Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The 49th Arizona Legislature is the most recklessly incompetent and fiscally irresponsible Republican-dominated legislature in the history of Arizona, without equal. Led by our Accidental Governor, Jan Brewer, it is the only Arizona Legislature to fail to balance the state budget by July 1 in each of the last two years, as mandated by the Arizona Constitution. Despite massive budget cuts to education and health care programs, and the added benefit of federal stimulus funds to help balance the state budget, the "Jan Sham Budget" is out of balance and is even more so today after the voters rejected the GOP gimmicks of Props. 301 and 302 on Election Day. Arizona is circling the drain.
So did Arizona voters hold these recklessly incompetent and fiscally irresponsible Republicans accountable for their failures and the wholesale destruction of the state of Arizona? Nooo.
Arizona voters rewarded reckless incompetence and fiscal irresponsibility by reelecting these radical Republicans to office and expanding their majorities in the House and Senate. The "accidental" governor is now Republican malicious intent. Republicans may have swept every statewide office as well.
The last of the moderate Republicans were purged from the party in the Republican Party primary. The handful of Democrats who remain in the Arizona Legislature will be disenfranchised and ignored by the Republican majority. Democrats are powerless to stop the insanity about to be unleashed upon this state. Redistricting will relegate Democrats to permanent minority status for the next decade.
The immediate consequences of this election will be a lame-duck Special Session before the end of this year to make additional cuts to education and health care programs, and additional fund sweeps to try to balance the out-of-balance "Jan Sham Budget." Sen. Russell Pearce is already sharpening his budget ax.
The budget ax will come out again with a vengeance in January as radical Republicans, empowered by control of Congress, will challenge federal maintenance of effort requirements for federal education and health care programs, e.g, KidsCare and Medicaid (AHCCCS). You will see attempts to withdraw from participation in federal programs under the old segregationist banner of "states rights." Those federal stimulus funds that helped to mitigate the damage to Arizona's budget? Gone, thanks to a Republican-controlled Congress.
The radical Republicans will worsen Arizona's structural revenue deficit when House Speaker Kirk Adams' bogus-named jobs creation bill aka the corporate welfare tax giveaway plan is reintroduced. Corporations will be paying less in taxes, and you will be paying more as those corporate property taxes are shifted to residential property owners. This faith based supply-side "trickle down" GOP economics will further worsen Arizona's structural revenue deficit, leading to calls for even more budget cuts.
State revenue sharing with cities and county governments will be slashed (probably illegal), which will further worsen local government budget deficits.
It is the realization of Grover Norquist's wet dream to shrink government to the size that he can "drown it in the bathtub." Don't be fooled by this "small government" mantra with respect to tax and spend policies.
These radical Republicans are also social conservatives who believe in government intervention into the most personal and private aspects of your life. You can be certain that the Center for Arizona Policy and other social conservative think tanks in Arizona are readying legislation regarding abortion, birth control, fetus personhood, privatization of public schools and tax credits for religious schools, and anti-gay restrictions. The NRA will be back with more gun bills. The "culture warriors" have been unleashed.
And finally, let's not forget that there is now no check on anti-immigrant hysteria and the demonizing of Arizona's Latino population, the stock and trade of demagogues like Jan Brewer, Russell Pearce and Joe Arpaio. Sen. Pearce has readied a bill to "repeal" the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment by state law to regulate "anchor babies" (an outrageously offensive term). Other Republicans will adopt the language and tactics of these demagogues after their success in this election. We are entering a very dark place in Arizona's history.
It is a descent into madness.
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when you go to sleep tonight or today think of love. Wrap your loving arms around yourself, your children, your neighbor, your dog, your kitty, your heart, your mind, your soul. love is the answer love is the way for all of us to win. love is the answer. love. tonight love. envelope your whole existence in love.
Love can change what is happening in our world. We are so needing love like never before.
well actually both parties are corrupt and have sold the american people to the highest bidder. 4 Billion dollars spent on 2010 elections how insane think of what that money could do for all the people in america instead of being wasted on the greed and power grabs. control, control, control some more. now I just read that Our so called president Mr. Obama is going to be spending over two hundred million dollars a day for his trip!Lets put everything in perspective shall we? Lets try thinking for ourselves for once instead of listening to the dem or the rep who are all corrupt and have all ruined our country? What do you want for America? What do you want for yourself here in this country?What do you want for your family? Your children? I dont want anymore of either party I want us as citizens of America to find our own way and make our own decisions.I want us to care about each other to love one another to the best of our ability and to help each other find our way. I want us to love one another and find peace in the world instead of greed and hate and war and greed and hate and more war. we can change our world if we love each other. love love love love love. Screw the democrats and the republicans they are both corrupt and greedy. the whole government is corrupt.
On Democracy Now today, Amy Goodman said $4 Billion was spent on the 2010 election.
Sigh.
I don’t think you all understand. We’re not going to be allowed to ‘fight back’.
Citizens United just set the price tag for purchasing democracy in this country. As Rand Paul said in his acceptance speech “We all work for rich people or sell things to rich people.”
Welcome to serfdom.
I think a dog could have won an election last night.
Moderate republicans need to fight these lunatics on the right. It has to start from within. Dems can’t do it alone, mod repubs get some spine and stand up to this ilk that has taken power.
Not sure how they would do it, perhaps use the same smear campaign that the right has used but this time use the truth–there’s a laundry list of bad deeds from the kooks that if put into that special republican type messaging could ding the armor and topple em.
Lordy……..what a mess
I don’t know how to do it, but we need to do a very very serious analysis of where the Democratic party has failed in AZ. Despair today? yes! Give up? Not me!!!! We need to do a whole lot of work to figure out what is going on and how to combat it. I don’t have any answers – I do have a lot of ideas but I don’t have a lot of confidence in them. It may just be that there are more of “them” than “us” and this isn’t a friendly place for people of our persuasion. I frankly don’t know – but I put out the challenge because in two years, we’re going to go through this experience again!!!!! We need to being analyzing, correcting and fighting BEGINNING RIGHT NOW!!!
Agreed.