ANTI-GOVERNMENT GOVERNMENT

The Rev. Dana Prom Smith, S.T.D., Ph.D. (10/24/09)

The disavowal of government began with the late President Reagan when he said, "Government is not the solution to our problems. Government is the problem." He was right on the button when it comes to the Republican stranglehold on Arizona's government. They are in control and as a result prisons are going to be shuttered or sold off to the highest bidder while the police forces are reduced.

Actually, President Reagan missed the point. It's not the government that's the problem, it's the politicians. The issue is simple: Republican politicians are anti-government, something akin to physicians being anti-medicine or attorneys being scofflaws. Politicians cannot govern if they despise government. They will simply cripple it.

The problem with the Republican politicians in Phoenix is that they are ideologues with fixed ideas unrelated to reality which means that they aren't interested in governing so much as they're interested in enacting their ideologies. The result is that they don't solve problems but rather create them.

They expect Arizona's economy to grow while crippling its educational system. They expect a robust state while dismantling health care. They claim they are for law and order while aiding and abetting chaos. The inevitable result will be an exodus from Arizona to nearby more stable states.