Alabama’s business community won’t corral ‘the crazies’ Bill, they need ’em too much
Bill Britt’s opinion piece from 2 July 2019 in the Alabama Political Reporter isn’t totally off base, excepting perhaps “hands down the best governor in decades” applied to Kay Ivey.
A ‘hands downer’ wouldn’t need handlers like Jo Bonner or similar types on their team. I recall her needing Richard Allen as her ‘parliamentarian’ when she was Loot Guv but talk persists that she’s mostly just a figurehead. A ‘hands downer’ would also be considered as likely able to survive debating an opponent with numbers and a party affiliation ratio so clearly in their favor.
As to the piece, I’d submit “commercial enterprises exist to make money” is a big part of why his solution isn’t complete or is perhaps outright cracked. Protecting profits relates to the power of the business community throughout nearly all of Alabama’s political history.
While some demagoguery no doubt has troubled some suits in swanky offices throughout Alabama for much of our history, I expect far more in the business community worry about losing power. ‘The crazies’ are almost always more useful than harmful.
I’m also guessing that power, at least for some of the politically involved types in the business community, goes beyond monetary motivations. To have ‘juice’ apparently appeals to some people.
Instead of a long thread off this on Twitter, I decided a rare post might be the best way to cobble some thoughts together. I’ll still try to stay in the spirit of those threads as they do seem somewhat useful. I’d like to think the post would stand without the links I’ll drop in here, but I do think a few might help some readers.
Then again, there’s always the Google. Or ask me via a comment or another form of communication what they heck I’m referencing or rambling on about.
Bill started his piece with this:
Over the last several months, Alabama has received an abundance of national attention; unfortunately, it has made the state look backwards, punitive and even cruel.
Republican state lawmakers don’t seem to mind being the butt of the joke, but business leaders do care and are frustrated with the state always being a national punchline.
Almost weekly, APR hears from business leaders who all are asking, “What do we do to stop the crazies?”
The short answer is the business community must reinsert itself in the political process to curtail the worst instincts of the legislature and the governor.
Must reinsert? It seems like they’re balls deep now. The ‘business community’ might not get everything they want. Inevitably some stuff happens that they don’t like.
The business community also isn’t one uniform bloc. Those among that crowd are not always on the same page. That offered, the whole of the business community, at least in the political realm, does OK here in Alabama.
The business community here in Alabama also seems to have plenty of ‘public servants’ (elected and otherwise) in their corner. Lance LeFleur at ADEM is possibly the top unelected example as of late, but there’s a long line of lackeys.
Bill closed his piece with:
It’s now up to the business community to restore balance and sanity, or our state will be forever known as Alabackwards — a place that is open for business if you don’t mind the crazies who are in control.
Instead of ‘the crazies’ Bill, Alabama’s ‘Big Mules’ are, and almost always have been, in control. They might not be able to stop every stupid pandering bill, yet Goat Hill has mainly been locked down.
That some in the business community wanted to drag the state forward in our past or now on various issues isn’t disputed. That they were among those who had to contend with resistant citizens and politicians seeing votes for telling them what they wanted to hear is understood.
I expect most of the time it was more of a situation where the business community resented the bad press these situations created. Boosterism is made more difficult by self-inflicted black eyes.
Where I’m struggling with Bill’s piece is that I don’t think the business community, at least big cheeses inside it, can claim they’ve not had a role in making it where ‘the crazies’ keep mucking things up.
For instance, I’m not so sure if all that many in Alabama’s business community ever really ‘went out on a limb’ against ‘the crazies’ throughout Alabama’s history. I don’t recall all that many, any really, doing it now.
That’s because I expect many are worried about backlash from customers or just want to avoid ‘controversy.’ To accept Alabama as it is rather than try to affect change is arguably the safe bet.
Moreover, some may also see the value of issues like race, religion, guns … being what is elevated in importance rather than economic or environmental concerns.
However, the main thing might be that the business community as a whole is mostly worried about maintaining control or at least not risking much. That’s perhaps especially true as to the old extractive and monopoly energy enterprises.
A vital component of that control was keeping the commoners distracted and divided over the sort of stuff Bill laments. When such blows back on the Big Mules and even small business types, it’s hard for me to feel sorry for them.
In that vein, Bill breezes past the last few decades of his Republican Party, what movement (as opposed to authentic) conservatism has wrought, the poisoning effect of ‘conservative’ media, how consultants use this pandering for campaigns, etc.
