this could explain part of what is wrong with alabama:

[niyad]

(alabama du'ers: any comments?)

Tangential topic here - just happened to discover this tidbit on Teh Wikkies. Explains a little about why Allah-Bammy is so fucked up:

The Constitution of the State of Alabama is the basic governing document of the U.S. state of Alabama. It was adopted in 1901 and is the sixth constitution that the state has had.

At 340,136 words, the document is 12 times longer than the average state constitution, 40 times longer than the U.S. Constitution, and is the longest still-operative constitution anywhere in the world. (The English version of the Constitution of India, the longest national constitution, is about 117,369 words long, a third of the length of Alabama's.)

The constitution gives the Alabama Legislature the power to administer most counties directly, with only a few counties having even limited home rule. This is because it was drafted with the original intent of disenfranchising blacks and poor whites by limiting local autonomy. As a result, about 90 percent of the document's length, as of 2012, comes from its 856 amendments. About 75 percent of the amendments cover only a single county or city, and some deal with salaries of specific officials . . . This gives Alabama a large number of constitutional officers. It also makes it very difficult for residents of counties to solve their own problems.

[guillaumeb]

1. seems to conflcit with the GOP professed ideal of small government

The GOP fetishizes the small local government idea and the states rights argument as a protection against the supposed intrusiveness of the Federal Government.

So why limit local autonomy? If states can secede, why not counties, towns, etc?

"The constitution gives the Alabama Legislature the power to administer most counties directly, with only a few counties having even limited home rule. This is because it was drafted with the original intent of disenfranchising blacks and poor whites by limiting local autonomy"

Did the framers of the Alabama constitution not trust their fellow citizens?

[niyad]

2. pretty sure they don't. I love the fact that that draconian doc is the SIXTH

the state has had!