited businesses like Mercedes and Hyundai, instead of the way we recruited ThyssenKrupp.
Second, we need to invest in our infrastructure. This creates jobs today and helps recruit and expand business for the long-term. By improving our roads, bridges, sewers and water systems, and electrical systems, we can create jobs immediately. But doing this will also update our infrastructure to accommodate newer technologies and make doing business more efficient and affordable, and that makes Alabama more attractive to potential employers we are trying to recruit.
Third, and most important of all, we need to return to investing in our public education and vocational schools. This is a business-friendly state, and nobody works harder or has a better work ethic than the people of Alabama. But without the right tools, they cannot get or perform the jobs that are being created.
If we are going to create more jobs, we have to give our workers and our children the tools to succeed. And there is no tool more important than a good head on their shoulders.

Yvonne Oliver,
Program Associate for Healthcare Justice

When the federal government shut down for 16 days, more than 800,000 “nonessential” federal employees became unemployed. No one believed it would go that far. After more than 41 attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), health care reform became the scapegoat for the government shutdown. Was it a mere coincidence that opening day of enrollment for the health insurance marketplace was the day the government shutdown occurred? Maybe. Maybe not.  You decide.
The Patient Protection Affordable Care Act gives more than 40 million uninsured folks health insurance. Yet, ‘trusted leaders’ have taken a stand against the 2010 law, declaring, “We need to delay providing this benefit,” because giving poor and middle class hard working people another entitlement makes them rely too much on the government.
Having an illness or a chronic disease and not being able to get much needed care diminishes a person’s quality of life and can contribute to premature death. The ACA has created a new space for how we care for each other. Healthcare reform takes away the control insurance companies once held and holds hospitals accountable for the quality of care they deliver. Healthcare is a basic human right that all God’s children deserve, but right-wing extremists continue to spin exaggerated or inaccurate analyses which only serve to create anger, anxiety, blaming, uncertainty and more despair among hard working families.
Much can be said about a people by the way we care for the most vulnerable citizens, our babies and our elders. The United States ranks 38th in healthcare systems according to the World Health Organization. In May 2013, the Huffington Post reported that “the US falls behind 68 other countries in infant mortality.” As baby boomers mature, we now have more people over the age 50 than ever in our history. An aging population is one of the greatest challenges we face in the 21st Century. Health insurance coverage for all people should not be negotiable.
The ACA provides: no annual or lifetime caps of benefits; free preventive services like mammograms, prostate exams and colonoscopies; a 50 percent reduction on prescription drugs with elimination of the donut hole by 2020; allowance for children up to age 26 to stay on parent’s insurance; elimination of gender based pricing, elimination of denials based on pre-existing conditions; and additional resources for doctors to provide better care. ACA saves money from a reduction in waste, fraud, abuse and Medicare costs.
It is time to let our legislators know we need them to do their constitutional duty and provide for the well-being of their public.  Where healthcare is concerned, the ACA is a good start. We need our legislators to help make it work for everyone, rather than create obstructions that serve no one.

The United Church of Christ has more than 5,300 churches throughout the United States.  Rooted in the Christian traditions of congregational governance and covenantal relationships, each UCC setting speaks only for itself and not on behalf of every UCC congregation. UCC members and churches are free to differ on important social issues, even as the UCC remains principally committed to unity in the midst of our diversity.

Don’t Repeat the Shutdown

by Marc H. Morial
President and CEO
National Urban League
“Extremes to the right and to the left of any political dispute are always wrong.” Dwight D. Eisenhower
After 16 days of a costly and unnecessary government shutdown, America is open for business again. More than 800,000 furloughed federal workers are back on the job. Nutrition programs for low income women and children are back in service. The CDC’s flu program and the FDA’s food safety efforts are back on track. Head Start programs are reopening their doors. NIH is resuming clinical trials for children with cancer.  Our National Parks and Museums have reopened. And financing for thousands of small businesses is flowing again.
We join all Americans in applauding the compromise deal crafted by Senate Majority leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. But it is only a temporary fix. The bill passed by both chambers and signed by President Obama at 12:30 a.m. on October 17 only funds the government until January 15 and extends the debt ceiling until February 7. Congress now faces a “90-day sprint” to craft a balanced, responsible budget that works for the American people, maintains health care coverage for millions through the Affordable Care Act, and avoids another government shutdown. We urge our elected leaders to put aside partisan rancor and get this job done. They were sent to Washington to govern on behalf of all Americans and they have a special duty to prevent a repeat of a shutdown that cost our economy $24 billion and was especially damaging to middle class families, small businesses, the working poor and the unemployed.
A budget conference committee headed by Democrat Patty Murray in the Senate and Republican Paul Ryan in the House has now been formed to meet a December 13 deadline for a long-term budget agreement. This won’t be easy, with the House majority arguing for extending the onerous sequester cuts to important safety-net programs and resisting any new taxes, while the Senate majority wants to make smart investments to spur job growth, grow the economy and maintain support for vital programs that assist millions of Americans. Both sides say they share the goal of growing the economy and putting people back to work. The key to success will be finding common ground on the way to achieve those objectives.
We believe that any final agreement must put the needs of the American people first. We must protect programs that empower individuals and communities through good jobs, access to affordable housing and healthcare, and quality education. As President Obama said in his weekly address to the Nation, “We should sit down and pursue a balanced approach to a responsible budget, one that grows our economy faster and shrinks our long-term deficits further. There is no choice between growth and fiscal responsibility – we need both.”
We agree. And as we move forward, we must also avoid the kind of ideological rigidity that led to the shutdown. We are especially offended by the continued extremist comments of Representative Ted Cruz who has refused to rule out another government shutdown over his desire to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. We have a simple question for Mr. Cruz: How can you make the argument for spending cuts or rally against spending on a law that would actually reduce the deficit and ensure healthcare for all Americans and at the same time support a shutdown that cost the economy $24 billion…with nothing to show for it? Makes no sense.