Furthermore, Bill’s “indulging the far right-wing of the Republican Party” doesn’t fly when virtually the only people in opposition are from the other team or unaffiliated. Any instances of any Alabama Republicans actually speaking out against ‘the crazies’ seem rare.
The closest instance I can think of is when some in the business community didn’t back Roy Moore in the US Senate race. Moore’s occasional pro-plaintiff decisions had him somewhat targeted even in his last Chief Justice race.
Senator Shelby’s stand carried little risk given his age and power. And even he caught some flak then and ever since. Tribalism runs mighty deep it seems.
The prime directive of ‘do what I need to do to stay in office or advance’ which most politicians hold to applies. Many ‘party animals’ or operative-consultant types are similarly risk-averse about getting crossways with the electorate.
Sure, ‘the electorate’ isn’t uniform among the GOP primary voter world but being remotely ‘squishy’ on abortion, ‘family values’ stuff, immigration, guns, ‘Lost Cause’ CSA slop … generates risk. Expose your’ right flank,’ and you’ll likely take fire or even face a primary challenge.
To stick your neck out is scary. While I too have heard worries about ‘the crazies’ as the GOP has devolved over the decades, it’s almost always been essentially ‘off the record’ from anyone in or seeking office in that tribe.
Even many of the party animal types who grew up on Reagan or might’ve also actually read even a little of what Kirk conveyed fears getting caught talking too harsh about ‘the crazies’ among their ranks.
Part of this might also be that self-reflection about what the modern GOP clearly is and how one’s identity as a ‘conservative’ is likely painful for anyone who has remained entirely in that tribe.
Even considering criticism, from traditional media or other states or …, has become a sign of weakness in many quarters of the modern GOP. This long predates’ Trumpism’ I’d argue.
Wallace, in fact, paved that path. Wallace’s ways came to mind several times in reading this piece. Same for Big Jim Folsom. Both of those men could confound Alabama’s business community. One used demagoguery and the other used class-oriented populist.
Back to Bill’s opinion piece, I’d submit you must engage with how the modern GOP became Limbaughfied over recent decades to even think about how to move forward. That offered, I doubt there’s a cure. That party seems bent beyond repair.
The modern GOP had been a boil on the butt of the body politic. I’ve used, likely a line I stole fair and square, that language or something similar before. While the other team isn’t impressive, there’s no comparison to how harmful the GOP has been in the last couple of decades. Start with how what Gingrich represented finished off what at least lingered in part with Daddy Bush.
Hell, Alfa invited Newt Gingrich down to talk to their members recently (he got a standing ovation, and Parnell gushed about him) and has Beth Chapman of her ‘Stand Up’ speech infamy on their payroll. Bill’s whole column crumbles just thinking about those two realities.
For what it’s worth, Alfa also backed the recent Amendment 1 Ten Commandments display and Amendment 2 Alabama is a ‘sanctity of life’ state. At least this heavy hitter among the business community seems to need to pick a lane.
Part of the problem in Alabama is also the ineffectiveness of Brand D, under not just the Worley-Reed regime I’d suggest, in recent years. Darth Mabry was either a ringer at AEA or the poster child for fecklessness.
Groups like our teachers, labor, churches, … don’t seem to be slowing down all that much the mischief. To punish the politicians when they pander and otherwise run wild becomes more effective with numbers and organization.
Even some scolding from a few journalists is a double-edged sword. Often it seems like the scolding provides just another opportunity for some of the ‘professional conservative’ types and opportunistic politicians to score points with their fans.
Then again, maybe all is well enough if page hits happen and the spectacle is sustained. Revolutionary thought will upset many an apple cart.
And the ultimate apple cart is capitalism. Thus, Bill’s “commercial enterprises exist to make money” remains where I keep getting hung up. I expect the real heavy hitters who run the state, the hegemony, would rather live with ‘the crazies’ than risk losing their hold on power. They also use ‘the crazies’ to win.
Bill wrote, “The Republican supermajority came to power in 2010 on the promise of a pro-business agenda with Jobs, Jobs, Jobs as its mantra …” The originator of “Jobs, …” panders with the worst of them. Mike Hubbard and his minions pandered.
