1819 News Opinion
Read the latest opinion piece from our opinion columnists at 1819 News.

Turn away from apathy. Stand up. Be counted. Be part of the solution for Alabama. 

For too long, I have felt like a stranger in my own hometown, a sojourner in the place of my birth. 

The Halifax Resolves were a pivotal moment, when the idea of independence moved from possibility to policy, and the path toward a new nation became irreversible.  

Defense contractors who prioritize pigmentation over performance are making a strategic, not merely a philosophical, error.

We’re finding places where the state can ease the burden on working people and doing so in a responsible, sustainable way.

SB155 is built on a simple principle: when Alabama receives revenue from coal produced on federal lands, those dollars should go back to the hardworking people and communities that made that production possible.

Alabama does not always get the national credit it deserves. But in the story of space, the proof is written in the sky. The rocket that carried humans back toward the moon for the first time in more than 50 years was made in Alabama.

Alabamians deserve to have a statesman represent them, not just another politician.

When someone loves you it makes God seem real.

Alabama doesn’t need gambling. We shouldn’t legalize another addiction just because someone found a way to profit from it. And if we do, we won’t just be funding government – we’ll be funding the slow breakdown of the very families we claim to protect.

I’m not writing this because I suddenly developed an interest in politics. I’m writing this because I’ve seen what happens when people entrusted with power operate without real accountability and the cost of doing wrong isn’t carried by the wrongdoer.

In a pair of 2005 10 Commandments cases from the U.S. Supreme Court, the key takeaway was that the chances of the 10 Commandments surviving a legal challenge were better if they were displayed as part of history. That’s exactly what Alabama's new law does.

There are no self-made men or women. Intellect, athleticism, wisdom, strength and wealth – all are God-given so that no one should boast. We would do well to remember that and so would world leaders.

The American people have invested hundreds of millions in these F-35s. They deserve to know their premier combat aircraft are not left exposed on a commercial tarmac, vulnerable to the next perimeter breach or drone swarm that succeeds despite the warnings from previous exercises.

Beware the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent but outwardly benevolent administrative state.

Agriculture is Alabama’s number one industry, and those who dedicate themselves to protecting and advancing it deserve recognition for their efforts.

Have you ever noticed the cruel irony that some who cry out for conflict bring about harmony, while those who scream for peace – by the way they scream – seem to bring war? 

Politicians are not angels; bureaucrats are not selfless servants; voters are not perfectly informed. Everyone, in the public square as in the marketplace, is working, consciously or not, toward some private advantage.

I follow the data. The data says the most interesting Senate primary in Alabama in a generation is just getting started.

This generation is beginning to see what so many previous generations understood: that a life centered on family, faith and responsibility is not restrictive – it is freeing; that purpose is not found in self-fulfillment, but in self-sacrifice; that legacy is not built through personal achievement alone, but through raising the next generation in truth.

I like ducks. I watch the same two mallards visit this area of Lake Martin. Almost every morning.

The aim of good policy should be to protect the vulnerable and voiceless.

I believe the story unfolding at MARS is worth paying attention to, for when parents are empowered and founders are free to build, small schools can produce outsized results. And Alabama students can compete, not someday, but now, in the technologies shaping their futures.

Alabama’s Republican Party has tremendous potential. But that potential can only be realized if party members act with maturity, discipline, and a commitment to unity.

Why would someone so politically astute, on the eve of midterm elections during a time when his poll numbers are already lower than they need to be, make such a risky choice like going into Iran?

It seems clear, however, that the framers of the 14th Amendment did not intend to confer citizenship on everyone who is born in the United States even if that person’s parents were not citizens, were not here legally, or did not intend to reside here permanently.

It takes teamwork and partnership to make lasting change quickly, and I am grateful to have partners like the Hoover City Council. In a short time, we have accomplished a lot, and we are just getting started.