In a week, we have a chance to solve a lot of our problems

You know what to do.

We’re a week out from Election Day today, and at this point, there’s really nothing else to talk about. You know what’s going on. You know what your bills look like. You know what the economy looks like. You know what the gas prices are. You can hear the roar from the data center in town. You can’t even bear to look at the grocery store when you pass by, hungry.

You know what to do.

You’re going to have to make some changes.

If you want life around this state to get better. If you’d like better schools, lower taxes and less government overreach, you’re going to have to change things up.

You’re going to have to (gasp!) vote for some Democrats.

Oh, I know it’s going to be so hard for you, because that party identity nonsense has brought you so much comfort over the years. Just marching into a voting booth and mindlessly bubbling in straight-ticket Republican has really been a winning plan.

Except all of your hospitals are closing, they just canceled your Medicare Advantage plan, you were just scammed out of your savings because the Republicans gutted the Consumer Protection Bureau and they fought to re-tax your overtime pay after Democrats initially gave you that savings.

Call me crazy, but maybe that voting for the party instead of the individual isn’t really working out so swell.

And look, I’m not telling you to “Vote Blue,” because I think that sort of mindless instruction is both unhelpful and just as dangerous as these desperate Republicans running around begging everyone to forget their individual failures on every front and “Vote Red.”

Why should you vote red?

Seriously, if you’re a working-class citizen in the state of Alabama, please provide me with any policy or idea that a Republican has had in the past decade that’s made life for you any better. I’m going to wait on that answer in a comfortable chair, because I’ll be there awhile.

The fact is there isn’t an answer. And that’s especially true on the most important issues.

Take health care, for example.

Republicans in Alabama have been in complete control of this state’s government since 2010. They own every statewide office and hold supermajorities in both houses. They don’t need a Democrat to lift a finger to support anything they’d like to pass.

So, um, tell me: What have they done to assist rural hospitals? Or save maternity wards? Or open more delivery units? Or help bridge the coverage gap made from refusing to expand Medicaid? Or help with prescription drug prices? Or help with ambulance service? Or expand mental health services?

I’ll be in that same comfy chair.

Because you already know the answer. It’s the same answer to every question.

They can cut all the slick campaign ads and produce all the mailers in the world telling you that they’re going to lower your costs and cut government, but when have they? They’ve been in charge for 16 years; when have they cut YOUR taxes? When have they saved YOU money?

Oh, they’ve done a ton for big businesses and special interest groups. They’ll trip over themselves to slap a gas tax on you so big businesses around the state can get hefty paydays on infrastructure work. They could have raised taxes on the wealthiest Alabamians, who pay some of the lowest taxes in America, but instead they decided to tax your trips to work and back every day.

So, don’t vote for blue or red. Vote for you.

Don’t be swayed by the ads. Don’t listen to the rhetoric about “socialism” and “communism.” I mean, my God, just ask one of them to define this “socialism” that they’re talking about and point it out to you.

Is socialism now the Democrat trying to lower your grocery prices? Is it the independent trying to cut your gas tax? Is it the Democrats trying to block the secret deals allowing data centers to invade your towns? Is it this crazy, progressive idea that working 40 hours a week should earn you at least enough money to pay basic bills and afford to see a doctor when you’re sick?

Look, the reality is life in Alabama, and around America, is not great right now. And you can tie almost all of the economic problems to Republican ideals and actions. Whether it be gigantic tax cuts for the wealthy resulting in significant health care cuts, a worthless war that no one wanted driving up gas prices, really stupid tariffs driving up grocery prices or the killing of tax breaks and initiatives for the working class, we know what the problems are. We know how we got here and who put us here.

And there’s only one way to fix it.

A week from now, you know what to do.