Among the weirdness of Phoenix, here's one that stood out. I went down to Union Station on one of regular pilgrimages, to this building that represented so much of the city that's gone yet I still love. When they finally find a way to tear it down, I'll be gone for good. Outside the nearby immense Maricopa County jail complex, uniformed correctional officers and deputies stood smoking. Down the street, work was continuing on the new courts building, yet another dreadful dehumanizing edifice plopped into the public square. It was shift change and workers were walking to their cars past Sheriff Joe's men. The laborers were all Hispanic, all speaking Spanish, all passing without a care. The coppers didn't even glance at them.
How many were really citizens or legal migrants? Did it even matter? I saw this all over Phoenix. Whatever fear or outmigration the Jim Crow anti-immigrant SB-1070 provoked, Hispanics are everywhere and everywhere working. It reinforced my belief that the law is more about voter suppression and keeping them in their place than any cry for help because Washington failed to "secure the border." Even with the migration of millions of Midwesterners, Phoenix can't escape its heritage as a Southern town, especially with segregation. And on the other side of the tracks remains the huge underclass that keeps the low-wage economy going. It wouldn't surprise me if the 2010 Census showed the city with close to a Hispanic majority.
Most work hard and play by the rules. Some want to earn money and return to Mexico. Most want to be Americans. To be sure, they face virulent bigotry not unlike that endured by the Irish and Italians before them. Unfortunately, Phoenix is a poor melting pot. It lacks the economy with the rungs in the ladder to allow most to rise. The education system is among the worst in America, including the joke of the "charter school movement." And yet the man who has presided over not only its continuing miserable performance but a worsening is on his way to a new public office. Meet the new Attorney General, Tom Horne.
Traveling around the metropolitan area, with its vast litter of campaign signs (something not seen in Seattle), I kept wondering: How do these right-wing retreads just keep moving around and up, drawing pay from the government they claim to despise. Thayer Verschoor, who did so much to hold back Arizona while serving his term-limits in the Legislature, wanted to be state Treasurer ("Endorsed by Sheriff Joe" "Lifetime 'A' rating from the NRA"). Barbara Leff, who claimed to be a moderate and an expert on economic issues yet always voted with the Kooks, wanted the same job. (Both lost to Doug Ducey; what will they do now…oh, lobby!). Ken Bennett, seeking reelection as secretary of state after earning a Lifetime A rating as a Kook in the state Senate. The Democrats are fielding some excellent candidates, but they can't get traction in a state where races are decided by a minority vote.
Arizona is crazier than most states but hardly unique. As this blog argued before it became fashionable, the Kookocracy is spreading national. Substitute large corporate interests for the Real Estate Industrial Complex as the shadow backers for "a grassroots movement" and you get the picture. "Low-information" voters, media dominated by right-wingers, demagogues such as Arpaio, tools like Jan Brewer, well-funded "conservative" "think tanks" and the NRA driving policy, turning legitimate worries and grievances away from their rightful targets (Republican policies) toward brown people and "socialists." Presto: The Tea Party.
Arizona has been a proving ground for Tea Party policies for more than 20 years. The result: Economic and social disaster. And yet watch the state reload before shooting itself in the foot yet again (in a bar, legally).
I think Arizona’s perpetual churn and boom, its deracinated citizenry, and its Bowling Alone culture pretty much ensured we’d get to Kookland first. But we were only slightly ahead of the curve. Here’s Matt Taibbi writing from Kentucky:
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/210904?RS_show_page=0
John McCain’s toga is beginning to look like a blend of polyester and titanium. All his various apostasies now look like so much litter on the road to Meet the Press. And the great denouement to a life of public service might as well be the screechy rant of a talk-radio blowhard. As The Arizona Republic bravely intoned, he’s still “relevant”.
I saw Terry Goddard over the weekend looking his usual diffident self. I nodded as if to acknowledge his celebrity and maybe his near-certain defeat. We’re the same age and life is no longer getting better. If there was an opportunity to make a difference 30 years ago, it passed and what’s left is a state more pitied than loved. https://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/Economy/100624
“what’s left is a state more pitied than loved.” – soleri
A perfect punctuation.
“Arizona has been a proving ground for Tea Party policies for more than 20 years.” – Rogue
A dank, poisonous “tea” ‘brew(er)ed’ in tepid, stale ‘goldwater’ and served for a waterboarding party.
“Arizona has been a proving ground for Tea Party policies for more than 20 years. The result: Economic and social disaster. And yet watch the state reload before shooting itself in the foot yet again (in a bar, legally).”
I missed your clever prose, Mr. Talton.
And you commenters are amusing too.
The “Best and Worst Run States in America: A survey of all 50” study is well worth browsing. For some reason there are comparative tables scattered between individual state evaluations, so if you go there just looking for Arizona you might miss them.
As it turns out, in addition to the fact that Arizona’s credit rating is second worst in the nation, Arizona is:
* 50th (dead last) in terms of the percentage of residents below the poverty line;
* 47th in terms of the percentage of residents without health insurance;
* 47th in terms of the percentage of residents 25 and older who have graduated high-school;
* 48th in terms of GDP per capita
https://247wallst.com/2010/10/04/the-best-and-worst-run-states-in-america-a-survey-of-all-fifty/
And from another study:
* 49th in terms of per pupil spending adjusted for regional cost differences
https://www.edweek.org/rc/articles/2009/01/21/sow0121.h27.html
We discussed Ken Silverstein’s essay on Arizona (Harper’s, July 2010) a couple of months ago (https://.typepad.com/rogue_columnist/2010/08/what-happens-in-arizona.html)
Silverstein is now leaving Harper’s Washington bureau and his reasons are sad but all-too familiar to readers of this blog.
https://harpers.org/archive/2010/09/hbc-90007662#
Emil’s recap shows some really dreary rankings. Our legislature has a 30 year history of single party dominance, so a large measure of accountability would be appropriate. Right? But the Republic endorses the likes of Horne and Brewer, thus ensuring the perpetuation of our dismal situation.
“Arizona’s perpetual churn and boom” – soleri.
The “boom” part ain’t so “perpetual”, is it?
No, it isn’t. It’s more like a volcano that finally blew out its cone.
I’m 62 and this is my first experience of Phoenix as a depressed place. Even in the S&L blowout of the late 80s, Phoenix still had a real economy. Motorola was the state’s largest employer. Honeywell, Sperry, GE were strong. So, even with all those RTC auctions, Phoenix still seemed like it was on the ascent. John Teets, CEO of Dial, made an ostentatious commitment to our city by greenlighting the massive corporate headquarters on Central & Palm Ln. Other movers and shakers (say, Richard Mallery and Jerry Coangelo) were making similar commitments. Now, it’s impossible to imagine anyone stepping forward in a similar manner.
I don’t see Phoenix coming back simply because the fundamentals are so deeply inverted. That’s why the “boom” was destined to eventually become a death spiral. We completely overshot our sustainable economy with cheap growth. Once exposed, there was nothing left except selling off excess assets. That’s what Phoenix has become now: a foreclosure auction on the courthouse steps.