There's a reason why Arizona is often dubbed the Wild West. Sometimes, it's an affectionate label, bringing to mind romantic images of cowboys on horseback and sing-alongs around the campfire, a still untamed frontier of canyons, mountains and desert.
But often, it's really just a jab at our state's tendency to enact wacky laws, including some that actually seem to promote lawlessness - such as the measure to allow just about anyone to carry a concealed gun - and leave even our own citizens shaking our heads and wondering: Why did we elect these people?
We didn't think anything could top last year's session when lawmakers avoided tackling the budget - despite the fact that we were teetering on the edge of a billion dollar deficit - so they could take care of more pressing business, such as passing a law that makes it illegal to breed a human-animal hybrid. This year's session seemed to be heading in a more responsible direction, with Gov. Jan Brewer and lawmakers pledging to focus on the single most important issue in Arizona at this time: the need to repair our broken economy and get hundreds of thousands of people back to work again.
Then last week as we were strolling down the dusty Main Street of "maybe they really will get it right this time," we were ambushed - the shot fired by Sen. Lori Klein, R-Anthem, who crafted Senate Bill 1433. Introduced by Klein and five other lawmakers, including the East Valley's own Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, SB 1433 is titled "federal legislation; state nullification." Basically, it would give the same elected leaders who fought so hard last year to bring back sparklers the power to strike down federal laws in Arizona. They don't like a law, they think it violates their interpretation of the U.S. Constitution - and our gun-totin', state rights-tootin' legislators will just shoot it down.
Some political observers believe the measure would actually allow Arizona to unofficially secede from the Union, rather ironic since in another eight days we will celebrate our statehood and begin a year-long countdown to Arizona's centennial. This is not a celebration of Arizona becoming its own independent nation, but rather one of the United States of America. We are Arizonans, but we are also Americans - something our state lawmakers are quick to point out when they want to deport the illegals among us or when they want to ensure that school children still recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
SB 1433 references the 10th Amendment in the Bill of Rights, which says: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." It also cites the 9th Amendment which says: "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."
You will notice that nowhere in the 9th Amendment does the phrase "Anglo-American" appear. Yet, SB 1433 states: "The ninth amendment to the United States Constitution secures and reserves to the people of Arizona as against the federal government their natural rights to life, liberty and property as entailed by the traditional Anglo-American concept of ordered liberty and as secured by state law ..." Why they felt the need to insert "Anglo-American" should raise the eyebrows of all of us.
Like our elected state leaders, we also have some concerns about legislation coming out of Washington, such as the landmark health care law. But creating another layer of state bureaucracy, a legislative committee to review all existing federal statutes, mandates and orders for the purpose of determining their constitutionality and then recommending that the Legislature nullify those federal laws and orders - is definitely not the answer.
Arizona is a beautiful, diverse and proud state with a tradition of limited government, personal responsibility and new beginnings - a place that attracts Americans from all over our nation, and not just those who enter illegally from outside our borders seeking a better quality of life. But it also is a state with big problems: a huge deficit, thousands of unemployed people, too many homes in foreclosure, an education system that lags behind other states, and young and frail citizens who are at the greatest risk of bearing the brunt of brutal, but necessary budget cuts.
Our legislators need to stop thumbing their nose at Washington and focus on Arizona and the people who believed in their ability to lead us out of this dire economic crisis when we cast our ballots last fall. We don't need a Wild West shootout with the federal government. We need innovative ideas, collaboration and hard work to get Arizona back on its feet again.
mlimberg posted at 5:59 am on Sun, Feb 6, 2011.
You just answered your own question, Washington is the PROBLEM! Arizona should take great pride in the fight. They are now being joined by half or more of the States to fight Washinton. Arizona is leading the way!
Little by little American has lost it's way at the hand of Washington. Littel by little, with smart Government by the States and the People, we will take back America.
For everyone reading this with a job, did you know that about half of the people in the USA pay no Federal Income Tax? That should make people cranky.... Why do we let Washington decide what to do with our income?
