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(JD Crowe/jdcrowe@al.com)

You're losing me, Alabama.

The reactionary flailing of our government is twisting our realities, almost daily. Are we a state that opposes political corruption or aren't we? Is it going to snow or is it going to be unbearably hot? Do we trust politicians or don't we? Do we support love or do we not?

All of a sudden... I'm completely lost about who we are.

Our politicians are governing us as if we're an entirely different state than the community that I see around me; and it's got me questioning who exactly we are and what Alabama is.

The past week has offered a few stirring examples of the detrimental impact of political cowardice.

In one instance, we have a corrupt Speaker of the House that maintains the political backing of his colleagues; in another, we have an accidental governor pushing for substantive tax reform, and he can't get a single amen from his entire congregation; and, then, there's the marquee event - the Alabama State Supreme Court going toe-to-toe with the Federal government to deny gay couples the right to wed.

By now, we've all seen Mike Hubbard's emails.

I can't offer any commentary more damning than Mike's own words on the ethics reform package that he championed: "I need to be a salesman for BR&A," Hubbard wrote. "Except for those ethics laws. Who proposed those things?! What were we thinking?"

Honestly though, what were we thinking?

What were we thinking when we reelected Mike in November despite the fact that he'd already been indicted by a grand jury? What were we thinking when we went whole hog and made him Speaker of the House again in January?

And what are we thinking now, as the legislature reconvenes, and we watch him champion and shepherd legislation that we know full well has been bought and paid for?

Our distrust of government in Alabama is deep and pronounced - ethics reform is part of why we elected Mike Hubbard and his following in the first place.

Alabamians would never support a public official that was known to accept bribes and kickbacks. Alabamians don't openly support corruption or hypocrisy.

Until we do.

Even now, our state representatives refuse to act. We're all apparently okay with keeping Mr. Hubbard in charge.

And the same legislators that are rallying around Mike Hubbard, out of fear of repercussion, have abandoned their governor.

It's ironic that the same political cowardice that caused Dr. Bentley to lie about tax reform in the first place, is the cowardice that will keep him from passing a bill on the matter.

Alabama's legislators know that we've dug ourselves a financial hole and, deep down, they know that we can't cut ourselves out of it. And behind closed doors, they'll say "it's not a bad plan, but I'm running for reelection and I told voters that I wouldn't raise their taxes." It's only out in the open that they have to campaign so hard against it.

The things we do for reelection.

There is a legitimate debate to be had about whether or not elected officials should listen to their hearts and minds or to the "will of the people," but at the heart of this particular debate is a lie. The lie is that a candidate could honestly commit to "not raising taxes" before his first day in the State House. It's basically a pie crust promise: easily made, easily broken. And, yet, we expect it to be a steel bond. We force our politicians to make promises they can't keep in order to get elected.

And we shouldn't expect our elected judges to make promises that they can't keep, either.

Yesterday, I woke up in a state that supported same-sex unions and I fell asleep in a state that rejects them.

We know that the U.S. Supreme Court will rule in favor of gay marriages in June. We know that the Alabama Supreme Court is making a questionable legal decision based on two things: their personal faith and their desire to be reelected.

But what do we know now about Alabama? I'm losing sight of what we stand for.

Is this the Alabama that we know? A defiant Alabama that will openly support corrupt officials, as long as they block our neighbors from getting married?

It's the Alabama that they keep telling us that we are.

But it's not the one that I see leading the nation in charitable giving; it's not the one that I see rallying together following a tornado or a hurricane; and it's not the Alabama that I see coming together on game day or even on the Sabbath day.

Our politicians are losing us.

Maybe it's time that they're the ones that get lost.