By: Donald V. Watkins
Copyrighted and Published on March 5, 2021
Dear Sen. Tuberville,
Congratulations on becoming a United States Senator from the great state of Alabama! Very few individuals have gone from a non-political citizen status to a U.S. Senator in their first run for public office. You did it and you defeated a seasoned politician to accomplish this remarkable feat.
As a long-time political independent and Alabama resident, I observed that your campaign had two simple themes. First, you pledged to support former president Donald J. Trump in whatever he was doing. Second, you vowed to build “The Wall” that Mexico was supposed to be paying for.
At the time, I thought those campaign pledges had more to do with electability than anything else. I based this observation on the fact that every Republican running for every elected office in the state ran on a platform of supporting Trump and building “The Wall”.
After you secured your Party’s nomination, I thought you would focus on what Alabama needed from the next president, whether it was Donald Trump or Joe Biden. After Biden defeated Trump on November 3 by 7 million votes and a 306 to 232 Electoral College blowout, I just knew you were moving toward a bipartisan agenda that placed the critical needs of Alabama at the top of the nation’s “Things To Do” list. I was wrong.
Instead, your first act as a U.S. Senator was to aid and abet insurrection and sedition at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, at the request of Trump. Four other Senators joined you. Five people were killed during the siege of the Capitol by Trump’s “patriots”. Your vote against the certification of the presidential election results will be viewed in history as an act to install “minority rule” in a democratic country.
At first, I thought you had spent the time between November 3rd and January 6th looking for the voter fraud that Trump said occurred, but you did not. Then, I thought Trump must have shown you 7 million fraudulent ballots that were cast before you joined the January 6th insurrection, but he did not. Finally, I realized that you had allowed yourself to be used as a political stooge, unlike your colleagues Senator Richard Shelby (R - Al) and Lindsey Graham (R – S. Carolina).
I realize that you are a political neophyte whose professional background was in football coaching. I also know that Auburn University fired you as its head coach because you could never take Auburn to a national championship.
Now that you are a U.S. Senator, Alabama wants to rank number one in something other than the Crimson Tide’s impressive string of six national championships under coach Nick Saban in 12 years. We want to be number one in scholastic achievement, healthcare for all Alabamians, economic development, medical technology, COVID-19 protection, employment opportunities, research and development at our 32 public universities, equal protection under our laws, fair taxation, defense contracting opportunities, infrastructure development, law enforcement training, prison reform, space technology and programs, urban development, international aviation, and tourism.
Your job is to make Alabama a national champion in these areas. This is a hard job because Alabama historically ranks at the bottom of every category that matters except for Nick Saban’s area of responsibility. Nick does his job and does it well. He’s nobody’s flunky.
Don’t worry about kissing Donald Trump’s ass anymore. He’s gone, forever. He inspired you to join an insurrection. Hopefully, you will survive the Department of Justice’s criminal investigation of this incident and use your 6-year term to make Alabama number one in all of the quality-of-life areas that matter. No statewide politician in the history of the state has ever accomplished this noble feat. Most of them have been demagogues who only cared about themselves and the oligarchy that runs the state.
Finally, stop talking about “The Wall”. Let the senators from states that adjoin Mexico carry that fight. Alabama is NOT threatened by an influx of undocumented migrants from Central and South America. Alabama is threatened by COVID-19, infant mortality, obesity, illiteracy, lack of indigent healthcare, the federal government’s failure to enforce OSHA requirements in the state, air pollution, poor water quality, a grossly inequitable tax structure, and a host of other immediate dangers to the health, safety, and well-being of her citizens. Try to care about something larger than yourself.
Do something you never did as a football coach – take Alabama to a national championship in the quality-of-life factors. Anybody can be a political stooge. We have a state full of them. Make the Tuberville name respected in the U.S. Senate like the Saban name is respected in college football. Let that be your legacy.
Sincerely yours,
Donald V. Watkins
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