Great Job Arizona leading America back to greatness.....
Leon Ceniceros posted at 7:09 am on Sun, Feb 6, 2011.
I guess that the "Progressives" (that's the Democrats and Liberal Independent's "new monik (c)a [wink] now" since getting their you-know-what's kick in the last Election) don't think that Arizonians can "walk and chew gum at the same time". One can see a little of the East Coast "Ivory Tower" and the West Coast "UC Bezerkley" uber-elitist derision of Arizona's "gun-totin, state rights-tootin Legislators".
Well, no less an Arizona icon, thinks that "States Rights" are important, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Conner ruled affirmatively on one of the very, very few "10th Amendment" cases to be decided by the Supreme Court in the last 200+ years. This was a small case brought by the State of New York no less. So I guess little Arizona is in pretty good company in wanting to protect their 9th and 10 Amendment Rights too.
One of our Founding Fathers, James Madison, was the one who proposed the 10th Amendment to limit the role of the Federal Government to "ONLY" the powers granted it in the "Necessary and Proper Clause". This Amendment to our Constitution took out "ALL" ambiguity as to what Powers and Rights that the Federal Government had and anything else were the "STATES RIGHTS".
Yes, Arizona is a cactus thorn in the side of the Obama Administration's "Big-Government Knows Best" Agenda (which had been looking more and more like one of old Kruschchev's 5-Year Programs from the 1960's until Novermer 2nd, 2010). Yes, Arizona stirred the pot with it's "Amnesty for Illegal Aliens" killing SB1070 legislation. Yes, Arizona stirred the pot with its "Back to Teaching the 3-R's = Reading, 'Riting and 'Rithmatic...instead of the Left-Wing's 3-R's = Radicalism, Rebellion and Revolution"...legislation. We Arizonians love our Capitalism and our American Patriotic Values.
Well, as to our "crazy" Arizona Laws.... we must be doing something "Right" ..because there are lots of "copy-cat laws" of Arizona's pot-stirring legislation in States all across this Great Country.
wdgnas posted at 7:54 am on Sun, Feb 6, 2011.
mlimberg:
For everyone reading this with a job, did you know that about half of the people in the USA pay no Federal Income Tax? That should make people cranky.... Why do we let Washington decide what to do with our income?
compare that to the number of corporations that pay no taxes. that makes me cranky...
retired03 posted at 7:57 am on Sun, Feb 6, 2011.
protect our rights yes Leon but why did they choose to change the wording of the 9th ammendment? I thought this was a well written article that did not lean left at all but opened my eyes some. The graphic says it all and yes, we have a responsibility to watch what DC is doing but the AZ state legislature has more of a repsonsibility to it's citizens. Not everything wrong with this state is Washingtons fault. Sometimes you have to point the finger inward and recently, our legislatures seem to refuse to do that but instead, blame Washington for our problems.
sockratties posted at 8:52 am on Sun, Feb 6, 2011.
Wild also means out of control and the two previous commenter’s proved it. Our posturing, self serving state politicians have proved that. The ploy is to keep the pot boiling so that those who think you’re cooking believe there’s something in it for them. Too bad they can’t see it’s just stone soup. Everyone is expected to add something except the politicians, like Pearce who does a lot of stirring but adds nothing of value.
In the disgraceful SB 1433 the “Anglo-American” bit is just another little spice to make readers like Leon (See previous rant: (“How can it be called racism when the majority of students in California are Hispanic and yet the majority of students attending Stanford and University of California, Berkeley are Chinese-Americans, Vietnamese-Americans, Japanese-Americans and Korean-Americans.”) think someone else enjoys the same flavors of racism even when it smells like something from the bottom of your shoe.