You can quickly look through Twinkle’s tweets or Mike Hubbard’s old mailers to find where they’d pushed various buttons. Business leaders getting frustrated when those very buttons get pushed on Goat Hill and make it into national news doesn’t generate much sympathy. In fact, they’re reaping what they’ve sown or at least tolerated or used when seen as necessary.
Similar themes as what Twinkle and Mike Hubbard message have appeared from very pro-business politicians in their communications. They presumably know that ‘the crazies’ are a segment of the electorate which much be catered to. Big Mule money and pandering to the lowest common denominator is hard to beat.
For that matter, I’ve seen some instances where the business community seemed to have its share of ‘the crazies.’ Anyone around what ‘conservatism’ has become in recent decades might’ve been at risk of being poisoned.
‘Fox News ate my Dad’ stories aren’t rare. Some of these older folks who’ve been mainlining Limbaugh and Hannity year after year are as involved in the business community as can be.
And don’t even get me started about some of the preachers. Reckon how much influence folks like Harry Reeder up at Briarwood Presbyterian in Birmingham have in the business community. I expect it’s hardly insignificant.
In general, demonizing liberals or progressives or leftists or environmentalists or … has become a fundamental facet of what now passes for ‘conservatism.’ There’s little more that gets some sorts thrilled than to have someone ‘own the libs.’
Instead of Kirkean caution and an effort to reach understanding, it often seems like the exact opposite is what today’s ‘conservatives’ embrace.
Bill wrote, “Businesses are almost always apolitical.” Huh? That doesn’t seem right to me. The state as “a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie” is a way Marx presented the view I now hold.
Businesses are very political, perhaps especially in Alabama. From BCA to Alfa/Forestry to Retail to Realtors to …, it’s often just a question of which association(s) will get their way. Often as not, groups which might be in opposition like AEA, the trial lawyers, labor … are on the fringes or worse.
APCO, Drummond, Protective Life … are very political. Hell, “the best governor in decades” was flying around in Yella Fella’s plane during her campaign. Lobbyists abound.
I also hear tell there are some ‘news’ sites with businesses keeping their lights on. With newspapers and other media increasingly hollowed out, the business community appears to be filling the void.
We now have at least some indication, via out-of-state reporting, that some business community-aligned lobbyists were at least somewhat involved with Yellowstain early on. And we never have gotten to the bottom of what was done to Terry Dunn.
If the hegemony has been able to add additional arrows to their quiver by directly funding, in whole or in part, some news sites without those arrangements being known by readers, that’s presumably another way they can have ‘the crazies’ ready for when they are needed.
If nothing else, the utility of a ‘news’ site like Yellowstain and various personalities associated with it in bashing any critics seems obvious. Just keeping an element of the population stirred up and distracted from other concerns has utility.
The care and feeding of ‘talent’ among the ‘professional conservative’ ranks is surely something they get right. To have some loyal ‘talent’ available here in Alabama for when they’re really needed seems cheap enough.
Then again, all for-profit media keeps their lights on via capital. Chomsky and Herman’s ‘propaganda model’ and other critiques cover this. Media as an ‘ideological state apparatus’ where hegemony’s views get reified is part of this.
While Bill’s opinion piece isn’t half bad, it just seems somewhat Pollyannaish and partial. The horse is out of the barn as to the modern GOP. It’s been a decades-long devolution. Go back at least to Gingrich. Falwell and Weyrich’s ‘Moral Majority’ also needs notice.
To dig deeper and consider how big players in the business community learned long ago that ‘the crazies’ could be harnessed is highly recommended. It’s been a critical component of their strategy for decades. I can write that post or paper. However, others have capably covered it.
Let me know if you should want some jumping off sources. I’ve learned to rarely, if ever, loan out books but I can point you toward some good ‘uns.
As to where we are now and going forward, we’re seeing the rise of ‘woke capitalism’ even here in Alabama. To me, this appears to be somewhat the other side of the ‘use the crazies’ coin. That’s because it’s still essentially the same effort to stave off an examination of the economic/social arrangement and maintain power.
The former didn’t have that much of a profit-making component, at least outside of the gun industry or the professional conservative machinery, while the latter can generate some profits from clueless liberal types.
My guess is that part of what’s driving what Bill is writing about is something that’s far from ‘woke capitalism’ but it’s at least in that neighborhood. Some of the more global or urban businesses in Alabama are likely catching grief or worry about blow-back from what ‘the crazies’ are doing.
Thus, there’s likely a question of which factions in the business community will prevail if they’re serious about this concern and for how long dialing things down might last.
