Corrected version
I keep waiting for Arizonans to experience their Joseph Welch moment. For those of you too young to remember, Welch was the man who finally, publicly stood up to Sen. Joseph McCarthy. It was another time of national madness, when the alcoholic senator from Wisconsin was accusing everybody and his brother of being a communist. Finally, in a 1954 hearing, Welch, the chief counsel for the Army, which was being investigated for alleged red penetration, listened to McCarthy smear one of his law partners. Welch said:
Until this moment, Senator, I think I have never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness. Fred Fisher is a young man who went to the Harvard Law School and came into my firm and is starting what looks to be a brilliant career with us. Little did I dream you could be so reckless and so cruel as to do an injury to that lad. It is true that he will continue to be with Hale and Dorr. It is, I regret to say, equally true that I fear he shall always bear a scar needlessly inflicted by you. If it were in my power to forgive you for your reckless cruelty I would do so. I like to think that I am a gentle man but your forgiveness will have to come from someone other than me.
When McCarthy tried to interrupt, Welch made his famous statement: "Senator, may we not drop this? We know he belonged to the Lawyers Guild. Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?" Along with Dwight Eisenhower's quiet but lethal behind the scenes moves in a sane Republican Party, this destroyed Tailgunner Joe. The moment of national insanity snapped like the breaking of an evil spell.
I have waited for Arizonans to reach this moment: Waited with SB 1070, waited with the chance to elect Terry Goddard governor, waited through bill after bill at the Legislature, each crazier and more cruel than the one before it. Guns in bars. Guns everywhere. The enrichment of the prison-industrial complex. Defunding all-day kindergarten. The horror of the attempted assassination of Gabrielle Giffords after the most virulent campaign of ill-will and intimidation. On and on. I'm still waiting. Now Gov. Jan Brewer, who rode a wave of hatred to election victory, has fired Colleen Mathis, the chairwoman of the state's Independent Redistricting Commission. Apparently the commission was too independent. In drawing the congressional districts, of which Arizona stands to gain one, the commission was insufficiently attentive to the Tom DeLay-like greed of the Republicans. The districts were in danger of being truly competitive, even allowing the election of a — gasp! — Democrat.
This is in direct contravention of the wishes of Arizona voters, who decided in 2000 that an independent panel, rather than the Legislature, would decide the shape of congressional and legislative districts. Yet there's been hardly a peep as far as I can tell. To quote good ole Bob Dole, "Where's the outrage?" The power grab is so egregious it elicited a New York Times editorial (which, I assume, only emboldens the Kooks because this is the view of them book learnin' elites on the East Coast).
Arizona actually voted for Bill Clinton in 1996, and the conventional wisdom held that the state would become more liberal as in-migration continued. In fact, except for the anti-Bush congressional vote in 2006, the state has become more reactionary and extreme to the right. To be sure, voter turnout is low, especially among Hispanic citizens. But it's also likely that the Big Sort is at work: Like-minded people congregate together. With its atomized suburban layout, Arizona is particularly prone to the right-wing tendencies that adhere to sub- and exurban America. Washington is a purple state, with even the Seattle area divided into a blue city and many red or pink suburbs. The same is true in metro Phoenix, but it has far less "city." Whatever the reasons, Arizona has become as nearly as red as Mississippi, especially in the Legislature.
The election of Janet Napolitano did nothing to change this general trajectory. The Arizona Democratic Party fielded fine candidates in the 2010 election, including Andrei Cherny for Treasurer and Goddard, who would have made the best governor in the state's history. They were routed. Harry Mitchell went down. One has to ask: What was Brewer afraid of?
On the other hand, what will it take to make Arizonans wake up? The rigging of elections by the well-funded right is happening across America. Likely Democratic voters are being kicked off the rolls. The playbook was written and road-tested in the Grand Canyon State. One-party states are bad for democracy, and nowhere is that more on display in Arizona. No wonder, before he died, did Barry Goldwater say, "I will be remembered as a liberal."
I was going to say, it will come. It has to, right?
On the other hand, the growing self-confidence and recent successes of the left (on the streets, at least) will most likely cause a tightening of the sphincters in some enclaves… and Arizona is certainly a candidate for being one of those enclaves.
😐
Unfortunately, the vast majority of people have no idea what the Independent Redistricting Commission is, what is does, why it was formed, or the decade-long legal battle that has gone on to date over the IRC. So if you thought this would be the watershed moment, you are probably about to be very disappointed as the majority of people sit back with glazed looks on their faces while trying to sound out the words independent, redistricting, and commission.
I’m confident the moment will come eventually, but this ain’t it.
What if Arizonans “snap”, but go in the other direction rather than the direction you wish for?
I am ready to cut way back on about six lifetime friends who recently announced to me that Ann Coulter is the smartest and most respected woman on television.
