Arizona is killing the Republican Party
Arizona Republicans are quickly handing the Democrats a gift this year and into the future, and killing the Republican brand among a huge segment of the U.S. population.
The population of Arizona is nearly 30% Latino, current trends will increase that percentage. Latinos in Arizona have traditionally been split between Republicans and Democrats. 40% of the Latino vote has traditionally gone Republican since many Latinos are socially conservative.
First, there was the near-passage of a law that requires future presidential candidates to produce birth certificates to get on the ballot (in an naked anti-Obama push) which struck many as near-racist (no such law was suggested before Obama) and lunatic fringe. That didn’t sit well with many Latinos, even Republican ones.
Then the climax, the Republican legislators in Arizona pass a law, and the Republican governor signs it, that requires individuals to produce ‘proof of citizenship’ if law enforcement ‘suspects’ they are illegal immigrants. This law would seem to be a slap in the face of traditional libertarian and Republican aversion to “National IDs,” and undue power of the government over individuals (really, “Your papers please?”). The Republican state passes a law that would seemingly be against traditional Republican and libertarian principles and the National Republicans are nearly silent and many supportive of that law. Of course the natural conclusion to this seeming contradiction of principles is because the law would not affect ‘white’ individuals, so it’s all right?
That at least seems to be the Latino reaction (and frankly, I can see little other explanation), because the polls are suggesting that already the Latino voters in Arizona are starting to leave the Republican party in droves. Just as Prop 187 has contributed to the rapid decline of the Republican party in California, it seems that this law will now contribute to the rapid decline of the Republicans in Arizona.
And now today, the Arizona legislature passes a law banning ‘Ethnic Study” courses and programs. Though one might sympathize with the reason (treat people as individuals, not ‘groups’ is the stated reason), the purpose seems suspect given the current rash of laws.
Three strikes and you are out.
Libertarian pot
This referendum might just pass: Tax Cannabis 2010, allowing the legalization of cannabis, allowing the selling and purchasing of small quantities (but each county can decide whether to allow sales or not) and taxing it.
I have never smoked pot, unless you count inhaling the smoke from some a certain relative of mine threw into a campfire once. I never plan to smoke or ingest it. You can put me on the ‘social conservative’ end of the spectrum when it comes to personal habits. I don’t smoke tobacco, rarely if ever drink alcohol or coffee even and have never taken non-prescription drugs (ok, so there was that time when I was 16 and drank some Jimson weed tea, which was really stupid). So I don’t have a horse in this race.
Yet on a policy side, I tend towards libertarian on this issue. Marijuana is relatively harmless when compared to two other legal drugs, alcohol and tobacco (though in comparison to eating vegetables, it’s not particularly benign either) and the enforcement of the anti-marijuana laws cause more problems than ever would be caused by legal use. I say, allow individuals to make the choice to use it or now, redirect resources to enforcement of laws against more egregious crimes, and perhaps save and make some revenue.
