It seems wildly ironic that the Alabama Policy Institute (API), that much-vaunted institution “dedicated to the preservation of free markets, limited government and strong families”, recently released for publication an editorial defending the Alabama Republican party's attempts to put thousands of farmers and contractors out of business, undermine the United States Constitution, and instill in thousands of immigrant parents the fear that they could have their children taken away.

The column, titled “The immigration shame game” (available on our e-Post website at www.epostpaper.com, on page 4 of the Oct. 10 edition), argued that the new Republican majority in Montgomery passed what some believe is the most reprehensible law to come out of our state since Bull Connor was still wearing jackboots because “the majority of Alabamians [have] simply had enough of the law being trampled right in front of their eyes”.

I'll be the first to agree the United States government has done a dreadful job, for decades, of enforcing our borders. But the politicians who galloped into Montgomery last November extolling the virtues of “smaller government” instead gave us numerous addition layers of immigration-related red tape that will eventually cost the state millions. Still, the API editorial declared that the GOP's best answer to a “trampled” federal law was to subvert the Constitution with an ill-conceived state law.

The editorial goes on to lecture that “Alabamians must be vigilant to ensure that racism is not tolerated in the enforcement of any Alabama laws, including the new immigration law.” That's admirable, but naïve. Incidents of racism and profiling are already popping up across Alabama because of the law. I know of a handful of stories firsthand, and I found out last week that Attorney General Luther Strange's office is being inundated daily with questions and complaints.

In a recent online article Strange said, “I have made it very clear, and I will continue to make it clear, that Alabama is not going to do anything that violates anybody's constitutional rights, that profiles anyone. That is illegal and it will not be tolerated.” Thank goodness there's at least one elected official in Alabama with an “R” beside his name who has his head screwed on straight.

Actually, there is one other that I know of. Mike Rogers, the Republican attorney who represents District Three (which includes Cherokee County) in Washington, D.C., has already predicted the fate of Alabama's new immigration law. He said it several different ways in a story we ran on Aug. 26, but perhaps most succinctly here: “The judge is going to enjoin that law because federal law preempts it and there are already federal statutes governing immigration.”

That makes exactly two Republicans in Alabama who have publicly displayed the ability to think rationally and use common sense. Since the Republican Party controls practically every elected office in the state, including super-majorities in both chambers of the Alabama Legislature, that leaves an awful lot of dim-wittedness bouncing around within our state's borders.

Attention Alabama GOP: The inability of the vast majority of you to admit your mistake, repeal this law immediately, and undertake efforts to lobby your fellow party members in Washington to address the immigration problem is shameful. Too bad Scott Beason and the other so-called leaders of your party didn't realize how foolish this law would make you – and all the rest of us – look when they told you to stoop and you asked "how low?".

For Alabamians like Strange, Rogers and me, who have read and understood our nation's Constitution and can see the Founding Fathers' handwriting on the wall, here's hoping the U.S. Supreme Court gets its hands on this travesty as soon as possible. After the justices are finished laughing our Legislature out of the building, maybe we can all work together to force D.C. to solve our nation's immigration problem once and for all.

In the mean time, here's something for everyone to think about: What the state Republican party did by passing this law reinserted Bull Connor's name back in the national news. There is no way the Alabama GOP can defend the creation of an atmosphere that unleashed the dreadful memories of such a horrible time in our state's history.