Really, can someone explain to me what the hell is going on in the Arizona Legislature?

[MrScorpio]

I freely admit that the closest I've ever come to the state is San Francisco International Airport.

How the hell can so many pols think that the biggest problems in that state stem from so-called illegal Mexicans and a President who was "born" in Kenya.

These people sound insane.

What the hell did they say to get elected? And who elected them?

[spanone]

1. two more proofs of insanity....john mccain & j.d. hayworth

[Warpy]

2. Arizona is a right wing state

and hate radio pretty much rules the state. That's why people elect crazy people to the lege, they're given permission to hate and they very obligingly do so to the point that the crazy haters running for office start to look sensible to them.

It's why New Mexico won out when I was planning to move far enough away from Boston that I wouldn't go running back there within a couple of years. I just couldn't hack the social and political climate around Tucson, my second choice.

[Tansy_Gold]

7. And Tucson is a hotbed of radical liberals

compared to parts of the Phoenix metro area.

Actually, there are many reason why Arizona has more than its fair share of rightwing crazies. One is its high number of Mormons -- who for a long time held as part of their religious dogma that black and brown people were not welcome in the church. Another is its high number of planned retirement communities -- Sun City, Sun City West, Youngtown, Leisure World, etc. -- which were established at a time when it was pretty much only white people who could afford "retirement." Moving to a nice, clean, all-white community in the sun belt was just another way for financially comfortable white folks to flee the rising numbers of people of color moving into the cities and even suburbs of rust belt America. Throw in a high number of retired military -- Arizona has/had a substantial military presence due to excellent weather for flight training -- who are traditionally more conservative, and it's a volatile mix.


Add to that the fact that many of the white families that had "pioneered" in Arizona -- the Goldwaters, the Haydens, the Babbitts, among others -- established themselves at a time when the native population was completely vanquished. This was the heyday of the Phoenix Indian School, an institution hardly less racist than chattel slavery. Racism is therefore institutionalized in Arizona.

Arizona also has a very porous border, and for native populations that were accustomed to routinely crossing that border, there are family and ethnic ties that go back generations on both sides of that arbitrary line. Spanish-speaking families that have been settled in Arizona for four or five or more generations may still have connections through extended families in Sonora. In at least some cases, individuals in these families may not have ever been treated like citizens and may not have adequate documentation. Their children and grandchildren may likewise not have adequate documentation, simply because it was never considered necessary because the white authorities didn't accept it anyway.

Understanding institutionalized racism in Arizona requires understanding the history of the state, how it was 'settled' and by whom and for what reasons. It's a much more complex story than most people expect.



Tansy Gold, who's only been here 25 years and is still learning

[hlthe2b]

3. Racism is a powerful motivator...

Racists, being inherently illogical, don't require (or even want) logic to drive action.

[Doctor_J]

4. Hayworth & McSame need an issue to out-fascist each other on

That's all

[alc]

5. I'm not from there, but it seems like real problems exists.

While you're upset at Arizona for doing the wrong thing, consider some criticism for the feds for doing nothing (or very little) and letting it get to this.

Illegal immigrants hurt everyone except corporations that save money by hiring them cheap instead of hiring citizens and legal immigrants.

[MrScorpio]

9. I'm not getting this, it makes no sense

There have been Arizonans of Mexican ancestry there since, like what... Forever? And now there are too many Mexicans all the sudden. How the hell can they tell who's a citizen and who's not?

It makes no sense to go after brown people in a state that will turn mostly brown within the next 15 years.

They can't stop this from happening.

Secondly, they can't win that argument that the Feds aren't doing enough, so the state needs to step in. Haven't any of these yahoos read the US Constitution? Don't they know that immigration is the sole reserve of the Federal government?

Thirdly, do they want non citizens to be driven underground more than they already are?

Wouldn't that exacerbate any crime problems more than alleviate them, if a whole class of people are afraid to talk to the police?

And seriously, going after poor Mexicans proves that these people have no intention of changing the economic system that exploits poor people. That's only an issue to progressives. I really don't think that the legislature considered this aspect either way.

It's a move to codify racism. In light of the changing demographics and attitudes of the country at large, that right there is an idiotic thing to do.

[Catshrink]

6. The Legislature is in thrall to Grover Norquist and the Goldwater Institute.

Barry Goldwater must be rolling over in his grave at the crap the institute named for him spews.

All the Republican members of the state house and senate took Norquist's no new taxes/no tax increases pledge and won't budge from it. It took them months to pass a budget for the current fiscal year. Yet, they continue to give tax breaks to the wealthy and businesses -- businesses get a tax deduction for filing their taxes (this one pisses me off) but cut off funding for children's health care, adult health care, and schools. They don't raise taxes themselves but shunt services off onto the counties so that the counties have to raise fees. It amounts to the same thing really except it's not equitable.

At one point, and I'm not sure of the status of this, they wanted to close the juvenile detention center and force the counties to house the kids. The counties don't have the facilities and staff to do that and of course, the leg. isn't providing funding.

The state is screwed. It's South Utah. It's worse.

[Ozymanithrax]

8. They are symbolically burning the Reichstag n/t

[etherealtruth]

10. A single phrase explains it all

racist vermin

[ThoughtCriminal]

11. They badly need a distraction and scapegoats

Years of tax cuts for the wealthy and corporate give aways have created one of the worst budget nightmares in the country. They have found out that massive cuts to heath care and education still cannot fix the problem and they are ideologically locked against any realistic solutions. So, they just find an authoritarian non-solution that panders to their base and targets a vulnerable population.

Sound familiar?

This particular law has all the usual features of right-wing "Solutions". It not only fails, it is a rocket-sled of bad that would bankrupt the state even if it was running a huge surplus.

[MrScorpio]

13. That and the post about codifying Norquist's ideas explains a lot

They fucked themselves, so let's make Mexicans the scapegoat

[DesertRat]

12. Janet Napolitano is no longer there to veto their insane bills

The right wing legislature has always been there.

[Ptah]

14. First of all, the bill is supported by a large majority of Arizona voters.

New poll finds strong support for immigration bill:
http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/PoliticalInsider/79056

A newly released telephone survey has found that more than two-thirds of those
polled favor the state's tough, wide-ranging immigration measure. But it also found
that more than half of those questioned were worried that Senate Bill 1070
could lead to civil rights violations.

The legislation, passed by the Arizona Senate on Monday, is in the hands of Governor Jan Brewer.
She has not yet indicated whether she will sign it, veto it, or do nothing and allow it to become law.
She has until the end of the day Saturday to take action.

The new poll, which was released Wednesday morning, was conducted by Rasmussen Reports,
a New Jersey-based public opinion polling firm that routinely keeps tabs on voter sentiment in
a variety of political races and issues around the country.

<snip>

---------------------

And anecdotally, in the state prison system, as experienced by my son,
there are four 'gangs' ;

1)Mexican-Americans
2)Mexican Nationals
3)white
4)black

The strongest conflicts are usually between the two Latino groups.

[DesertRat]

15. Rasmussen only polled 500 likely voters. n/t

[slackmaster]

17. Why would that be an issue?

Please show us the math.

[RagAss]

16. Advanced Baggery !