As the 48th and last of the contiguous states to be admitted to the Union, Arizona has always boasted of being a “maverick” state and populated with cowboy ingenuity and lots of presidential hopefuls.None have been elected, but Arizona keeps trying to vault its hometown boys to the top of the heap.Most recently, of course, was John McCain.
Arizona is also making a name for itself lately as going well beyond its mavericky leanings and plunging into extreme far right-wing fringy territory.The state seems recently populated with more crusty characters and scary campfire stories than can fill a ten-gallon hat’s worth of extremism.
In no particular order or timeline, here are but a few examples of Arizona’s recent missteps
·ASU decides not to confer the customary honorary degree upon the nation’s first historically elected African-American President because of the laughable excuse that “he has yet to accomplish a body of work.”
·Arizona passes a law allowing concealed weapons in bars and another law allowing gun carriers to brandish their weapons if they feel at all concerned that they could receive a bruise from someone else.
·Obama visits Arizona again and is greeted by a dozen gun-toting men, one with a semi-automatic rifle slung over his shoulder.
·The inflammatory words, “Kill Obama,” are spray painted on local campaign signs in a Phoenix suburb.The Southern Poverty Law Center determines that hate groups are growing in the area.
·Notorious self-proclaimed bad-boy sheriff, Joe Arpaio, conducts what he calls, “immigration sweeps” through neighborhoods with high Latino populations.Even after losing his authority to perform such activities, Sheriff Joe raids on, claiming he will send the “illegals” back across the border, even if he has to drive them himself.
·Senator Jon Kyl oddly claims he doesn’t need maternity care, so it shouldn’t be part of any healthcare legislation.
·Senators John McCain and Jon Kyl inexplicably vote against the Franken Amendment which protects victims of sexual assault, claiming the amendment will hurt large corporations.
·Senator Jon Kyl announces on the Senate floor that no one has ever died from lack of health care.
·John McCain introduces the Internet Freedom Act, which provides “freedom” to a few corporations stifle use of the internet.
·During a telephone town-hall in which he refers to every female caller as M’Lady, Congressman Trent Franks calls President Obama a Communist, a Marxist and invokes the “shadow of the swastika.”
·Senator Jon Kyl admits to having private discussions encouraging Senator Lieberman (I-CT) to threaten to filibuster the healthcare bill in the Senate.
·Inexplicably, at a time when Arizona is listed as a Category 5 (the worst) real estate market, Arizona’s legislature schemes to sell many of its government building assets to an outside corporation and then lease them back over 20 years in order to balance just the current year’s budget.
For all of Arizona’s beauty, these representative and stunning examples of extreme attitude and outlandish behavior can only serve to embarrass and belittle the citizenry of Arizona.
Missteps are one thing and can be corrected by a quick apology, a stepping aside of unfortunate word choices in favor of kinder or more correct language, a turning away from harsh and intolerant choices.But when bias rules and people are misled down dark paths of behavior and words, it shouldn’t be Arizona who leads the way.
We can do better.Yes we can.
Now, as Congress prepares to vote on healthcare legislation, Arizona’s representatives have already said that none will vote in favor of providing a choice for its low-income constituents to have an opportunity to join others who have insurance.They have said they won’t vote in favor of ending draconian and enigmatic pre-existing condition rules or sudden disallowable medical coverage.They have all trumpeted their favor of insurance giants over people.That’s understood.
RSS
Home
Arizona: still mavericky as all get out
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
