According to a study by the Farm Bureau, this year’s cookout will cost the average family more than $10 extra compared to last year.

As each of those brave souls lifted the quill and placed his signature upon the document known as the Declaration of Independence, our Founding Fathers had set a course into the unchartered waters of democracy with a government directed by and for the people. Now our nation stands 246 years on this side of that […]

We celebrate America on the Fourth of July. But do Americans today still respect each other enough to constitute a functioning country? Responses to the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade illustrate this animosity and the challenge we face maintaining liberal democracy. The Supreme Court did not outlaw abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson, […]

Simon and Garfunkel recorded “The Sound Of Silence” in 1964, later popularized in the 1967 film, “The Graduate.” Simon explained that he retreated to his bathroom and turned off the lights to write the song, and this explains the line, “Hello darkness, my old friend.” However, the sound of silence is often not heard. We […]

One of Alabama’s legendary political figures burst on the scene in 1970, when Bill Baxley was elected Attorney General.

Every year, Americans – often youngsters – suffer serious eye injuries from fireworks on the Fourth of July. People like teenager Jameson Lamb, robbed of his vision in his right eye at age 16 when a Roman candle he thought was extinguished hit him in the face. Or Erika Rodriguez-Loza, 14, who was permanently blinded […]

The Supreme Court is simply saying there is no federally protected right to an abortion.

“The world is run by those who show up.” This quote has been used to motivate everyone from athletes to business leaders, but it’s never been truer than when it comes to elections — especially elections with a low voter turnout. When only 13% of Alabamians turned out to vote in the June 21 runoff […]

It was a last minute and very fluid situation when our son determined to make a job-related move to Denver. He flew and asked us to drive his car. Since the moving van was delayed a bit, we took three days rather than the two we’d originally thought. We spent the second night in Dodge […]

During the waning days of the campaigns for governor and U.S. Senator, I received an inordinate amount of correspondence lamenting the outrageous, demagogic, disingenuous, negative ads, especially on television. The frustration can best be summed up by a thoughtful writer’s comments, “Steve, it is sad with all the issues we need to face in Alabama […]

Recent estimates show that runaway inflation and increasing costs for essentially everything cost the typical American family an extra $5,200 a year to maintain their current way of living. The Consumer Price Index, which monitors the prices of basic goods and services, reported that Americans are paying 12% more this year for groceries when compared […]

The one word we in Alabama want and need to hear when a child needs serious medical attention is “Children’s.”

When the world was a mess, Alabama showed plain common sense. Our tourists are proof positive of that. Over the last two years, tourists and vacationers have flocked to Alabama to escape unnecessary restrictions and mandates. They also traveled here in record numbers because Alabama has something for everyone. From our white sandy beaches on […]

The February shutdown of an Abbott Laboratories plant in Michigan due to contamination precipitated the nationwide baby formula shortage. The plant finally resumed production this month. Whether these events reflect corporate greed or bureaucratic bungling illustrates why we so often disagree about policy. Let’s start with some facts. Abbott is one of the four largest […]

I got into this U.S. Senate race for one reason: I have never before feared for the future of my country like I do today. I think many of you feel the same way. I’ve heard it from thousands of Alabamians while traveling our state. Jim in Muscle Shoals was worried about being able to […]

Included in the lists of great speakers of the 20th century are Franklin Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan, Martin Luther King and Adolph Hitler. The latter addition may cause us to do a double-take since we recognize Hitler as psychotic, or demon possessed, depending on one’s perspective, but Hitler ranks high as a man whose passion moved […]

The summer of 1974 in Washington, D.C. was a political bullfight; there was one bull, but a host of matadors, picadors and spectators galore just waiting to watch President Nixon in his last gasps of political power. Congressional hearings, articles of impeachment and an administration completely insular and unstable were all coming to a simultaneous […]

Back in 2018, while I was serving as the chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, I oversaw the creation of the USDA’s Rural Broadband Reconnect Program. The goal of this program was to do the same thing for internet connectivity that the rural electrification program did for electricity almost 100 years ago. The […]

We need more conservative fighters like Katie Britt in the U.S. Senate — leaders who defend our rights, stand strong for the rule of law, and put Americans first. As senator for Arkansas, I’ve been fighting every day to hold Joe Biden’s incompetent White House accountable and secure our porous southern border. I need more […]

As Americans struggle to put gas in their cars (the national average is now over $5 a gallon), inflation is near a 40-year high, and our southern border continues to be overrun by illegal immigrants, Democrats in Washington are focused on creating drama in an attempt to distract everyday Americans from the real issues facing […]

When 77% of voting Alabamians passed a statewide amendment to improve our 21 state parks, they did us a favor. Of the $85-million bond approved, $80 million will go toward modernizing the parks and investing in infrastructure to improve them. The funding will make the parks more profitable and improve their position as premiere tourism […]

Dr. Martin Luther King argued that the arc of the moral universe is long and bends toward justice. This geometry lesson was used to illustrate a belief that history is pulled gravitationally towards freedom. One of the early “moral arcs” occurred 807 years ago this month when the Magna Carta was signed at Runnymede. This […]

Our popular high steppin’ pistol totin’ Governor Kay Ivey won a very impressive reelection victory for governor on May 24.

I met her at a conference where we were assigned to the same table. She was bubbling with excitement about her church.