Ideology trumps critical thinking

Our Arizona legislature substitutes ideology for critical thinking.   Now that they have a veto-proof majority and the leadership of both houses, the GOP  used this opportunity to get out their wish list.  This is the list of previously rejected bad legislation about immigration, education, guns and power grabs.  And they have already accomplished a lot of it.  They want to require hospitals, teachers and other public workers to check on citizenship and report illegals.  They have cut hundreds of millions from K-12 and university budgets to further degrade pubic education.  Concealed weapons are legal for most people 21 or older, with no permits or training required and legislation is pending to allows guns in college classrooms and campuses, despite pleas from all state university presidents and police groups.  Also in the works are bills to dictate budget management to counties and cities.  And in a triumph of hypocrisy, they claim this budget is balanced, with no gimmicks. Unless of course you don't notice that they have passed on expenses to counties and cities that will be passed on to us.  But the biggest lie is that the state can't afford programs for the poor, for critical medical transplants and for children.  The truth is we don't have enough money because the GOP refuses to look at the revenue side of the ledger.  We can't cut our way out of this, so the legislature passes down  costs to us and tells us "see, no new taxes" with a straight face.  They seem willing to sacrifice Arizona's future to remain true to their ideologies rather than think to solve problems or even to listen to those who do.