Another example is SB 1117: “The Arizona Senate will begin debate on Thursday a bill that, if approved, would give the leaders of state Congress unlimited power to use public funds to defend the anti-immigrant bill SB 1070. The Senate Bill 1117 was introduced by President of the Senate, Rep. Russell Pearce, who in the last term was co-author and principal sponsor of the proposal that led to SB 1070, enacted in part in June. SB 1117 would give Pearce, Senate President and fellow Republican Kirk Adams, leader of the Arizona House of Representatives, the power to hire lawyers to initiate legal proceedings before state and federal courts in defense of SB 1070.” There goes the rest of any budget down the tubes.
Even if Lori Klein, Russell Pearce, Kirk Adams, et al, wish to give up their U. S. citizenship they shouldn’t think the rest of us want to join them. And peeing in the sandbox if you don’t always get your way isn’t the way to improve. Raising the education bar, innovative “workable” solutions to the drug and guns problem at the border, attraction of business and tourism and open minds will facilitate our recovery far more than peevish responses. We send senators and representatives to Washington to take care of federal business. Our state senators and representatives should be taking care of those things they continue to ignore, like, as the editorial says, the economy and jobs.
Senators McCain and Kyle (who has indicated he will not run again) will soon be replaced by others. Maybe a lot of the posturing by our state congress is to get an image of a “no-nonsense” candidate for those sought after positions. If so, perhaps a bit more real work and a lot less nonsense would serve everyone best.
Erosennin posted at 9:33 am on Sun, Feb 6, 2011.
Wait, the federal government has failed to enforce federal law and has sued Arizona over SB 1070. So how are we responsible for picking that fight?
Arizonans are against Obamacare because it will drag down this country like an anchor, so we are right to pick a fight with that.
The point of this editorial is "shut up and do what Washington tells you?" Hell, no.
[tongue][tongue]
Cerulean posted at 10:26 am on Sun, Feb 6, 2011.
mlimberg,
And the answer is . . . " We don't need a Wild West shootout with the federal government. We need innovative ideas, collaboration and hard work to get Arizona back on its feet again."
limberg said "For everyone reading this with a job, did you know that about half of the people in the USA pay no Federal Income Tax?" That is because most of them are the working poor. Where are the jobs the tax cuts for the wealthy were suppose to create? Tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans in effect only serve to keep the poor working at minimum wage jobs. (There, I answered my own question too.)
Why should we ask poor people to pay for legislation that does not represent them?
"traditional Anglo-American", REpublicans keep insisting that they are not racist. You are! and blatantly so.
[smile] This is a very good article by the Tribune editorial, thank you.
Chris W posted at 10:27 am on Sun, Feb 6, 2011.
Nullification is one of the final checks that a state has to prevent the the federal government from overstepping it's enumerated powers and is based on the idea that the several states formed the federal government with the states retaining the right to determine the limits of federal power.
And nullification is not a new concept. Its roots go back to the ratification debates of the Constitution and were later expanded upon by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798, which were in response to the Alien and Sedition Acts. South Carolina looked at nullification as a remedy against the Tariffs of 1828 and 1832 which brought about the Nullification Crisis in the 1830's and the northern states also used nullification in the 1840's and 1850's to block enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Acts. Even today we see nullification in effect as states are passing laws to prevent the implementation of ObamaCare, essentially nullifying it and in California and other states, Arizona included, where laws have passed that allow for medicinal and recreational use of marijuana even though federal law still makes the substance illegal.
Arizona is also not alone in this battle either. Many other states have passed Tenth Amendment resolutions and have nullification bills pending. There is also a call for a Repeal Amendment to the Constitution where if passed, 2/3 of the states would be able to repeal any federal law.
The idea of state sovereignty is gaining steam because we the people have had enough of the federal government overstepping it it's Constitutional limitations and passing laws where it has no standing.
Thomas Woods has written a great book on the subject entitled "Nullification: How to Resist Federal Tyranny in the 21st Century" which breaks down nullification and shows that it is well within the rights of the states to reject unconstitutional federal laws.
Cerulean posted at 11:10 am on Sun, Feb 6, 2011.
