Welcome to the Tea Party State, formerly known as Arizona.
It’s clear that Arizona has become Tea Party Central. That philosophy rules this state.
Don’t think so?
Want to fix the economy? Cut taxes. Give tax breaks to business. Provide incentives for new business.
And just how many jobs will be created from this? Don’t know. Can’t say. But it’ll be a bunch. Maybe. In a few years. If we’re lucky.
All the while, the budget remains unbalanced as our tea party state Legislature fiddles around.
Except to tell universities and community colleges you have to cut, cut, cut.
Oh, and have a “first-class” university program in our state. Even as tuition increases, make attending universities increasingly impossible.
But for those students who can attend school, our tea party Legislature wants them to be safe. So they should have guns. Lots of guns. That’s the way to ensure we’re safe. Guns in schools. Guns in bars. No training required, of course. This is the Tea Party State, after all, where training to use a gun would be “government intrusion.”
An intrusion the Tea Party State’s had enough with. So we’ll pass a nullification law. Don’t like a federal law? Don’t have to follow it. Simple as that. Heck, if you’re Russell Pearce, you can decide which state laws your state senators have to follow.
So if state law says you can’t bring a gun into a public building, tea party emperor Pearce decrees differently.
And if the feds don’t like what we’re up to, if they feel like they need to come after us, we’ll be ready. The Arizona tea party legislature has a bill that will provide “a homeland security force” under the “direct control” of the governor.
Her very own vigilante group. Don’t tread on us, Obama! You and your big government types better stay away from Arizona.
But sometimes our tea party small government types decide that big government should tell individuals what to do. Like with abortion. Including not having abortions based on race or gender. And base the law on a phony statistic and a study of China and India. Which is just what tea party Sen. Steve Montenegro did when he introduced a bill to ban abortions based on the color or sex of the fetus. A bill in search of a problem.
Or a law that will create problems. Like lawsuits. You know, the ones coming from us going after the feds for not enforcing immigration laws. Or being sued for our immigration laws.
But that’s fine. We’ll show that Obama fella that he can’t push Arizona around.
In fact, we’re not sure he’s even president. That’s why our Arizona tea party legislators wanted to pass a bill that would require any presidential candidate to prove he’s an American.
Swell, the birthers come to Arizona.
But solve the most crucial problem in our state, the Grand Canyon-size budget deficit remaining for this year and the even larger one for fiscal 2012? An attempt to correct the structural deficit of our state?
Silence from our tea party legislators.
This is Arizona, tea party style. An Alice in Wonderland kind of tea party.
Except it’s all too real.
—
Mike McClellan is a Gilbert resident who teaches English at Dobson High School in Mesa.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 7:15 am on Fri, Mar 4, 2011.
Whine, whine, whine.......some people just can't seem to grasp that Obama's "Change from Democracy to Socialism" agenda has been rejected by the citizens of America (not just the Arizona) on National Election Day, November 2nd, 2010. Time to..............MOVE ON. This is how a democratic society works = majority rule. I sure didn't hear any ....WHINNING...when Obama and the Democrats were elected in 2008...did any of you ??? But now, 4 months....4 months later....the LOSERS.....are still at it.
The....Losers...whine about jobs....when just in the last month we have seen thousands of high-paying jobs flooding into "Business Friendly" ...Arizona.
The ...Losers...whine about a university/college degree being ...tuitioned out of existence. Well, just a couple of weeks ago....ASU's President Crow said that ....1/2 of the students at ASU pay...........NO TUITIION....at all. Those were his words. The Arizona Constitution never mandated that going to a State University/College would be ...100% FREE...a reasonable...TUITION...was allowed. When you compare the tuition costs of Arizona students to those of other States....we are one of the cheapest around.
