Access To Democracy

     I think Arizona is a beautiful state.  I have vacationed there, attended conferences there — but no more.

    Old enough to have lived through the Holocaust, to have lost relatives in Europe, to recognize the horror of profiling, and with a substantial part of my life devoted to studying the horrors of the Third Reich, I cannot believe that in the United States, in 2010, that there is a legislature, and a governor, who in ignorance and bigotry, will emulate the conduct of Nazi Germany.  Yet this week it happened in Arizona.

     There may be illegal aliens in Arizona — as many, as they claim, as 450,000 — but to pass a law which mandates law enforcement (over its objections, I might add) to stop people on the street, demand identification, on the suspicion that they may be illegal aliens, is repugnant to everything I believe, and certainly to what principles this nation was founded on.

     Why not require Mexicans, even in the country legally, to wear an emblem on their chests;  why not require anyone with a “swarthy” appearance to wear an American flag emblem.  What is the difference between requiring one person to wear a Star of David, or another facing questioning because of his or her appearance?  Is this still America?  I begin to wonder, as the crazies  come out of the woodwork and trample on every quality which made this nation the envy of the world.

     Apparently the former Attorney General of Arizona pleaded with its right-wing Governor not to sign this illegal, unconstitutional law, but she is reported to have responded that the will of the people is more important than the Constitution.  No!  There is nothing more important than the Constitution.  When the Constitution goes, we are no longer the “land of the free,” and those who, in their ignorance, would opine otherwise, are lacking in intellect, lacking in history, and more than that, lacking in social conscience.

     So, there will be no more visits by me to Arizona, and I hope that Snow Birds, Conventioneers, Vactioneers, Corporations will join suit to enforce a boycott on a state which put in place a legislature and a governor who are ignorant bigots.  It’s time to enforce the principles which made this nation great, so let’s start in Arizona.