“Richard Shelby stands up to Obama every single day,” quips the narrator of Senator Richard Shelby’s campaign commercial.
By ending the advertisement in this way, Senator Shelby paints himself as a backwards-moving politician. To this statement, I welcome the Mowery twins to duplicate their signature Sister, Sister declaration. This time; however, it should be directed to Richard Shelby, not their lovesick neighbor, Roger.
Unfortunately, many “conservative” politicians take great pride in working against the most powerful individual of our country, President Obama. By purposely creating obstacles as a representative of the people, what exactly are you accomplishing? Surely, after the fourty-plus years of representing the people of Alabama, Senator Shelby has accomplished something more noteworthy than “stand[ing] up to [President] Obama.”
The South is typically stereotyped as a backwards thinking and moving region, with Alabama and Mississipi being the usual targets. With Senator Shelby, his supporters, and the like-minded proudly flaunting their anti-Obama ideas and campaigns, they are only fueling this tragic interpretation of southerners.
United we stand, divided we fall. With recent national occurrences and the rise of Donald Trump in the political world, this quote is foretelling of the possible state of our nation.
The idea of democracy is to allow for input from “the people” and for their representatives to reach consensuses on issues concerning their communities. Can you imagine the social strives our communities could have made if stubborn, backards-moving and thinking politicians and citizens reinvested their energies? Rather than proactively working against President Obama, why not proactively work towards bettering your community? The conservative sector of Alabama politics finds that “giving in” by reaching mediums with other parties and interests to be detrimental to the conservative way. This may be true, but working for the betterment of one’s community should take precedence to counterproductive behavior, always.
I believe that it is past time for Alabama politics, specifically, to be shaped by less anti-Obama/liberal objectives. It is time for Senator Shelby and Alabama’s backwards politics to retire. Unfortunately, Alabama will continue being decades behind the majority of the country, as can be predicted by Shelby’s win for Repubican nomination for the US Senate.
It is only fitting that Donald Trump won the Alabama Republican Primary. Make America Great Again? Excuse me while I wince… If 43% of Alabama voters support Trump’s idea of “great,” let’s ponder Alabama’s greatness, shall we?