Take a seat because you won't believe it.
On Tuesday, a committee made up of most Alabama lawmakers released recommendations on how to improve Alabama's workforce and improve the lives of Alabama workers, and the ideas were…really good.
No, it's true.
The Lieutenant Governor's Commission on the 21st Century Workforce said in a press conference that it would expand the child care tax credit, consolidate multiple government agencies where most of the work overlaps, form public-private partnerships, reinvest in county-level career tech centers, and more. , highlighted 11 different recommendations. , implementing housing tax credits and expanding mental health and addiction redirection programs to make them more accessible.
Honestly, when I read these, I couldn't have been more surprised if I woke up with my head sewn to the carpet.
they are outstanding.
And within minutes of the recommendations being announced, it was easy to see how popular they were. There were hundreds of comments, likes and shares on various social media platforms, but the negative commenters have yet to be found.
Republicans, Democrats, conservatives, progressives, they all thought this was a great idea. Because they are.
To put it more bluntly, these ideas are…the way government is supposed to work.
This is what you should do. It's about studying the people you serve, observing their problems and barriers, talking about what works for them, and actually proposing solutions that address those problems.
It's a little depressing that this is so rare that I'm going to spend an entire column about committees that actually propose good ideas that address real problems, but that's where we are right now.
Instead of politicians running around making up fake problems to solve problems you and your family have never thought about, much less worried about, Imagine a world where we spend our time figuring out how to help working families afford child care. Or you could consider enrolling a child who is bad at math into a trade program so he can make a good living and support his family. I mean, it probably won't get you on right-wing shouting radio, but it will help a lot of people and help you sleep better at night.
That’s worth something, right?
Furthermore, it is hard to believe that if you were to expand mental health and addiction redirection programs and successfully consolidate government agencies, thereby making government smaller and more efficient, you would just be hated. not.
Of course, coming up with ideas is only part of the job. It's an important part, but it's only a small part.
The bigger challenge will be making these changes, implementing these programs, and getting the do-nothing, pandering idiots working in Congress to actually do a good job. It's not easy.
But ordinary people can also help. We all sat around and complained a lot about our congressmen. There's a good reason for that. They have turned this state into an eternal laughingstock nationally.
As the Governor once lamented, we are last in the good and first in the bad.
But this is a chance to inject something a little better. So maybe we should push this forward and tell our legislators that we're monitoring, that we want these things moving forward, that we want porn library books to stop focusing on transgender furries. If I let you know, or whatever it is, I'm focused, and if I finish this instead, I might find something good.
Perhaps, just once, Alabama will get the government it so desperately needs.