This is to Erosennin [tongue]
Arizona takes full advantage of the Federal Government at every opportunity. The only reason the State had higher than average allotment of persons on Medicaid was because the Feds were paying for it! And the Affordable Health Act will pay for them again beginning in 2014
REpublicans are such hypocrites. You say it's OK to force individuals to wear a seat belt, but it's wrong to demand that every one who potentially uses health care to pay for it. As it is the rising cost of health care is placed disproportionately and inimically on the middle class.
The insurance industry has republican'ts in their pocket.
NanDarrow posted at 7:26 pm on Sun, Feb 6, 2011.
Nice article. I couldn't agree more. The legislature is wasting time and that is not good for our state. The feds make a nice scapegoat when we aren't willing to face reality. Arizona's economy is up to us, not the feds. And our state's economy is not going to look any better in the future if we cut education to the bone. Thanks for a well thought out piece.
arizona bruce posted at 7:35 pm on Sun, Feb 6, 2011.
Throughout history, every federal government that has taken over by getting involved in every facet of private industry, and then using its force to overwhelm and force - has failed after it ruined that nation's economy and momentum.
Arizonans see that happening in our government and we see the need to stand up and do what we can to keep Arizona a sovereign state, as the Founding Fathers intended.
We believe that if anyone has a problem with that philosophy, they do not have a true understanding of what the fed. or the state government is trying to do.
As far as mandating everyone to wear seat belts .... that is an ignorant analogy.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 10:48 am on Mon, Feb 7, 2011.
Reading some of the comments...I had to chuckle...boy, Sarah Palin sure had it right when she mentioned that the current (and let's hope...temporary) occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington D.C. was lacking some body parts. Seems like the District of Columbia isn't the only place in the nation with this problem.
Sure we could "go along to get along"...the old dictum of getting ahead in Life. But, I am proud to say that for some reason (probably our soft-scrambled brains from the 122degree Summer days....lol)..Arizonians don't have the same physiological problem that some Democrat politicians have. We have just the opposite problem...so to speak. We don't take things laying down. We don't "run with the pack". We sure as heck "don't play nice".
We may be a small State....but that is the only thing "small" about us. Emiliano Zapata said it best when he was commenting on why he joined the Mexican Revolution against the Dictator Diaz in Mexico City. He paraphrased the Greek philosopher, Aeschylus;
"Prefiero morir de pie que vivir siempre arrodillado"
"I would rather die standing than live always kneeling"
Dale Whiting posted at 6:09 pm on Mon, Feb 7, 2011.
Look kids. It's relatively simple. No law passed by either a state or a federal legislature can nulify a law passed by the other. If one of more states believe a federal law has overstepped the constitutional boundary, then the courts hold the remedy of nullification. Presently the feds are suing in federal court to have SB1070 nulified. [There is a hazy ground in the middle where both state and federal law may apply]
Is this concept so hard to crasp? And where our august state legislators do not grasp it, they need to be replaced in November!
concernedcitizen posted at 12:00 am on Tue, Feb 8, 2011.
Arizona lawmakers are merely trying to make a statement against Obama/Washington. I get that, but answer me this: why are they wasting time on about 20 different bills, most of which will get taken to court, and there are not near as many bills to help with our Arizona budget and economy?
So why are we allowing our lawmakers to make a childish statement to Washington, wasting our tax payer dollars for their time, as well as wasting tax payer dollars on future lawsuits that will surely come? Isn't that counterproductive to the main goals of balancing a budget and building the economy?
I get the fact that we need to fight against the "forced" health insurance plan that Obama and Washington forced upon everyone. I get that. I don't understand why we have to waste time and money on all of these other bills, all of which will ultimately cost you and me, the taxpayer, more money in lawsuits.
Read our lawmakers' statements in these types of articles. They know there will be a lawsuit coming, and they want it to come. But what do these bills have to do with the economy in Arizona?
Readers, I encourage you to email your congressmen and congresswomen and let them know how you feel. They do need to stick up for our rights, but have they gone too far and have forgotten that their main goal right now is to build the Arizona economy first, so that vital programs for our most disadvantaged citizens don't have to be decimated any further than they already are?