I don’t have that many friends to spare, so I am thinking this over, but to say the least I am pissed to the max over FOX News’ ability to brainwash.
@azrebel, you have my deep sympathies.
I haven’t been particularly socially mobile since I’ve moved to Portland, so most of those I count as friends are still in Phoenix.
If I exercised such standards of acceptability, I would indeed be nearly friendless. (I still love ’em, though.)
I was going to look it up the title but why bother. Ann Coulter wrote a best-selling book championing Joe McCarthy. Jonah Goldberg wrote a book that told us Hitler was a liberal. Bill O’Reilly wrote a book in which he asserted he looks out for the little guy.
I don’t know how you can have civil discourse with people who routinely invert reality to make their arguments. It’s as if they have to argue from pure brazenness or else the entire phantasmagoria of the right-wing freak show would suddenly implode. Their ideology essentially tells us that a) liberalism is evil and b) conservatism is whatever liberalism is not, and c) check daily for fresh updates.
For a state and nation awash in white victimology, there is no more satisfying theater than hearing pundits and politicians tell you your rank bigotry and ignorance of basic reality qualifies you as astute. You work hard! You never asked anyone for anything! How dare liberals ask you to help someone who never helped you!
We’re not going to win this argument because nothing is more satisfying than narratives that validate your victim status. Arizona’s victims are prosperous and empowered with high-calorie resentment and grievances. You might say they’ve gotten obese on this diet.
The Big Sort is exactly what is at work here. I had two coworkers recently move from California and was shocked that they were more brainwashed than native Arizonans. Austerity, guns and low taxes for the rich are a given with these folks. Don’t get me wrong… I love a great idea to make money. However, feel free to charge me 20% on my income to fix bridges, fund rail and the Washington State ferry system. Heck regulate commerce for the common good with that 20% or a bit more. No one or no corp ought to be getting away with free regularly like GE.
I’d vote for that crazy liberal Goldwater anytime…
PS: You guys hear about the vandalism at Hula’s on Central? That place causes no trouble for anyone yet some genius feels the need to splash pink paint around the artfully decorated Men’s can. Just to be mean?
“PS: You guys hear about the vandalism at Hula’s on Central? That place causes no trouble for anyone yet some genius feels the need to splash pink paint around the artfully decorated Men’s can.”
Christo at work. He’s between projects and probably got restless.
There isn’t going to be such a moment. It will only get worse.
Americans are going to starve while the right-wing screams that the starving just need to get jobs (that don’t exist).
Actually, the anti-illegal immigration laws were nothing to protest about. We need draconian enforcement of immigration law and a complete moratorium on all immigration.
We don’t have enough jobs for our own people. We sure don’t need immigrants.
We need to displace immigrants from jobs and give those jobs to Americans.
And now, even after a string of gruesome child deaths, the director of DES (hired by Brewer) has refused to ask for new funding for Child Protective Services, calling the idea “premature” despite “the increasing number of foster children, caseloads that are more than 60 percent above state standards and the loss of prevention services for families at risk of abuse or neglect”.
https://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2011/11/02/20111102cps-no-budget-hike-sought.html
Do you all remember the bit Steve Martin did when he was a new, hot comedian? He looked at the audience and stated he was going to tell them the secret on how to become a millionaire. Then he said, “OK, first, get a million bucks.”
Big laugh.
I always enjoyed the joke. I just never thought it would become the major plank in a political party’s agenda.
If you ask Republicans these questions, these are their responses. And they make these responses with clear eyes and a clean conscience:
Q. What about the homeless?
A. They should get a house.
Q. What about the sick with no health insurance?
A. The should get healthy.
Q. What about a single mom with two kids?
A. She should undo having the kids.
Q. What about abortion?
A. It is a sacred life once the cell splits in two.
Q. What about after the cell becomes a baby?
A. It should get a house.
The state’s Republican Party has a very practical yet ruthless understanding of how “democracy” really works. They focus on the levers of power.
Without making a single political convert, but simply by altering district boundaries, it’s possible to virtually insure a particular outcome (e.g., the supremacy in state affairs of a single political party).
If someone comes along and threatens to undo this, use procedural methods to remove them first. In this case, exploit vague legislative language which allows the executive branch (governor) and the majority party to override a popular initiative (Proposition 106) which was passed specifically to exclude the legislature from the redistricting process.
To prevent interference with this from the state’s legal investigators, get your people into top positions (e.g., state attorney general); after seizing the high ground they can not only overlook your abuses but also bully and intimidate those who would undo your manipulations (i.e., publicly announce an investigation into the redistricting commission).
Use control of key committees and party discipline to insure that everyone has the same playsheet and that the right people get the support they need to attain and maintain position and power.
