Event Horizon

Memorial Day

In Memoriam

In Praise of Taxes

I voted today to raise taxes. No, I'm not ashamed of it. In fact, I feel pretty good about it. See, my state, like a lot of states in these United States of America, is in trouble. See the below video if you doubt it. The politicians that run the state have convinced themselves that raising taxes is somehow wrong. They are cutting spending instead. At every level of state government they've cut spending and the budget cuts are gutting education (teachers are being let go), public safety (police, fire and EMS are all losing people and resources) and other government services.

I happen to believe that taxes are the only legitimate and moral way for a government to pay for those services we citizens are entitled to under our social contract with the state. You can read that contract, it's called the Constitution, and every level of government has one outlining the powers and responsibility of government as well as the means of funding them. For example, at the federal level, we are entitled to a national defense and at the local level, police protection, and legislatures are expected to levy taxes to pay for these services. My state legislature is controlled by people who don't understand the basic legitimacy of taxes and so they refuse to increase taxes even though the only alternative is to borrow money to pay for services. So, even though they are running a deficit and can't pay their bills, they actually believe it's better to borrow more money rather than raise taxes, and they feel some kind of perverse virtue about it. I suppose you have to be a politician to understand the logic of that. Many people agree this is wrong and a special election was called to vote on a ballot initiative to increase the state sales tax by $.01 to fund basic services like police, education and health care. So fearful were the organizers of the anti-tax sentiment that they made it a one cent increase...and it's temporary. Wow, bold stuff. Ordinarily, I'm against ballot initiatives because most of them mandate programs without providing funding, but in this case, it provides funding for necessary programs, so I voted for it.

Yes, I want there to be teachers in schools and police on the beat and emergency medical services in my community and I'm willing to pay for that. I voted for increased taxes...you betcha!

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Arizona Immigration Angst

I've been watching the national media coverage of the Arizona immigration law with a mix of amusement and dismay. As a resident of Arizona, I don't recognize the state they are describing and I'm shocked at how the national media and activist groups have been able to mischaracterize the law. The dominant narrative seems to be that this is a racist law that gives the police authority to question people - namely Mexicans or anyone who looks Mexican - about their immigration status. Take, for example, this statement in The New York Times:

Now, after passing the nation’s toughest immigration  law, one that gives the police broad power to stop people on suspicion of being here illegally, the state finds itself in perhaps the harshest spotlight in a decade.

Brian Williams told the national audience of NBC Nightly News that: Police can stop people just on the suspicion that they might be here illegally.

This is simply inaccurate, the law does not give police authority to do that. First, before I go any further, let me tell you that I'm a native Arizonan and have lived in three cities in southern Arizona, one of them a border city. I've had friends and family on both sides of the border. I'm telling you this so you will know that I'm an informed observer and I know this state. As a native of Arizona I've taken the time to read the law that has so changed public opinion about Arizona and I can tell you that the quotes above are 100% false.

So, what does the law do? Simply put, the law applies existing federal law to the state level. It was a federal crime to be an illegal immigrant in the U.S. and now it's a state crime in Arizona to be an illegal immigrant. You may have heard the law called "a tough new immigration law" or a "radical law" or some similar (and pejorative) terminology, but whatever they call it, apply that term to federal law, because it's the same law. Arizona did not come up with a brand new immigration policy, they are merely enforcing federal law at the state level. Specifically, the law:

• makes it a state crime to be in Arizona illegally
• the police can check immigration status if there is probable cause of a criminal offense having been committed
• foreign nationals must carry proper documentation (ie. a passport, green card)

Let me also tell you that I'm a civil libertarian, I take very seriously the notion that we need to protect and defend our liberties and so I looked into that second point, just to double-check what I really means. I found that the police, in the normal course of investigating a potential violation, can check immigration status if there is probable cause. In other words, if a cop pulls someone over for speeding and finds a van packed with 40 illegal immigrants, then there is reasonable suspicion that immigration issues may be involved. One of the drafters of the law uses this as an example of how the law would be enforced and you can't go to a better source than that. The law does not mean that the police will accost people who are walking down the street, minding their own business, and ask them about their immigration status.

The law is not a radical departure from existing law, it has not created new policy nor has it mandated any new kind of documentation or identification, foreign nationals are asked to show the same kind of documents that they would be asked to show a federal INS agent.

So, why all the fuss? I've concluded that the answer to that question rests with the media fixation on a sensational story and the rise of well funded activist groups out to promote their own agenda. The two combined to create a dominant narrative at odds with the facts but it makes for a good story.

As a resident of Arizona I can tell you first hand how life in border communities changed dramatically in the late 1990s when the drug wars started heating up. Well armed drug cartels now cross the Arizona border freely and ruthless human traffickers take advantage of immigrants, stashing them in safe houses by the hundreds and leaving hundreds more to die in the Arizona deserts without food or water. The dominant media narrative would have you believe that right wingers in Phoenix enacted a racist law because they don't like Mexicans, but the truth is it's the towns and cities on the border that most want protection. Those border communities are not anti-Mexican, their local economies are intimately tied to trade with Mexico, but they know the one fact that the national media is overlooking - the drug trade and human trafficking are a growing threat to the people of Arizona. That is why this law was enacted.

I know there are good people on all sides of this debate, it's my hope that we can move beyond media sensationalism and activist spin and get back to having the federal government enforce national immigration law and provide for border security, you know, like they are supposed to do.

Image Credit: The New York Times