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History favors leaders who choose courage over caution, action over delay. As the Alabama Legislature begins its 2025 session, our leaders have a choice: they can make history, or they can settle for mediocrity.
This is the last full legislative session before election politics take over—before lawmakers retreat into safe decisions, avoiding anything that might challenge the status quo. If real progress is going to happen, it has to happen now.
Governor Kay Ivey, Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, and Senate President Pro Tem-designate Garlan Gudger have an opportunity to do something rare in today’s politics: govern with purpose. They know Alabama’s needs—economic development, infrastructure, broadband expansion, and a comprehensive gambling framework that works for the state instead of the current patchwork of legal loopholes and backroom deals.
But there’s more at stake than just economic growth. Alabama must also commit to strengthening mental health care, particularly for veterans. Too many suffer in silence, struggling with PTSD, depression, and barriers to care in a system that still fails them. A state that prides itself on supporting the military cannot ignore its heroes when they need help the most.
Then there’s violent crime—too often met with “tough on crime” soundbites rather than real solutions. Locking up more people may sound strong in a campaign speech, but it does little to break the cycle of crime. If Alabama truly wants safer communities, it must do more than punish crime—it must prevent it. That means investing in mental health, addiction treatment, job training, and community intervention programs—real strategies that break the cycle rather than just reacting to it.
These aren’t ideological issues. They aren’t the next front in the culture wars. They are fundamental questions of governance: How does Alabama create an economy that works for its people? How does it secure lasting investments in infrastructure? How does it ensure rural hospitals don’t close and that communities have a fair shot at prosperity?
But here’s the problem. Too often, meaningful legislation in Alabama doesn’t fail because it lacks merit—it fails because it gets swallowed by small thinking, partisan pettiness, and political hesitation.
To paraphrase Samuel Johnson, “To do nothing is in every man and woman’s power.” That is the greatest temptation in politics—doing nothing and calling it prudence. But Alabama doesn’t have the luxury of waiting.
This session is the last real chance to fix these issues for years. If the Legislature fails to act now, it could be the end of any serious conversation about gambling reform or mental health expansion for a long time.
Because make no mistake—once the 2026 election cycle begins, big ideas will be off the table. Lawmakers will go into survival mode, avoiding controversy rather than solving problems. That means whatever doesn’t get done this session likely will not get done for years, if ever.
Alabama doesn’t have years to waste.
The state has made strides in economic development, infrastructure, and broadband—but there’s a difference between keeping the wheels turning and actually moving forward. Alabama has spent too long stuck in a cycle of doing just enough to get by. It’s time for real leadership, not just maintenance.
But here is where I have hope. Governor Ivey, Speaker Ledbetter, and Pro Tem Gudger are no strangers to hard decisions. Ledbetter’s and Gudger’s experiences in local government and the Legislature make them uniquely prepared for this moment. And Governor Ivey knows how to get what she wants when she wants it badly enough. All three have led through difficult times, and they have the ability to bring people together to get things done. They know Alabama cannot afford to wait.
This is their moment to rise above the forces that have held the state back. It’s their chance to reject the temptation of “little bites at the apple” and commit to real, substantive action. It’s their time to prove that Alabama is ready for the future, not stuck in the past.
The biggest test of leadership isn’t how a politician talks—it’s what they do when the stakes are high. It’s whether they make the tough decisions when they matter most.
This legislative session is not just another round of partisan bargaining. It is a test. A test of whether Alabama’s leaders will rise to the challenge or retreat into the comfort of the familiar. A test of whether they will act boldly or let another year slip by with nothing to show for it.
History will remember what they do—or what they fail to do.
If they choose action, Alabama wins. If they choose hesitation, Alabama waits.
And we have waited long enough.
