Commentary
Make America Generous Again
We want to help our neighbors, but for some reason, the same individuals we gladly assist during the holidays are scorned and vilified when their assistance comes not from a charity or church, but instead from a government institution.
What Democrats need to do next
Democrats have pulled off a miracle – the most seats in the Arizona House in 50 years. They even eked out a U.S. Senate seat and a few statewide offices. There are thousands of progressive activists, first-time candidates and volunteers to thank. Democratic leaders need to be careful about what they do next.
Trumpism and the browning of Arizona’s blue wave
I believe Arizona’s political watershed is the product of two key underlying forces: outright GOP arrogance, fueled by strong strains of bigotry, greed and faux evangelicalism; and the explosive growth of the Latino population.
Republican ‘fraud’ strategy only works because people want to believe the lies
They want to believe, with as much sincerity as they’re able to trick themselves into faking, the fantasy that there is fraud, that there is a conspiracy to steal political power away from them, that their political opponents are evil and their time in positions of power will be nightmarish. Facts that refute the lie are instead used as evidence of the conspiracy, and truth-tellers become conspirators. Why?
People of color are the future of progressive politics in Arizona
Although the winner still hasn’t been called in several of Arizona’s biggest races, the inevitable post-election debates and critiques have already begun. For progressives, the most important take-away is this: Arizona is on the right path. We saw some real wins this week, and although there’s still tremendous work ahead, the state is trending purple […]
Whether they meant to or not, voters just cut K-12 funding
How long will it take for voters to regret passing Proposition 126? What the flood of voters who headed to the polls almost certainly didn’t know is that their votes for Prop. 126 actually cut future funding for K-12 schools, and made it even more difficult to find additional permanent education funds.
Arizona Democrats need more than a blue wave
Record turnout. Progressive enthusiasm. Young voters. Those three things should have combined to create more wins for Arizona Democrats in Tuesday’s midterm election. Instead, we are licking our wounds and wondering how we failed to capitalize on growing discontent and a changing electorate that favors progressive issues.
Ducey’s border security whopper
No one would ever confuse Doug Ducey with Donald Trump on the campaign trail, but when the governor talks about immigration issues, he has a downright Trumpian claim that he goes to time and again.
AZ GOP lawmakers take ‘truther’ approach to spate of pipe bombs
A couple of Arizona Republican lawmakers, one of whom is the No. 3 ranking official in the Arizona House of Representatives, seem convinced they know who is behind the attempt to assassinate the liberals with pipe bombs: the liberals!
McSally and Ducey are all-in on Trump policies
The only option we have to move the country in a different direction is to reject the politicians -- on a national, state and local level -- who embrace an elitist economy and its reality star president.
Do Latinos make Arizona worse? Conservatives, Republicans think so
When Rep. David Stringer made national news in June for saying “there aren’t enough white kids to go around” in public schools and that immigration is “an existential threat” to the United States, prominent Republicans distanced themselves from him. Some, like Gov. Doug Ducey and Arizona Republican Party Chairman Jonathan Lines, went so far as to call on him to resign for the nakedly racist comments.
Meet the Arizona Mirror
At no point in our nation’s history has an independent and free press been unimportant, but the necessity of the Fourth Estate has perhaps never been more starkly apparent at any point in the post-Nixon world. In this critical time brimming with fake news and alternative facts, where the truth is seemingly up for debate and in which the most powerful man in the world attacks the free press as “the enemy of the people,” journalistic pursuits are essential.