Nullification....boy, this sure scares the ...."be-geebers" out of the Liberals..the Left-Wingers and the Socialist Democrats....lol. They want America to stop being a ...CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY...and become a ....BIG-DADDY KNOWS BEST, SOCIALIST COUNTRY. Well, I am sorry but our Founding Fathers (since many students in Tucson High Schools are substituting learn about "Che" Guevara and Commandante Zapata of Mexico in their...CHICANO STUDIES/LA RAZA ETHNIC STUDIES Program instead of...AMERICAN HISTORY or AMERICAN GOVERNMENT...they will have to look these American Patriots up in Yahoo)........our (that's America's not Mexico's) Founding Fathers authorized the Bill of Rights. The 10th Amendment states....."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". Arizona's Legislature just wants the United States Government to abide by this Bill of Right's Amendment. It is Arizona's given right that it the United States issues a law or mandate that it is not entitled to...that Arizona does not have to abide by this....UNLAWFUL...regulation = NULLIFICATION.
The American people do not want...ABORTION ON DEMAND. The wall in back of where the.. JUSTICES OF THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT..sit...has a depiction of....MOSES WITH THE 10 COMMANDMENTS.
Lastly, we come to president barack hussein obama's (notice how i used lower case just like the columnist.....lol) place of birth....ALL....he....HAS TO DO...IS TO ORDER THE STATE OF HAWAII...TO SHOW THE AMERICAN PEOPLE...ONCE AND FOR ALL TIMES.....THE .....ORIGINAL COPY OF HIS BIRTH CERTIFICATE (the one listing the doctor, attending nurse, hospital where the birth took place, time and date of birth and who the MOTHER and the FATHER WERE.
I have a sealed copy of my birth certificate. I was...REQUIRED...to show it to the US ARMY....when I enlisted way back when. IF I AM REQUIRED TO SHOW MY BIRTH CERTIFICATE TO FIGHT FOR THIS GREAT NATION THAN MY ....COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF....SHOULD BE REQUIRED TO SHOW HIS OR HERS.
Dale Whiting posted at 8:57 am on Fri, Mar 4, 2011.
Mike,
Nicely put. Looks like you struck a nerve with Leon. Neo-cons know what they believe in. They just do not know why they believe in it.
My article on Conservatism has yet to sink into the minds of Leon and most of the rest of the sudo-conservatives who inhabit this site. Only one took up my challenge and appeared willing to start studying the underlying principles of Conservatism. And where you and I critize their positions, they lable us as Liberals. After all, if you critize a Neo-con, you must be a Liberal. They are stuck with this overly simplistic dicotomy!
I once lived within walking distance of Dobson High. I wish my kids had had you for a teacher!
Accuracy posted at 9:43 am on Fri, Mar 4, 2011.
A 'Tea Party State' for naturalized US citizens
That’s naturalization for legal immigrants; the acquisition of citizenship for those who lawfully want to become citizens of the United States under the constitution and the immigration law.
LindaM posted at 9:48 am on Fri, Mar 4, 2011.
Thank you for having the courage to write this letter. Your comments mirror my own. I have grown more and more frustrated as our government allows a loud group of fanatics to set the rules for Arizona. I hope you will continue to speak up on the issues, many others feel as you do.
nowimfound posted at 12:01 pm on Fri, Mar 4, 2011.
"Don’t like a federal law? Don’t have to follow it. Simple as that." Right, that's what the Tea Party is all about. Liberals, on the other hand, are eager to support all federal laws.
Unless, of course the federal law states that a person's citizenship status should be questioned when there is reasonable suspicion that a person is violating federal law by being in our state, right? Or if they are trying to be the leader of the [once] most powerful country in the world.
Or if federal law prohibits someone willingly and knowingly committing the murder. But I guess the feds have decided that's ok if it's the life of a supposedly unloved and unwanted child being brutally ended, so we need to blindly support that one, right?
VofReason posted at 12:15 pm on Fri, Mar 4, 2011.
He is right. AZ does have a huge deficit to deal with and a host of other issues to solve. We depart when he seems to intimate that keeping taxes at current levels and keep spending is the solution. I think people in the Education community always seem to think that more money into education will solve our problems. I and those who voted the GOP majority would tend to disagree. We also have years of history to draw from to back up our position.
VofReason posted at 12:16 pm on Fri, Mar 4, 2011.
Another thought- all in funding for public school students in AZ- north of 9K per student. Average private school south of 6K a year. Success level of private school students high, public school- not so much. Hmmmm.......
wdgnas posted at 7:16 am on Sat, Mar 5, 2011.
Vof Reason:maybe if the public schools could cherry pick the best students the average per student would not be so high...