A terrible plan. Sales tax disproportionately hits middle and lower income people, which also makes it bad for business. Gas taxes should be paying for road maintenance and improvement. The State legislature needs to finally increase the gas tax and direct funding to counties and municipalities. This whole "no tax" and "starve the beast" mentality of the Republican owned and operated Arizona State legislature continues to prove itself a failure.
On Arpaio vs. the Dreamers: The Dreamers came to this country as children. They were not of an age where they could consider the breaking of immigration law. Joe Arpaio was sworn to uphold the law. He was not charged and convicted for trying uphold immigration law. He was charged and convicted for violating a court order, a serious crime for a law enforcement officer sworn to uphold the law. He INTENTIONALLY violated the law. Trump's pardoning him sends a very terrible message. The foundation of dictatorship is the use of police/military to suppress civil rights.. Whether one agrees or disagrees with the extending of legal residence and/or citizenship to Dreamers, either outcome has no where the dangerous implications as pardoning illegal acts by an officer of the law.
For those of you who are not convinced of the seriousness of this, think about every movie you have seen in which there is a violent dictatorship. You always see the police/military acting without due process. That's how dictatorship and the suppression of human rights is done.
Trump's sending this back to Congress could result in their offering a similar plan to DACA. This would satisfy their desire that this be a legislatively passed plan, rather than an executive order. (Of course, they would have to repackage it enough so that their base would not realize it, just like so many in their base did not understand that the ACA was the same thing as Obamacare and that they had Obama to thank for their new found access to health care.) This may sound ridiculously optimistic. The reason I suggest it as a possibility is that I think this an area the Republicans were always willing to compromise on. However, they were stopped by their political strategy. Since the time of Newt Gingrich, their goal has been to show people that the government is broken and that only Republicans can get anything done. (The only time they were willing to vote with Democrats was to wage war or to pass policies that would further benefit the uber-rich.) Unfortunately, in the process, they have fanned the flames of anti-government hatred. They have created a base that is full of hatred of the other and has no appreciation of the way democracy works. Democracy is not a winner-take-all game, but one which often requires negotiation and compromise. I think the Republicans have backed themselves into a corner from which they may not be able to escape unscathed by the base they created and handed over to Trump.
Unfortunately, the trolls are at it again. Do they actually ever consider engaging in serious discussion with fellow citizens about issues. (That question is rhetorical. No response expected.)
Steve K. is what used to be considered a moderate Republican. (I believe he switched to Democrat because his party was so unwelcoming of any moderate views.) Even though I am left of center, I support Steve. He is always well informed and is responsive to his constituency.
Absolutely support increasing the minimum wage. Taxpayers subsidize businesses that underpay workers. If you can't run a business paying decent wages, maybe you shouldn't be in business.
After 24 years of vilifying Hillary Clinton, they have succeeded in convincing some people that there is no difference between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump! Ridiculous! Remember, Bill Clinton gave us Ruth Bader Ginsburg, while Ronald Reagan gave us Antonin Scalia, Bush Sr. gave us Clarence Thomas, and Bush Jr. gave us Alito. These three have been the most horrible right wing activists ever. The reason that the Republican leadership is trying to hold their noses and support Trump is that they want him to appoint their judges - the ones that will keep Citizens United, help them to undermine and defeat Universal Healthcare, support their efforts to continue to undermine a woman's right to choose, take away the gains of the LGBT community and the Dreamers, privatize Social Security and Medicare, make sure there is never any gun control and on and on. Really don't think it makes a difference? Continue to build a movement; do not help these right wingers to continue to move us toward fascism. Remember, building a movement is NOT about electing one person.
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For those of you who are not convinced of the seriousness of this, think about every movie you have seen in which there is a violent dictatorship. You always see the police/military acting without due process. That's how dictatorship and the suppression of human rights is done.
Steve K. is what used to be considered a moderate Republican. (I believe he switched to Democrat because his party was so unwelcoming of any moderate views.) Even though I am left of center, I support Steve. He is always well informed and is responsive to his constituency.