The methodology is in the numbers themselves. Since socialism is concisely defined as state ownership of the means of production, none of these states are actually socialist. They do all share confiscatory tax policies however. In the case of Alabama, state budget spending exceeds 27.4% of Alabama’s GDP. It’s that number that causes Alabama to rank so high. Mississippi and Arkansas join Alabama on the list at 6 and 8 respectively.

It points out that people like their government services regardless of what it takes to get them. For most people in Alabama we hold to two of the three triads of conservatism: Social issues and Military strength. Conservative economic issues are often overlooked. Remember, it was a Republican governor, Bob Riley, who proposed the single biggest tax hike in state history in 2003. It would have been a whooping $1.2 billion bonanza for state coffers. Alabama is also largely union controlled through efforts of the teachers union, AEA and what could be called the farmers union, ALFA. Fortunately for Alabama the two groups often work at cross purposes or else there would be trouble.

Given Alabama’s often low ranking on various measures, one wonders where the state would rank if all of the inefficiencies were removed. That would mean cutting waste, dropping taxes,slicing programs and letting people rediscover the art of self-sufficiency. Just my thoughts. Yours?

Riley has all but broken with his own Attorney General who warns that Riley actions could put the state in an expensive legal position. The two feud regularly about electronic bingo and every couple of days that feud breaks out in the public.

Riley appointed Mobile DA John Tyson as the commander of his gambling task force. The bombastic Tyson has vowed to eliminate electronic bingo from state regulated areas and has even gone so far as to declare he would remove them from the Indian Reservations that are under Federal control and jurisdiction.

But then we learned that in 2006 Tyson asked Milton MacGregor, the top gamer in the state, for $200,000 dollars for  his race to become Alabama Attorney General. He got a paltry $100,000. Don’t forget that Tyson is the Governors handpicked replacement because he didn’t like the current AG, Troy King, who beat Tyson in the 2006 race.

We wonder how a man running for AG could take that massive sum of money? At the very least there is an appearance of undue influence.

Gambling is not good; I have written about it before on another blog. It doesn’t solve all the problems people think and it does create serious social ills. But if the state has a compelling interest in controlling gaming then the principles all need to get on the same page. You guys are an embarrassment!

It is curious to note that the Governor used the Alabama Republican Party as a mechanism for distribution of the email. You’ll see at the bottom the line “paid for by the Alabama Republican Party. It doesn’t seem wise to further politicize an ugly, ongoing battle over law enforcement. It is especially odd given the attempt in the email to make this a bipartisan issue.

“While 8 of the 9 members on the Supreme Court are Republican, this is not a partisan issue. One Democratic federal judge in Huntsville and three Democratic state court judges in Birmingham have also recently held that so called “electronic bingo” is not bingo at all and is illegal.”

A couple of paragraphs later he continues:

“In 62 of our 67 counties, Democratic and Republican prosecutors have stopped numerous slot machine gambling operations that said they were only playing “electronic bingo,” but these illegal facilities remain in a few counties because some public officials refuse to enforce the law. This inaction has allowed gambling bosses to operate their illegal casinos with impunity.”

The Governor also repeats allegations against one of the casino owners who he is trying to shut down. There are serious allegations that are being investigated but it does appear that Riley is having a bit of partisan temper-tantrum.

What are your thoughts? Please comment.