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The question is simple.

Are we Americans? Or are we Alabamians?

Are we Americans, loyal above all else to the notion of liberty and justice for all? Or are we Alabamians, steadfast in the belief that our way is ...

The way?

It is not a new question, but it's hard not to ask it these days, as righteous indignation drips from the lips of Gov. Robert Bentley, of Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, Attorney General Luther Strange, House Speaker Mike Hubbard and every angry Alabama politician with a fist to shake at change.

It sounded like a prelude to secession this week. Again. Because it appeared a group of people who have long been denied a right to marry would get that right after all.

"The people of Alabama elected me to uphold our state Constitution, and when I took the oath of office last week, that is what I promised to do," the governor said after a federal court struck down Alabama's same-sex marriage ban.

Roy Moore and his graven image of the Ten Commandments (AP photo)

The U.S. Constitution was not a consideration. Just an annoyance.

And Moore -- the only Supreme Court chief justice thrown from office for failing to abide by a lawful court order -- did his thing.

"As Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, I will continue to recognize the Alabama Constitution and the will of the people," he wrote to Bentley. "Be advised that I stand with you to stop judicial tyranny and any unlawful opinions issued without constitutional authority."

Hubbard wrote that the Legislature "will continue defending the Christian conservative values that make Alabama a special place to live." Because if you don't think like the majority, you are not welcome in his world.

And Strange, on cue, went to court to hold off U.S. District Judge Ginny Granade's decision.

We're not Americans first. We are Alabamians.

Think what you will about gay marriage, or immigration, or God, or atheists, or prison inmates, or black people and white people going to school together, or slavery, or all the other things we have fought the Americans about over the years.

We battled over prayer in schools, because we can't live with the idea that everybody doesn't believe like us. We fought the Americans to name English as our official tongue, because we can't see why anyone would ever have a reason to speak differently from us. We fought the government when it told us how to treat foster children and the mentally ill, because we thought we knew best. Even when our best was horrifying.

We even fought the Americans so that Moore himself could keep that graven image of the Ten Commandments at the highest court in Alabama.

And we lost. And we lost. And we lost and we lost and we lost.

Because holding on to what is Alabamian is not the same thing as holding on to what is American.

The Americans hold these truths to be self-evident, that all are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, among them Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Alabamians, it seems upon listening to its leaders, believe in a different set of truths: That all men and women who believe as the majority believes are created equal, and that all others should move away. Alabamians believe their Creator is the Creator, and those who believe otherwise should head for the state line on their journey to hell.

Alabamians believe that certain unalienable rights belong to those who believe a certain way, that dissenters and non-believers and aliens are at liberty to pursue their happiness someplace else.

The U.S. Constitution created one America, with all its differences. Alabama's constitution was born in racism. It outlawed interracial marriage, required segregated schools, and exploited and pointed out our differences.

Are you American? Or just Alabamian?