Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Keeping it red

  As we enter the dog days of summer, the race for president presses onward at a steady pace. It will be a close contest in the fall. Barack Obama won four years ago because of the economy and if he loses in November it will be due to the economy.

  It will not be a contest here in the Heart of Dixie. Obama heading the ticket will drive the final nail in the coffin of the Democratic Party in Alabama.

Adam Hersh: Conservatives undermining our economic recovery

  The latest weak economic growth numbers were as predictable as they are disheartening, and the blame lies squarely with those who opposed the president’s American Jobs Act nearly a year ago—and have in fact opposed an array of sensible economic policies to expand public investments that create jobs and economic growth ever since President Barack Obama took office.

  But first the “news.” The $15.6 trillion U.S. economy slowed in the three months through June 2012. U.S. gross domestic product, or GDP—the sum total of all goods and services produced by workers and equipment in the United States—grew at 1.5 percent in the second quarter of 2012. We are growing, but slowing. And this must renew policymakers’ urgency for action to prevent our economy from dipping further.

Michael Josephson: Authentic apology

  “I’m sorry.”

  These are powerful words. Authentic apologies can work like a healing ointment on old wounds, dissolve bitter grudges, and repair damaged relationships. They encourage both parties to let go of toxic emotions like anger and guilt and provide a fresh foundation of mutual respect.

  But authentic apologies involve much more than words expressing sorrow; they require accountability, remorse, and repentance.

Donna Cooper: Spree killings growing more frequent and more deadly

  With the death toll in the Aurora, Colorado, movie theater shooting rampage now at 12, with 58 wounded, many Americans are asking how future tragedies similar to this can be prevented. While the suspected gunman in this case appears to have purchased his guns legally, in America’s worst spree killing—the murder of 32 individuals and the wounding of 17 more on the Virginia Tech campus in 2007—the killer purchased a gun in spite of known mental health problems.

  It's too soon to know for sure if the accused killer in Aurora, who told police he was “The Joker” and appeared in court with his hair dyed a garish reddish orange looking dazed, has a history of mental illness. If so, he should have been prohibited from purchasing a gun under federal law. Still it must be emphatically pointed out that in America known dangerous individuals are able to purchase guns legally because of the failure of Congress and states to adopt clear and commonsense public safety measures that make it much more difficult and always illegal for people with a history of mental illness or drug abuse to purchase guns.

Charles C. Haynes: Under the First Amendment, religious freedom favors none, protects all

  Louisiana State Rep. Valarie Hodges used to be a big fan of school vouchers. “I liked the idea,” she explained, “of giving parents the option of sending their children to a public school or a Christian school.”

  Then last month Hodges got a First Amendment reality check when she discovered that Christian schools wouldn’t be the only religious schools getting tax dollars.

  “Unfortunately, it [vouchers] will not be limited to the Founders’ religion,” she said. “We need to ensure that it does not open the door to fund radical Islam schools. There are a thousand Muslim schools that have sprung up recently. I do not support using public funds for teaching Islam anywhere here in Louisiana.”

Steve Flowers: Inside The Statehouse: Special election approaches

  As the long hot summer continues, several events have transpired that warrant mentioning. Several of you have asked if the September 18 constitutional referendum on borrowing money from the oil royalty trust fund is not approved will Gov. Bentley call a special session to address the gigantic void in the general fund budget. There will be a tremendous deficit in the budget between what is appropriated and the revenue that will be available. There will be a very short window to resolve the dilemma as the new 2013 fiscal year begins on October 1. Your guess is as good as mine. Gov. Bentley has repeatedly said that he will not call for any new revenue enhancement measures. You can also bet your bottom dollar that the legislature is not going to raise taxes, especially without the governor requesting such measures. They may just kick the can down the road and hope for the best.

Cameron Smith: If you built it, they paid for it

  President Obama recently noted that "[i]f you've been successful, you didn't get there on your own." But the President's argument did not stop with the assertion that economic success fundamentally requires paying customers. Instead, the President essentially argued that the successful person somehow "owes" the government for the fact that he or she makes a good living.

  For most businesses in America, making money is a fairly simple concept even if it is challenging to execute. In short, the business makes a product or provides a service that customers value more than the money in their pockets. As a result, the business profits and the customer receives something he or she values. But where is the government in that exchange?

Melissa Boteach: The Right embraces ‘Big Government’

  Conservatives consistently attack progressives as champions of “big government” who want to take power away from states and impose one-size-fits all solutions on people with different sets of needs. This is a canard, as the Obama administration has demonstrated in its Race-to-the-Top education reform, regional economic development, and most recently in welfare reform and nutrition assistance.

  In fact, the two most recent efforts to provide states with greater flexibility to move families from poverty to prosperity have been met by outrage and condemnation by the right. It seems that conservatives do believe that “big government” knows best so long as federal policy fits the conservative agenda. I call this the politics of “convenient federalism.”

Ian M. MacIsaac: Great Recession hit homeowners, lower-middle class hardest while wealthy recovered quickly

  The gap between the rich and the poor in America continues to grow, according to a report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) entitled "An Analysis of Distribution of Wealth Across Households, 1989-2010."

  A full half of Americans--150,000,000 people--possess only 1.1% of the total assets held by all Americans. The other, richer half of the population holds the other 98.9%.

  The United States has never had a wealth gap this large between its upper and lower classes, not even during the Gilded Age when Standard Oil and US Steel reigned terror over the country.

  According to the CRS's report, the three million Americans who make up the top one percent possess 34.5% of a pie that a full half of us own only 1.1% of.

Kia Smythe: Obama and Romney attack each other, but ignore the country’s fiscal trouble

  The presidential campaign has really started now, with scathing attacks from both the Democrat and Republican candidates against their opposition. Obama’s poor record is being slammed in his face by Romney, while Romney is under increasing pressure to come clean about his wealth and disclose tax returns he has previously denied to the American public. Both candidates seem focused on throwing as much dirt as they can at each other, but this means they are not paying attention to or trying to do anything about the serious problem that looks set to blow up in the face of whoever wins the election.