Even though it’s been a couple weeks since the
midterm election, I’m can’t seem to stop wincing. Apparently
I’m one of the few Arizonans to have this reaction to both the national
and statewide races. My fellow citizens (who, let’s face it, were
“tea party” before tea party was cool) displayed their outrage with
our alleged out-of-control government by electing, and re-electing, the bunch
who support such fiscally responsible classics as the anti-immigrant Senate
Bill 1070, now being expensively litigated in federal appeals court. Who needs
schools, firefighters, and social workers? Bring on the attorneys!
As the smoke cleared that fateful Tuesday night, there appeared to
be a few small bright spots amid the ruins. Propositions 301 and 302 had been defeated
by healthy margins. Proposition 301 would have authorized the state legislature
to sweep the funds (approximately $125, 000,000) from a voter-approved land
conservation fund. 302 authorized them to sweep over $300,000,000 from a
tobacco tax-generated early childhood education fund. Legislators billed these
sweeps as necessary steps to reduce the state budget deficit,
said to be $825,000,000 in the hole this fiscal year and over 1 billion the
next.
I don’t blame you if you think the whole business is freakishly
paradoxical, protecting the environment and early childhood programs while
sanctioning the very right-wing firebrands who proposed the sweeps. Here in the
Grand Canyon
state, strict consistency is not one of our strong points. Still, it appeared
at first glance that voters touchingly care enough about our state lands and
little kids to keep lawmakers’ hands off them even in the face of
inevitable, drastic cuts to education, public safety, and social services.
At second glance, however, that
assessment gets cloudier. Speculating about the future is risky, but it appears
that some among the spurned sponsors of the two propositions (the legislature
itself) view the defeat as an invitation to slaughter other vital state
expenditures – already severely weakened by previous years’ cuts —
that might directly or indirectly benefit those open spaces and children. For
example, Arizona Republic columnist
and blogger E. J. Montini reported that newly appointed Senate President Russell Pearce (yes, he of 1070
authorship) wants not only to cut state funds for indigent health care, but
even to refuse federal funds for that purpose. “Church, community,
families got to [sic] provide,” Montini reported him saying. Never mind
that those churches, communities, and families are tapped out, too; it’s
the principle!
So there we stand, on the edge of a
precipice. We may be able to preserve some of our mountains and deserts for
awhile longer (at least the housing crisis has held back pressure from
developers on that score) and fund a few early-childhood programs, but at what
cost? If we can’t protect or educate our most vulnerable citizens, will
they ever be able to enjoy a hike through a desert preserve? Stay tuned. The
worst is yet to come.
Jackie
Wheeler teaches writing and environmental rhetoric at Arizona State
University,
where she is also the Associate Director of Writing Programs. Outside
academia,
she’s an avid rafter, kayaker, and horsewoman who also attempts to
garden. When possible, she escapes the Phoenix
metro area for an undisclosed location in Southeastern
Utah.
Essays in the Just West blog are not written by High Country News. The authors are
solely responsible for the content.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