As for what might work, if in fact ‘the business community’ could come together to accomplish what Bill suggests it wants, it’s something that would take time. Their risks, however, likely outweigh the rewards.
Coalition building outside the business community is perhaps possible. The non-profit complex already is out there. Most understandable tread lightly about punching up and calling out the donor class.
Some ‘edgier’ outfits might, however, react poorly if the business community gets them on board with some sort of Kumbaya effort and later pulls the rug out from under them. The business community better get out the checkbooks and co-opt the hell out of key people if that’s going to happen.
As to how to handle the politicians, it’s always carrots or sticks. Most in the business community can telegraph what’s expected and discreetly get the word out. This approach is possibly why Bill’s column appeared. Reward those who fall in line.
Bringing troublemakers on the business community train is also possible. ‘Jobs, jobs, jobs’ is quite a tool. Retainers from Reddy Kilowatt or … can possibly reel in a few others.
To punish any who then ‘go rogue’ will have risks, but finding and funding a few primary challengers seems easy enough. There are also redistricting possibilities coming up. Committee assignments matter. Hit pieces and threats to dump oppo might work.
Or just let time march on. Even here in Alabama, demographic change might make it where the more odious stuff gets stopped at the State House.
It might be a form of ‘backlash to the backlash’ if this happens. That offered, I’ve much more faith in ‘bottom up’ change being what’s meaningful and more immediate. Even if upstart candidates can’t easily get going, movement building around campaigns seems possible.
Some business community money would greatly help those individuals and groups get going and sustain their efforts. However, I guess that any of that would be swamped by what other business community money would pour into crushing those threats.
That’s because that even with the bad press the pandering and other foolishness brings, things are and have been rather excellent for a small segment of Alabama’s citizens. They primarily run this benighted state.
Again, the hegemony might not always have the exact man or woman in ‘public service’ they’d want. They might not get everything they want from Goat Hill or DC. But they do OK. Multiple agencies from ADEM up understand for whom they really work.
Often as not, the competition about who will get elected or who gets appointed is among the heavy hitters. Some want this ‘un, and others want theirs. And the consultants paid to put these men or women into place know that pandering is often the path.
So don’t count on much, if anything, changing via the business community. At most, some sectors might try to dial down some of the silliness. This foolishness will stop, or at least lessen, when the electorate changes.
And the best way to change the electorate remains expansion. There are reachable voters who show up at least every so often. Economic populism is the foundation for not just increase but also to those voters who get taken in by the silliness.
That’s hardly going to be an easy effort. It’s something that’ll require organized efforts and some resources to be all that effective. There may be multiple routes toward this but some universals likely apply. Some ideas follow.
Movement conservatism’s ‘Mighty Wurlitzer’ will keep pounding out variants of the same tunes they always play when threats arise. While capital keeps both parties in the duopoly mostly locked down, the GOP’s Limbaughfication has many of their voters relatively ‘programmable.’
With at least a generation in the business community aware of this ‘safety feature’ whenever capital is threatened, it’s going to be hard for some to not use the tools at their disposal. Here in Alabama, race and religion remain especially relevant.
Churches, generational change, schools, and just ‘civil society’ might offer some hope of a dialing down of the foolishness. That there’s a ‘fever will break’ horizon that’s been reached might be too optimistic.
Within or without these groups, women may be what it takes to fix this mess. That said, I understand some of the more vocal and active folks pushing the foolishness the business community is bent up about are women.
If younger folks as a group would do better about voting, with them often not being given a reason to show up admittedly a big part of the problem, things would immediately improve.
Similarly, younger voices trying to dial down the GOP might be able to either fix whatever is salvageable among that party or remains once the apparent realignment shakes out.
A caveat to all of what I’m offering is a belief that ‘the crazies’ might not be all that many people. They’re undoubtedly vocal and assertive. They have more influence than their numbers alone would justify.
Marginalizing them won’t be easy as many understand aspects of Leninism, Alinsky … when it comes to politics. Still, they can be somewhat corralled through a robust ‘firewall.’
It’s just that the business community will have to understand that if they can ever get them ‘quarantined’ and behind that firewall, then they’ll need to keep them there. They can’t loosen ‘the crazies’ for emergencies and later try to put them back. See ‘Little Red State Fundy’ for a still relevant take.
