The conscience of the Kookocracy?

They wish they knew how to quit me. Even though it's been two years since I wrote a column for the Arizona Republic, I keep popping up on various Web sites as the devil that's missed by the Kookocracy. After all, who can they now denounce as a SOCIALIST!! -- Clay Thompson? The pretty-in-pink Moms Like Me page? Anyway, this was brought home again in a story last week about a conference on the flatlined-in-a-body-bag Arizona economy.

One commenter generously wrote: "Jon Talton preached this for nearly a decade, yet no one believed him. In fact, the GOP-led Legislature and the Real Estate Industrial Complex put a lot of pressure on The Arizona Republic to silence him, and in the end, Talton was run out of town. Perhaps if those idiots had actually paid attention to what Talton had to say, then the state wouldn't be in this mess. And legislators wouldn't have to solicit advice from ordinary Arizonans, as they did just last week. Fools." This was followed by -- I am not making this up: "You mean John Talton the corporate socialist shill?" Etc. Spelling has never been their thing.

Back to this big summit, convened by the Greater Phoenix Economic Council. Chairman Michael Bidwill "said that...the state relies too much on retail and contracting revenues." Yes, he of the Arizona Cardinals whose taxpayer-funded stadium in the cotton field was meant to be a magnet for contracting and retail. Glendale Mayor Elaine Scruggs said, "It's overwhelming. It's really overwhelming when you look at all the areas where we are deficient." Duh, ace, as we said in fifth grade. You get the picture. Deeply unserious -- another summit to nowhere. But rather than go back to discuss the real problems and solutions, which you can find here, I want to encourage the Kookocracy to use Teabag Day to redouble their efforts.

Yes, Americans pay some of the lowest taxes among advanced nations. And, yes, they are getting screwed by the rich and the corporations that use outrageous loopholes to avoid paying taxes (any taxes in many cases). No matter. This is a day to stir up the resentments of the duhs and ignos -- against government and imaginary socialist plots. The "tea parties" are acts of civic vandalism and nihilism -- and, as Thomas Frank observes, helpful to the ruling oligarchs. (See also, Bob Reich's great "Citizen's Guide to Kooks, Demagogues and Right-wingers on Tax Day").

But I must admit, as I finger my urban pitchfork and my bag of Earl Gray, I see the Kookocracy slipping. The Legislature is in vapor lock. Gov. Jan Brewer is discussing the socialistic proposition that I raised eight years ago: whether Arizona's tax structure was adequate for its needs.

So where are the people of principle there? Men like Randy Pullen, the state GOP chairman, or the indefatigable Russell Pearce? The Kookocracy is going flabby. Arizona is lurching through the crisis no less muddlingly than it would have done under Saint Janet.

That's a shame. I'm serious here. Nationally, the Republican Party has been reduced to a Southern/rural regional party of angry white guys and no other policy than tax cuts. If pure, real conservative ideas were tried out in Arizona, this might lead the way to a GOP revival.

The Republican Party of Arizona has nearly complete control of the government. Admittedly, it is a party that has been so completely seized by the extreme right that it would denounce Barry Goldwater, John Rhodes and Paul Fannin as RINOs. But it is supposedly a party of pure principle, of ideas -- and the only impediment had been the Democratic governor -- or a RINO like Jane Hull. Now they have a governor who comes from the Ev Mecham wing of the party. It is backed by the ideological scribes of the (Bob) Goldwater Institute, who have their policy diktats fed to them by the national conservative think tanks. The states are the laboratories of democracy. So here is a chance to really show how these ideas work.

Instead, silence, obstruction. Arizona is greedily gobbling federal stimulus money (it already receives more from Washington than it contributes), and even talking about a tax increase. You'd almost conclude that the Kookocracy is not about new ideas and principled governance, but really just about keeping power. That can't be true, can it?

Follow Rogue's Kookocracy Watch for updates on the right-wing in total control.

Comments

[soleri]

We're always instructed to follow the money. Unfortunately, there's not that much left. So, the hard right is essentially getting by on ginned-up outrages like "socialism" and other sideshow frights.

If they have one organizing principle, it's their own innocence and victimhood. They're forced to suffer crimes like political correctness, abortion, and taxes. Evil people take their money and give it to minorities.

The power they have is almost entirely negative now. There's nothing left to give to the Real-Estate Industrial Complex. So their culture-war phantoms must dance even more furiously, as if to conjure the glory days of yesteryear. They have guns, they have talk radio, and they have an Explanation. They may be bankrupt but they're hardly chastened.

[Emil Pulsifer]

Mr. Talton wrote:

"But rather than go back to discuss the real problems and solutions, which you can find here, I want to encourage the Kookocracy to use Teabag Day to redouble their efforts."

I seldom employ Internet abbreviations, but surely this deserves a "LOL".

"So where are the people of principle there? Men like Randy Pullen, the state GOP chairman, or the indefatigable Russell Pearce?"

They're still here. Here's a recent quote from the delightful Mr. Pearce, Chairman of the Arizona Senate Appropriations Committee, from a recent Arizona Republic article about how Arizona could lose half a BILLION dollars in federal aid for the WORKING poor if the state's Republican controlled legislature passes its budget plan:

Speaking on the Senate floor Wednesday, Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, said spending should be reduced to lower the burden on taxpayers who do not receive government aid.

"What we've turned into is folks continuing to think that everyone has the right to live off the backs of those who work for a living," said Pearce, the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. "Most taxpayers have had enough."

Pearce said Arizona needs to "get back on the track of government doing very little for us."

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2009/04/10/20090410stim-descuts0408.html

VERY little. Wink. For example, laws encouraging new toll-roads, using public infrastructure for private profit:

http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/articles/2009/04/01/20090401politics-brief0401.html

Don't forget, this is the same Republican dominated state legislature that, just before the recession broke, raided Arizona's "rainy day fund" for highway improvement:

"Committee Chairman Sen. Robert “Bob” Burns, R-Peoria, who sponsored the bill, said he considers the growing congestion on Arizona roads an economic emergency and thus an appropriate reason to use Rainy Day Fund money. Several Republican members spoke out in agreement."

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/82095

Meanwhile, it appears that the working-class parasites alluded to by Russell Pearce have been invited to a Barmecidal feast, as the Arizona Republic reports that Arizona ranks near the bottom of the nation (41st) for its overall state and local tax burden.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2009/04/15/20090415taxes0415.html

Equally recently, as reported by the New York Times, a new study by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government notes that while recessionary revenue problems are worse in places like Arizona, rampant real-estate speculation and falling sales taxes (both of which the state's economy are heavily dependent upon) are primarily to blame, as compared to "sober-sided Plains states" which did not experience "dizzying" inflation of home prices and whose sales AND personal income taxes "held relatively steady" in the fourth quarter:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/15/us/15tax.html

Incidentally, doesn't this whole "Teabag Day" thing have a whiff of something cooked up by the Republican National Committee?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/14/tax-day-tea-parties-offic_n_186788.html

[ChrisInDenver]

What a beautifully written summary of the dismal state of affairs at the Arizona State Capitol. Too bad no one in the legislature would listen to Talton. Then again, it isn't called the Kookocracy for no reason.