Opinion This legislative session's priority is clear: cruelty

“If this is such a compassionate Christian-dominated state, why is cruelty always so prevalent in our legislative agenda?”

Two weeks and 600-plus bills into the 2021 Legislative Session in Alabama, and the theme is a familiar one from our conservative supermajority: cruelty. Cruelty in action. Cruelty in inaction.

It’s not a surprise at this point — not even in this alleged compassionate Christian state. The focus is so rarely on helping those in need, lifting from the bottom or taking care to respect your fellow citizens. Instead, we take care of the wealthy and powerful, penalize the downtrodden and belittle those who we don’t understand.

We’ve done this for decades now, so another year of it shouldn’t be a surprise, I guess. But don’t take my word for it, just read the bills.

For example, how about this one? In the time of a pandemic, when hundreds of thousands of Alabamians have lost their jobs, or lost a good chunk of pay, and are staring at foreclosure, unpaid health care bills, auto repossessions and hungry kids, the most pressing pandemic-related matter facing our state lawmakers was, apparently, to provide protections to business owners who forced employees back to work in unsafe environments.'

https://www.alreporter.com/2021/02/17/opinion-this-legislative-sessions-priority-is-clear-cruelty/?