Arizona’s Democrats simply fail to appreciate the cold hard facts. Whereas for Republicans politics is about getting Party control and keeping it, by any means necessary, Democrats are likely to consider voter issues as ends in themselves, failing to understand that without power they will never have the opportunity to address those issues.
Arizona is the lab for the ideological far right’s implementation of its agenda. What happens in Maricopa County unfortunately doesn’t stay in Maricopa County.
The excesses of redistricting has undermined the political system’s credibility and distorted the wishes of the majority electorate in many states. The Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission was a good mechanism to provide credibility and balance to the political system in Arizona. It is little wonder that Brewer attacked the commission; it may have lessened the strangle hold the far right holds on Arizona.
Nicely put. A minor comment, though: Where could one vote for Clinton in 1994?
Actually, the proposed redistricting could best be described by the comment, “Really, that’s what a COMMITTEE was able to come up with?”
Politics aside, if the future of mankind depends on the work of a COMMITTEE, then I wish the best of luck to the species who replaces us.
As an equal opportunity, Independent, contrarian, I should probably comment on Democrats since I dissed the mindless Republicans.
So, a word association game for Democrats:
Gutless
Chickenshit
Corrupt
Ideas covered with cobwebs
Corrupt
Only interested in politics in order to get laid.
Did I mention corrupt?
This is what Brewer and the GOP feared most about the new draft of legislative districts:
“The state’s GOP congressional delegation was particularly alarmed, complaining it took what had been “safe” Republican districts and made them more competitive, while adjusting boundary lines to favor Democratic incumbents Raúl Grijalva and Gabrielle Giffords.
The addition of a ninth congressional district – due to population growth – in central Phoenix also rankled Republicans who claimed it was gerrymandered to favor Democrats.”
https://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2011/11/03/20111103brewer-gop-blasted-redistrict-panel-ouster.html#ixzz1chGIiuwM
Brewer overreached in her initial decision to remove Mathis according to the authors of the law that created the Independent Redistricting Commission. This may very well be settled in the Arizona Supreme Court and it could devastate the Republican Party in Arizona.
For the first time since Russell Pearce sought office, he is trailing in the polls. “Mesa Republican Jerry Lewis, who is seeking to unseat Pearce in the Nov. 8 recall election, is holding his own among fellow GOP voters, despite being heavily outspent by Pearce and his national fund-raising prowess.
Lewis holds a 46-43 percent lead over Pearce in the historic recall contest, but the edge is within the poll’s margin of error.”
https://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/region_southeast_valley/mesa/poll%3A-recall-race-a-dead-heat-between-russell-pearce%2C-jerry-lewis#ixzz1chHcbPzh
Once one domino falls…
Another important election is approaching fast; starting on Saturday the Runoff Election for Phoenix mayor begins. Interestingly, I haven’t come across any polls predicting a winner in this race. I’m hoping it is because Stanton is the clear winner and a poll telling us so would scare too many Republican.
If anyone is interesting in what the Commission Approved Congressional District Map Draft looked like, here is a link:
https://ballotpedia.org/wiki/images/AZ_Congressional_Draft_October_2011.jpg
Just as I predicted, the denial machine has kicked in high to avoid dealing with “Bird on Fire’s” substantive issues.
https://morrisoninstitute.asu.edu/media/news-events/gammage-rating-phoenix-sustainability
Capitalistic cult empowers levers from western base seeking dominion over US. White House moves to Utah.
Warren Jeffs is made US education zahr.
Czar????
I find Grady less and less credible.
Did run into Alfredo the militant at The Portland tonite while having a Alfredo Burger.
petro, azrebel, the Fox News virus is widespread in Phoenix. Hard to meet people who haven’t drank the kool aid. I spent the summer of 2008 in a hotel in NW Portland. The establishment had cable but didn’t carry fox. What a pleasant surprise. Unimaginable in any retail outfit in Maricopa County.
Jon: as you observed, Gammage (and most likely Morrison) are into denial about the Valley’s “sustainability” . . . but it is a convenient cover story as they vainly try to start up the sprawl machine once again. Opinion: they can spin a rationale that there’s enough water if we prioritize and use it in an intelligent fashion. (Thank you Carl Hayden and the CAP) But there’s NO cover story for the bad air; consequently Morrison just doesn’t talk about it. Probably, they think we’re stupid but it just might be that enough of us are sufficiently pissed-off to push back. The Am. Lung Assn estimates that there are more than 600,000 people who are afflicted by the Brown Cloud and the Bad Ozone.
morecleanair, on top of that, Gammage makes a point that as the “Sun Corridor” (whatever that is) becomes more “urbanized” and replaces agriculture, water use will be effectively reduced. I suppose it is because agricultural lands use more water than a sprawling urban footprint. Yet he makes no mention that this will lead to an expanding heat island and worse air pollution. I’m perplexed by his assertion that the “Sun Corridor” is sustainable.