Movement conservatism outlets, including some religious right types, have been telling them for decades what they want to hear and keep them stirred up. Capital probably can’t find such useful and pliable foot soldiers, but it has always managed to adapt.
Returning to how to really change the electorate, something I’ll again submit the business community fears more than it wants, there’s a path to build up ‘organic intellectuals’ who can informally educate others in their circles of influence about how to think about and act on politics. It’s Gramscian in the sense of his ‘war of position’ where you prepare for the ‘war of maneuver’ once the timing is right.
For me, a big part of that preparation is to think about how the hegemony hinders pretty much every effort to effect change, which might threaten their dominance. The tools and processes by which they can dominate the discourse are many.
Trying to find workarounds, while possible, often seems Sisyphean. For at least the last two or three years, I start with thoughts about informal education and if small, somewhat fluid, groups offer some hope. And I don’t necessarily need a label beyond ‘political economy’ for now. I’m an ideological mess.
Any organizing can come later or through alternative groups. While I’m not all that optimistic about Brand D at the national and especially state level as a vehicle, some sort of ‘seize the reins and hope those seizing aren’t co-opted’ effort might be worth considering.
While Bill’s opinion piece seemed far too generous to and optimistic about Alabama’s business community, I also think there’s a place for people in business in questioning neoliberalism and the power of the few.
For instance, Elizabeth Warren’s Brandesian approach in her ‘Accountable Capitalism Act’ would appeal it seems to plenty of small businesses. Folks in agriculture would especially benefit from some anti-trust emphasis that’s been lacking in recent decades.
For what it’s worth, I believe folks should consider Gabriel Kolko’s thesis when considering what Warren and some of the pretenders are offering. While I actually don’t see Bernie’s policy ideas as all that much more than some updated stuff than Muskie or Humphrey could’ve backed, his critique of capitalism and the structural conditions seems so much stronger than anyone else.
He likely won’t win, partly because the hegemony will do whatever it can to derail him, but what he’s talking about is what’s important. We’ll be looking at ‘a smart Trump’ I fear in a few years unless what Bernie, and Warren as well, are emphasizing sees some relief.
Getting back to Bill’s piece and starting to wind up, in that I think capitalism will crumble or at least change into something significantly different, I don’t easily see the business community as part of the path forward. And the idea that Alabama’s Big Mules won’t first focus on their own interests is always foolish.
Politics is a place of struggle. In Alabama, the hegemony is probably just a few thousand people. They have many minions, of course, with other citizens tied in through the economy and other connections.
While the real heavy hitters likely number far fewer than ‘the crazies’ can muster, they have multiple levers of power. ‘The crazies’ are just one that they can’t always control.
Our Big Mules didn’t create ‘the crazies,’ but they’ve been using them as needed. They’ll have a hard time putting them back in the box as even the ‘public servants’ they want in place know they value of pandering.
Until things change on the national stage, I’d submit Alabama’s business community is somewhat reaping the ‘Southernization’ of American politics. Joe and Jill Sixpack are listening to Limbaugh and watching Hannity.
The Judicial Crisis Network and Federalist Society know the value of keeping ‘the base’ stirred up over abortion and other hot button issues. The ability to activate voters through Fox News down to microtargeting is well known.
Not all that many voters will get fired up over “a pro-business agenda.” Many likely don’t care all that much for their boss or resent what they have to pay for essentials. Many are getting squeezed and sense that something isn’t right.
With that angst built up, to not try to refocus it anywhere but up the food chain would be political suicide. I believe the ‘distract and divide’ approach capital takes is ages old. It’s an old reliable.
OK, I’m done. That’s enough. I’ve beaten this horse to death. I’ve likely repeated myself more than I should’ve and it would need tightening up if submitted for anything more than a post.
Don’t hesitate to straighten me out where I’m wrong or ask questions. I may, of course, amend or add to the post as time allows or if I rethink what I’ve written.
I doubt all that many will read this or suffer through my tweets. If such helps anyone, that’s good. I’m mighty busy now, and I find brief tweets a relatively rapid way to stay somewhat in the mix. In a year or so I hope to have a little less on my plate and might be interested in trying to put some of the Gramscian and Freierian ideas I have about adult education into more concrete form.
I’m likely now enough of an outlier and anarchist to where I don’t want to be especially formal about anything but do understand collective action is necessary praxis to generate change. If nothing else, I’ll plan on trying to do better about taking time to act instead of just grouse.