I’m cheering Alabama this week. Not the Crimson Tide — I’m still an Arkansas Razorback fan.

No, it’s the prospect of political reform that has me hollering. In Alabama there’s a chance for a constitutional convention. Citizen initiative rights and term limits might be on the to-do list of such a convention.

That’s a couple maybes in a row. Still, a bill emerged recently from an Alabama house committee that would let voters decide on whether to hold a citizens convention to write a new state constitution. If the question makes it to ballot, it’s a good bet that voters would say, “Yes, let’s have that convention.” And given how popular term limits and citizen initiative are, it’s a good bet that these would on the convention’s agenda.

Voters are mad as heck at a recent ill-gotten legislative pay-raise and other shenanigans. They would be happy for a chance to shake things up.

Of course, incumbents don’t want to be shaken up. Which will make the job of getting the bill past both houses rather difficult. As the Birmingham News comments after giving its own laundry list of hurdles in getting to a new constitution, “none of these difficulties even takes into account a Senate that is very nearly dysfunctional, with majority Democrats and a minority coalition of mostly Republicans squabbling over operating rules.”

Even so, says the News, there’s cause for hope. And optimism. It won’t be easy, but “Roll citizens!”

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.