Opinion
October 26, 2001
THREE CHEERS for Gov. Don Siegelman’s stance
on rewriting the Alabama Constitution of 1901. On Tuesday, the governor
made it clear that a new constitution should be a product of the people,
not of politicians.
That’s an important distinction. Some state
legislators and other people opposed to reform claim that Alabama
would be better off if the Legislature rewrote the 100-year-old document
in a piecemeal fashion.
Their primary weapon is fear, and they utilize it
to insist that special-interest groups would dominate a citizens’
convention and produce a constitution that would be worse than the
one Alabama now has.
Hogwash. First of all, it would be difficult to
craft anything worse than the 1901 document, which is a sorry tribute
to the class warfare of the early 20th-century South. Moreover, it
enshrines an unfair taxation that favors the rich and well-connected,
punishes the poor, and fails to provide enough money for basic governmental
services.
As for special interests, if there’s any political
body in the state that’s thoroughly infested with lobbyists,
it’s the state Legislature. A people’s convention would
have a better chance of rising above the partisan,
self-serving politics of the Statehouse.
Indeed, a people’s convention would be more
suited to performing one of the most-needed functions of a new constitution:
wresting power from the Legislature and vesting it in county courthouses
and city halls. The 1901 constitution concentrates decision-making
authority in Montgomery over such local issues as taxation, school
funding and zoning, when it belongs on the local level.
Gov. Siegelman’s supportive statement this
week — "A new constitution can come only from the people;
it cannot come from the Legislature" — will help ensure
that constitutional reform is an issue in next year’s gubernatorial
elections. If it is a topic of discussion among candidates, and if
the candidates are forced to declare whether they support it, then
the grass-roots group known as Alabama Citizens for Constitutional
Reform may see its fondest wish come true: a constitutional convention
in 2004.
Besides campaigning for a piecemeal rewrite, reform
opponents like to imply that the ACCR and other proponents would ram
a new constitution down the citizens’ throats. That, too, is
a bald-faced scare tactic.
In truth, a people’s convention would give
citizens three opportunities to make their views known: They would
have to vote on whether a convention should be called in the first
place. Then, they would have to elect the delegates to the convention;
and, finally, they would have to ratify the proposed constitution
crafted by convention delegates.
Those who argue against a new constitution, including
the Alabama Policy Institute, seem to fear change and progress. And,
certainly, there’s no guarantee of success.
But when you consider that the 1901 constitution
is antiquated and racist, that it was ratified in a fraudulent election,
that it thwarts local democracy, and that with 706 amendments it is
the longest state constitution in the country, opponents’ arguments
ring mighty hollow.
Alabamians deserve a modern constitution that addresses
the needs of a modern state, and vests power in its citizens. And
Gov. Siegelman deserves credit for his outspoken support of the notion
that the people — not politicians — are the ones best suited
to write it.
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