This is an opinion column (and not an actual diagnosis)

It’s telling when you look at your state’s history and the American Psychiatric Association dictionary and find the same condition:

Oppositional defiant disorder.

The APA defines ODD as “a behavior disorder of childhood characterized by recurrent disobedient, negativistic, or hostile behavior toward authority figures that is more pronounced than usually seen in children of similar age … It is manifest as temper tantrums, active defiance of rules, dawdling, argumentativeness, stubbornness, or being easily annoyed.”

I’m no doctor, but that sounds a lot like Alabama. The Show You State. The Make Me State. Oh, what a state we’re in.

Alabama is deep into defiance these days. It proudly flouted the U.S. Supreme Court order to redraw congressional districts to give Black people a shot at proportional representation, simply refusing to do what the High Court ordered.

“What I hear you saying is that the state of Alabama deliberately disregarded our instructions,” a federal judge said in August, like a parent at wit’s end.

You heard that right.

Gov. Kay Ivey argued earlier in July that “The Legislature knows our state, our people and our districts better than the federal courts or activist groups.”

So rule of law – or adult supervision – is not required.

… they are characterized by recurrent disobedient, negativistic, or hostile behavior toward authority figures…

U.S. Rep. Jerry Carl, R-Mobile, was asked by the Alabama Political Reporter if it was OK for the state to defy federal court orders. His answer: “By all means.”

… that is more pronounced than usually seen in children of similar age…

U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala./Fla., has made defiance his only area of expertise – other than support for white supremacists. He holds the U.S. military hostage and gambles with national security in the name of life, politics, and defiance.

Alabama history is built on temper tantrums, active defiance of rules, dawdling, argumentativeness, stubbornness, or being easily annoyed.

Here are the state’s greatest tantrums.

1. Secession. E.S. Dargan, a Mobile delegate to the secession convention in 1861, like others, was convinced the South must leave the U.S., or it “would be compelled to abolish the institution of African Slavery.” He voted to secede with a sense of “justice and philanthropy,” he said.
   
2. The 1901 Constitution. White Alabama leaders claimed federal intervention that gave rights to Black people was too much to take. So they set out to write a constitution to disenfranchise Black people and encode white supremacy in law. That would eliminate the need for election fraud, they said. That constitution was passed in a statewide vote, with widespread voter fraud.
   
3. Forget Pearl Harbor. In July of 1942 Alabama Gov. Frank M. Dixon balked at a deal for the state to aid the U.S. war effort by providing 1.7 million yards of cloth. The sticking point? The contract would have required Black people in positions of responsibility at cotton mills.
   
4. Public School Segregation. The Alabama State Board of Education met in July 1954, just weeks after Brown v. Board of Education struck down segregation in public schools. The state board did the Alabama thing. It voted to ignore the High Court and keep on segregating.
   
5. A feeble stand. Gov. George C. Wallace, who would come to personify Alabama’s recalcitrance toward civil rights, in 1963 blocked the door to UA’s Foster Auditorium to prevent Black Students James Hood and Vivian Malone from enrolling. It was about as ineffective as his “segregation forever” boasts, but his petulance paid off at the polls. As it so often does.
   
6. Roy Moore made a career – and lost one – defying the federal courts.  In 2003 the Court of the Judiciary booted him from office for refusing to remove a huge 10 commandments monument from the Supreme Court building. He was expelled from the court a second time, in 2016, for refusing to abide by a federal court ruling legalizing gay marriage.
   
7. Miserable prisons. The feds have warned over and over that Alabama prisons are dangerous, overcrowded, filled with drugs and violence, and unconstitutional. In 2019 Jeff Sessions’ Justice Department warned Alabama that something had to change. Nothing did. Alabama simply spent more money to defy and defend the indefensible.
   

The history of Alabama defiance is long. Its disorder is strong.

But perhaps it is wrong to compare Alabama’s belligerence to a genuine medical condition. Alabama’s defiance – now and forever – has been a calculated political choice, which is way worse.

But doctors are pretty clear about how to deal with defiant children. Set clear expectations. Praise them when they deserve it. And hold them accountable when they misbehave.

It’s about time we did that.

John Archibald is a two-time Pulitzer winner at AL.com.