Almost a decade ago, author Thomas Frank wrote "What's the Matter With Kansas?". It described how a formerly populist-democratic state in the midwest slid into a conservative backwater. Using emotional social issues, voters were turned away from "elitist" liberals and voted against their own economic interests. That has happened time and again in southern and midwestern states.

Arizona is another one of those states. From its inception until the late 1940s, it was primarily a Democratic state. Since then, however, the only time the state voted for a Democratic president was in 1996 (Bill Clinton). Unlike Kansas, however, they have become known for their extreme conservative state laws that induce incredulous jaw-dropping gapes every time, with the outside observer certain that this was the furthest they could possibly go.

Arizona is the state that gave us Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who has been on the wrong side of federal law numerous times, and went to Hawaii to "get to the bottom" of the Barack Obama birth certificate controversy. His incidents of misuse of office are legion, to the point one wonders when he himself will see the inside of a jail cell. And yet - the people of the state keep re-electing him.

Arizona really got the rest of the country to sit up and take notice with their infamous immigration bill of 2010. That was the bill where they decided to usurp federal jurisdiction, and to create a "your papers please" Nazi Germany-style environment. The SCOTUS struck down most of the law, but Arizona's reputation as a land of lunatics had been sealed.

Part of that is because of governor Jan Brewer, who looks like she eats puppies for breakfast. Here she is engaging in "polite" conversation with the President of the United States:



However, two recent bills have shown just how reactionary the state legislature can be. In a response to the lukewarm effort to reign in gun violence with tepid background check laws, the state has decided to give a big middle finger to the rest of the country. They have passed a law requiring guns that the state receives at "gun buy-back" events to be resold to gun dealers and NOT destroyed. Because you see: every time a gun is destroyed, one of the devil's minions cries, and we can't have that. The state is assuring that guns that were taken out of circulation are being put right back into circulation. Who thinks this makes any sense at all? The state ends up with a zero sum balance monetarily, and a zero sum balance on the guns. Might as well just direct the gun shops to hold the gun buy backs and eliminate the middle man. I don't think, though, that that is what the people turning in the guns want. If I lived in Arizona and had a gun I didn't want and didn't want to fall into the wrong hands, I would just destroy it myself. Considering that the state has some of the weakest gun laws in the country (it's the shopping center for Mexican drug lords), turning in your gun to the state provides essentially zero assurance it won't be used for a crime.

Another bill heading for Brewer's desk to sign officially makes gold and silver legal tender in the state. Yes, because you never know when that sawbuck in your pocket is going to suddenly be worthless. Because when you buy something, you never know if a dollar is really worth a dollar. There has to be some rationale behind this, but I can't figure out what it is. Is it just a big "fuck you" to the federal government? Is it because people think that if they can buy and sell things without using U.S. tender, they aren't violating certain laws they otherwise would? Are they in love with some romantic notion of their wild west gold rush roots?

I am certain there are good, sane people in Arizona. I am sure there are lovely parts of the state where life is lived in the 21st century. Perhaps the voting districts have been gerrymandered to the point where the Republicans will always win, and where their frat house "hey - watch this!" approach to outdoing each other with increasingly bizarre legislation will continue to be the norm. Maybe it's the desert heat frying their brain pans, but I just have to ask:

What's the Matter with Arizona?