Even by Arizona standards, and that’s a low bar, last week our state legislature hit a degree of wackiness that should concern all of America.
The anything-goes-if-it-gets-votes standard unleashed by the Mad King in 2015 now presents itself as doctrine offered by duly elected state officials without fear. These officials are in the majority, which means this madness could become law in a country rocketing toward authoritarianism and score settling by the Right.
Let’s start with the dictator-inspired bill introduced by Republican State Representative John Filmore allowing the Arizona legislature to void any election.
Don’t like the results? We’ll just kill the will of the voters and do this again until we get what we want. Kinda feels like 1970’s Argentina.
“We need to get back to 1958-style voting," Fillmore said in a committee hearing on Wednesday, according to a report from The Arizona Republic.
1958. Yeah, when Blacks in the South and Arizona faced intimidation from Whites who stopped them from casting their ballots. Filmore wants all voting to take place in-person on election day and end the official count after 24 hours. Gee, sounds a lot like the Mad King’s I-was-ahead-and-then-I-wasn’t whining after losing in 2020.
Let’s Take It Up A Notch
Not to be outdone by simply blowing up democracy, Republican State Senator Wendy Rogers, she who recently pined for the good old days of McCarthyism, wants to jail any medical personnel who offer gender affirming care.
Physicians would face five to 17 years in prison for working with trans people. Let’s repeat that. Five to 17 years in prison for working with trans people, Good girl Wendy, another homophobic “lock them up” idea from the queen of the My Rights, F**k You crowd.
Joining Wacky Wendy in the LGBTQ war was Republican State Representative Steve Kaiser . He wants to make it illegal for a teacher to keep confidence if a student were to tell an educator that he/she is Gay or considering transitioning to a gender that’s not the “student’s biological sex.” In a Texas abortion law twist, the teachers would be open to civil lawsuits for not outing the child to parents or guardians.
The Existential Threat of Gatsby
Let’s round out Fascism Week with a good old book banning. Republican Representative Jake Hoffman of the Great State of Queen Creek, home of the fearful, presented House Bill 2495. It would ban from public schools any book that has sexually explicit material. Republic columnist Laurie Roberts reported that “The Great Gatsby” and “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” were on the list.
That these measures are even being discussed by alleged rational people in the 21st Century shows we’ve gone through the looking glass to a very dangerous place.
Scarier even still is if - and that’s a big IF - these bills pass, the only thing keeping them from becoming law of the land is a veto from Governor Ice Cream. He’s been known to melt when the things get a little warm, and right now there’s a bonfire burning around Governor Doug Ducey’s political future.
Did I mention that we’re approaching 27,000 deaths from COVID-19 on his watch? Uh, leadership isn’t his strong suit.
The Meth Lab of Democracy
So, what stops Arizona, once described by former Democrat and now lost in the wilderness Senator Kyrsten SInema as the “meth lab of Democracy?”
Boycotts.
Yeah, I said it. Boycotts.
The state was so proud this week to roll out its 2023 Super Bowl countdown, another paid holiday for the uber rich underwritten by Arizonans who will never step foot inside the football palace. Let’s get behind the NFL gazillionaires and show ‘em how we do football in the Copper State.
Let’s not. Let’s turn up the pressure on the NFL to pull the Super Bowl unless Arizona gets a grip. Spank Arizona for its homophobic and anti-democracy laws the way Major League Baseball whacked Atlanta and the NBA hit Charlotte.
Do it, because it works. Arizona lost the 1993 Super Bowl for failing to recognize Martin Luther King’s birthday. It lost millions in convention and tourism business with the “show me your papers law.”
If there’s one thing these fascists understand, it’s losing money. They don’t like it. And, they cut the foolishness when the boycotts cut the revenue.
THIS IS ABOUT MORE THAN MONEY
Rational Americans should be looking at Arizona with real fear.
This is a state ruled by a Republican party that will…let’s repeat that…WILL…take away your vote; jail doctors and teachers in a homophobic rage; and burn and ban great literature. Truly, this is starting to feel like the 1930’s in a certain country that took the world off the rails. No exaggeration.
I’ll close with this anecdote from a recent meeting I attended. The folks involved do tremendous work in assisting the poor. No question, they are angels, completely committed to ending poverty and hunger in Arizona and America.
The discussion turned to the political environment and the potential effect the divisiveness could have on our work. I noted that incoming administration is more extreme than the outgoing. One of the participants objected to that characterization.
“I don’t want to classify their views as extreme,” he said. “That’s just the way they think, and we have to accept that and get them to understand the importance of what we do.”
Actually, no.
We should not accept extremism.
This legislature, aided and abetted by the Republican party and enabled by the dysfunction of the Democrats, is about to turn Arizona fascist. We risk having a McCarthy-like state.
This is real. Wendy Rogers doesn’t have a viewpoint. She’s an Oath Keeper with a homophobic and fascist theology.
Don’t accept extremism. Don’t be silent. Stop this now. Boycott Arizona.