The Republicans are building walls around Arizona. Across the Southern Border with Mexico, keep 'em out goes out the cry from almost the total Republican party, elected officials and political leadership. Perhaps there is one voice in the Republican party to claim an open mind and willing to face facts who has almost been shut up.
FACT: There are millions of people living in the United States that are undocumented, hiding underground and in many cases being exploited.
Just recently the 2008 Presidential Nominee of the Republican Party, the long-time senior Republican Senator, war hero and former prisoner of war was censured by the Arizona State Republican party. Even the most non-political person has to sit back and scratch their head and wonder if the Arizona Republicans are totally insane or what?
Liberals, progressives can sit back and point our fingers, laugh and tap dance across the cowboy's roping grounds because Senator McCain is one of their own and 99% of the time on the other side of the fence.
It is no laughing matter when it comes to the fact: That same Republican party is in total control of Arizona State Government.
The Republican party or least a very few, a tiny portion in the Legislature control all legislative action and the purse strings. The state budget will be rolled out, and passed and another wall built around Arizona to keep more people out. Don't come to Arizona, you're not welcome the budget will declare. Even tourist and their sales tax dollars seem unwelcome. State Parks funding is cut and local citizens are coming together to volunteer and keep parks in their area open.
The Republican Legislature split over the Republican Governor's plan to expand Medicare and Arizona's own Medicaid plan, they turned a deaf ear on children in need of health care. Even when the dollars for the expansion and restoring health care services previously offered were coming from the Federal Government, almost with NO strings attached they said no. Thank them, the Democrats in the Legislature came to the rescue of the Republican Governor and the health care needs of the state.
Watch this! The repayment of pulling the Republicans out of their own mess and hole, millions of dollars being build up in a political action fund by the Govenor to be used against the Democrat candidates.
But worst of all, certainly at the top of the keep'em out build a wall around the state is the rank slow destruction of Public Education in Arizona. Give it any name you want, justify all you can, the fact is, if you don't want people to come to your state, if you want to lose your talented, educated young people offer them no employment or professional job opportunities.
The facts are the corporations and the jobs they represent will not move to a state that does not offer educated employees, skill trained workers no matter how low the wages or right to work law type benefit packages and working conditions.
Corporation leadership may first look at the offerings for their own families in what educational opportunities exist and it may play a role where they locate. Corporate decisions may not rest in what the employees they bring with them will be offered. Just as sure as anything when the chips are down it is in their best interest to go where profits can be made and that is to locate where solid public education exists.
Corporations may offer training programs, educational benefits for employees to increase their value to the company and enhance the abilities of their work force, but that is after they have built and the location is complete.
Preschool to University offerings and the related costs will be considered. Reduced or eliminated preschool and elementary education, the tuition costs and availability of job skill training, professional grade offerings at reasonable costs has a place at the decision table. Consideration of where to locate is on that table and where is Arizona in the competion is the question.
Put tax gimmicks, reduced infrastructure costs, land and building incentives on the table but the wall build around the state with a poor public school system will not secure the movement of jobs to a state. No job opportunities for your skilled, educated, professionally trained young people and they are forced to leave their families, homes, friends and established relationships behind for places where financial opportunities do exist.
That's another fact, the wall on the Southern Arizona-Mexico border may be steel, the wall of diminished and all too costly educational opportunity is just as strong and holding people out. Arizona needs to call on its political and business leadership, properly fund our district schools, stop forcing them to provide education on less and less money each year. Acknowledge the important role they hold in the overall well being of our state.
Provide funding for community colleges so they are in a position to offer academic and work skills at just above free tuition. Tuition free community college should be offered to every qualified student for the first term of their accepted enrollment. Have a grand opening for every possible enrollee, offer them free tuition to get a taste of what is offered.
Provide funding for the Universities so they can lower tuition and offer scholarships then they can build the employees corporations want and need. Tear down those walls of intolerance, dry up the special favors for the few, open up funding for public endeavors so they can make the "for profits" really compete and on a more open level playing field. Arizona stop starving your young, agressively build futures for all.
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