The Big Mules are stubborn. They don't always pull in the same direction. Big Mules, the yoke of history tells us, pull for themselves.

The mules, who have long ruled Alabama, usually do their dirty work in dark board rooms and back rooms once filled with smoke but now fogged only by the air of entitlement. But not this week.

Alabama Power Co., a king of the mules, pulled support from the Business Council of Alabama, a nouveau mule set up to do the bidding of bigger mules. In doing so APCO CEO Mark Crosswhite sent a blistering letter to BCA brass, complaining of everything from poor communication to becoming "a divisive force in our State."

Regions Bank made its own exit, and so did PowerSouth. The BCA -- what used to be the state's most powerful business lobby -- was left holding the shreds of its clout. It is widely believed other dominant Alabama businesses -- including Blue Cross and Blue Shield -- will follow suit.

Is it just a fat cat spat, or a not-so-civil war between the powers that wanna-be and the power that's always on?

Clearly, those companies wanted BCA President and CEO Billy Canary gone, and those desires were ignored. But why?

It may take a little speculation, but some of the reasons for the breakup are obvious.

The BCA - in many ways a creature of the Bob Riley, Mike Hubbard era - has stubbed its toes since Canary lost his bestie in the Legislature, Hubbard. Canary used to meet weekly in Hubbard's office to plow out the agenda they both wanted.

Canary drooled all over himself from the witness stand in Hubbard's ethics trial, and it didn't do any good. Hubbard was convicted and sentenced to prison, and Canary has bumbled ever since. He set out to kill a popular autism insurance bill - using every disgusting means necessary - but tripped over his own failure to comprehend that legislators could choose compassion over Big Mule profit.

He failed to deliver on gas tax legislation, which Big Mules love because it means lucrative road construction. He dissed some legislators by not inviting them to a BCA retreat. He supported bribed Rep. Oliver Robinson, and was flanks-deep in discouraging cleanup of the Superfund site in North Birmingham that doomed Robinson. That the accused bribers from Balch & Bingham and Drummond Co. go to trial next week should not be lost on anyone.

But if you want to know what I think really steered this rocky relationship into a gulch, it's like everything else in Alabama politics these days. It starts with Hubbard, and it ends with Roy Moore.

Or more precisely, with former Alabama AG Luther Strange.

Strange, you recall, was AG during the Hubbard probe. He recused himself, stepping aside as his corruption chief, Matt Hart, pursued Hubbard like a Hagrid-sized honey badger.

Canary wanted Hart off the case - like everybody else in Hubbard's camp. There was pressure and coercion and intimidation but, whatever else you think of Strange, he refused to call off his dog.

The BCA never really backed Strange after that.

Strange also stepped aside to let Hart and his unit look at former Gov. Robert Bentley. That went terribly wrong when Strange, during the investigation of Bentley, spoke to the governor seeking nomination to the U.S. Senate, to replace Jeff Sessions.

He got the job, and Bentley ended up pleading guilty. And Hart took the plea. But the damage was done.

Alabama saw Strange as a guy who pimped out his duty to get a better job. It chose the detestable Moore over Strange in the GOP primary, and that was the only reason Democrat Doug Jones could win.

On top of that Sen. Richard Shelby - who has real ties to Big Mules and can actually do things that affect them - supported Strange and would not vote for Moore. No matter what you might think, Shelby is not out to pasture yet. He still has a kick.

The BCA? It made the grave mistake of thinking power lies in its offices. It does not.

It did not listen. It did not hear. It did not act and it did not understand ... Alabama.

As history teaches, you can't out-stubborn a Big Mule.

John Archibald is a columnist for Reckon by AL.com. His column appears in The Birmingham News, the Huntsville Times, the Mobile Register and AL.com. Write him at jarchibald@al.com.