The Arizona state Legislature is a mess. Aside from conflicting Democratic and Republican ideologies, there are personal agendas in play, some petty bickering, a little bit of score settling and more than a little failure to compromise. It's beautiful.
These problems are the sort that a citizen's legislature creates. Putting up with all the extraneous junk is the price we pay for the ability to govern ourselves.
In this time of fiscal crisis, almost everyone has a bone to pick with the state of Arizona. Some want more funding for health care; others want greater environmental regulation. Still, others have spent the entire legislative session pursuing greater protections for consumers.
In the House of Representatives, there are 60 elected members dealing with these issues. Incidentally, 33 of them have never held a seat in the House before. Hold on to your butts.
Indeed, not too far from the ASU campus, the House of Representatives sits poised to attempt to fix a $1 billion state budget deficit and spend a total of about $7 billion that belong to the people of Arizona.
Furthermore, more than half of these representatives are rookies in this game. And I'm still a fan of the system? Hell yes.
There is no question that, in terms of expediency and efficiency, a dictatorship is the most efficient form of decision-making. Snap decisions become public policy.
But few Arizonans would be willing to sacrifice their supreme frustration with the current state of affairs and submit to a dictatorship just for the sake of simplicity (I say few because I know there is at least one person out there who wishes he or she were dictator).
Our nation was built by educated men with lofty ideas, but they did not represent a "ruling class" as was common in the early governments of England, France, Spain and other European countries from which early Americans came.
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were attorneys, but Alexander Hamilton was a banker. Benjamin Franklin, given his well-documented peculiarities, might be considered a doddering old fool by some if he were alive today.
George Washington, the man who guided the ragtag collection of farmers and tradesman known as the Continental Army to victory, was himself a farmer.
Granted, this group is notably devoid of women or minorities of any type, but it represents those who were considered to be bona fide citizens at the time. Thankfully, the American concept of a citizen has evolved significantly since then.
In order to fully appreciate the value of a system such as our representative government, one has to look to the state level. The U.S. Congress, while duly elected by the citizens, largely represents the cultural and political elite.
Despite congressional members' numerous attempts to make a connection, a college student may have trouble connecting with a 50-year-old millionaire lawyer.
However, it might be easier to look at a 33-year-old ASU alumnus from Phoenix and see a bit more of yourself. The House of Representatives in Arizona includes farmers, firefighters, police officers, attorneys, cattle ranchers and even a golf-pro.
All of these people have to sit in the same room and come to a consensus on a daily basis. Oftentimes a consensus is never reached, and the majority conservative ideology stamps out liberal thought.
This is maddening to witness if you're me, but others undoubtedly take great joy in watching it happen.
However, until the people of Arizona decide to affect a change, then we've got what we've got. Indirectly, the voters put us where we are now: in debt.
By electing a Legislature that enacted huge tax cuts over the previous decade, the voters actively participated in driving this state's fiscal well-being into the ground.
Luckily, in-state politics don't draw much in the way of slander campaigns and huge corporate sponsorship of candidates. In other words, it's easier for those few who choose to vote to implement a real change because they aren't just spoon-fed candidates by big money.
As evidence, during this last election cycle the voters cleaned house a bit, installing a majority of fresh faces to work through the state's financial crisis. This cycle will likely continue until the proper balance of ideology and common sense can be achieved.
Then, and only then, will there be a lasting solution. It could take a while.
This process is far from perfect. It's tedious, unpredictable, frustrating, messy and wasteful. It's also the only system that holds the will of the people above all else.
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Chris Kotterman is a political science senior and an intern at the Arizona House of Representatives. Reach him at chris.kotterman@asu.edu.