By Steve Flowers

The greatest partisan change in American political history has occurred during my lifetime. The transformation of Alabama and our sister Deep South states from an all Democratic region to an all Republican territory has been remarkable and historic.

Exactly 50 years ago today Alabama’s entire delegation in Washington was Democratic. Democrats held all seven constitutional offices. Every member of the Supreme Court ran as a Democrat. Sixty-six out of 67 sheriffs were Democrats and 138 of 140 members of the legislature were Democrats.

Fast-forward 50 years to October of 2013. You see just the opposite picture. All seven executive constitutional offices including governor are held by Republicans. Every member of the Supreme Court and all ten appellate judges are Republican. Six of our seven congressmen are Republican and both U.S. Senators are stalwart members of the GOP. Both the State House of Representatives and our State Senate are overwhelmingly Republican. That is quite a change.

This titanic shift began in the Fall of 1964 when Republican Barry Goldwater carried the Heart of Dixie. He not only broke the ice, he shattered the Democratic hold on the South. When it comes to presidential politics, we are the most reliable Republican region of the country.

Since the Goldwater landslide of 1964, the GOP candidate for president has carried Alabama in every presidential election with the exception of 1968 when George Wallace won the state as an Independent and 1976 when Georgia Democrat peanut farmer Jimmy Carter carried the state. It has been 37 years since a Democrat carried Alabama. In the last 50 years the score is Republicans 11 and Democrats 1.

I am not saying the Democratic Party is dead. However, the odds of a Democrat winning a statewide race in Alabama would be analogous to and have the same odds as Tulane beating Alabama in football.

The Democrats failed to even field a single candidate in our Supreme Court races in 2012. It looks like the same thing will occur this year. Our sister southern state of Louisiana had no Democratic statewide candidates for their constitutional offices in 2012.

However, some of our southern neighbors are seeing some brave souls seek statewide offices as Democrats in the upcoming 2014 elections. In Georgia, the daughter of their last Democratic U.S. Senator is seeking her father’s former seat as a Democrat. Sam Nunn was a very popular long term Senator from Georgia, the last of his breed of conservative Democrats from the South. His daughter Michelle Nunn is running a serious campaign. She is working to portray herself as a moderate to conservative candidate to Georgia’s rural voters who are overwhelmingly Republican. She takes heart in the fact that Atlanta is now a cosmopolitan melting pot. It has one of the largest gay communities in American and its significant African American population makes it a Democratic target in future years. In fact, Obama only lost Georgia by five percentage points in 2012.

Alison Lundergan Grimes, Kentucky’s Secretary of State, is taking a similar approach in her attempt to knock off U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

In Arkansas, former Rep. Mike Ross is running for Governor of Arkansas as a Democrat and is given an outside chance since popular Republican Governor Mike Beebe is retiring.

South Carolina boasts of being the most Republican state in the country. However, Vincent Sheehan is running against incumbent GOP Governor Nikki Haley. He ran against Haley four years ago and lost by 60,000 votes or about 5%. South Carolina voters fall almost exactly along racial lines with most whites voting Republican and most blacks voting Democratic.

All of these southern Democratic candidates are striving to distance themselves from President Barrack Obama and the national Democratic Party. They are stressing their lifelong roots in their respective states and portraying themselves as real southerners. They are also focusing on bread and butter issues and trying to sell themselves as problem solvers. These folks are facing an uphill battle in the Deep South. We will see.

See you next week.

Steve Flowers is Alabama’s leading political columnist. His column appears weekly in more than 70 Alabama newspapers. Steve served 16 years in the state legislature. He may be reached at www.steveflowers.us.