This is an opinion column.
This week a survey of 1,211 Americans ranked Alabama 50th among U.S. states, again.
Also, this week the Alabama Legislature spent an hour debating whether to make the sweet potato the state vegetable.
I might be wrong, but I can’t help thinking these two things might have something to do with each other.
Not that sweet potatoes are hurting Alabama’s brand. But rather, when a company decides where to put a factory or when a couple decides where to raise their children, who gives a rip about root vegetables?
In Alabama, we’ll do anything to keep from addressing things that matter, things that might make a difference for the better.
It’s not a new thing for Alabama to land at or near the bottom of national rankings. It happens often, but this one was a bit different. Rather than measuring something more empirical, like how many people die of heart disease or how many children can read on grade level, the YouGov survey focused on reputation.
“We asked people to choose the better of two states in a series of head-to-head matchups,” YouGov wrote. “States are rated based on their ‘win percentage,’ that is: how often that state won the head-to-head matchup when it was one of the two states shown.”
Hawaii came in first because it’s Hawaii. Southern states did fairly well, too. Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Georgia and Texas all made the top 10.
Alabama didn’t do so well. Even Mississippi ranked higher.
To some relief, Alabama didn’t come in dead last. That embarrassment belonged to the District of Columbia, which somehow gets included in state rankings despite not being a state. They remind everyone of that fact as often as they can. It’s on their license plates.
As soon as YouGov released the survey, the results circulated on social media and the reactions were a very Alabama sort of Rorschach test.
Some were bumfuzzled how a state with such natural beauty and abundant resources could rank so low.
Haven’t these people been to Gulf Shores?
I appreciate our beaches and mountains, too, but that’s like saying you’re a great person because you drive a really expensive car.
Others said the state’s ranking was a good thing since it would keep away people they don’t want coming here.
Suits me. I will have all the Conecuh sausage to myself!
And anyone who dared agree with the assessment got the old Alabama battle cry.
If you don’t like it, why don’t you leave?
This is like wielding a pistol when the neighbors complain about your busted septic tank and then wondering why your property value goes down.
Alabama, we need to admit we have a problem. How our state is perceived by others matters.
It matters when businesses decide where to invest and create new jobs.
It matters when the businesses we already have must recruit talent from out of state.
It matters when workers decide whether to take that transfer from someplace else.
And it matters when our kids decide where to stake their fortunes.
When you keep telling people to get the hell out if they don’t like it here, inevitably some will take you up on it.
Making Alabama better should be the priority for our elected officials. Not just a priority, it should be the only thing they do.
Instead, they might be the problem. Pull the thread on every sorry national ranking, and eventually, it will lead to Goat Hill.
The sad truth is, spending an hour arguing about sweet potatoes is often better than the more common alternative in Montgomery where, this week, the legislature voted to prohibit state officials from enforcing federal gun laws and where the state Senate approved a bill to ban transgender athletes in high school sports.
They’re making our biggest problem worse.
Landing at the bottom of most national rankings, especially this one, is a crisis. Our national reputation matters.
Sweet potatoes won’t fix it.
Nor will the Alabama Legislature.
Kyle Whitmire is the state political columnist for the Alabama Media Group.
You can follow his work on his Facebook page, The War on Dumb. And on Twitter. And on Instagram.
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Whitmire: Alabama’s reputation is a crisis no sweet potato can fix - AL.com
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