ARIZONA, PUT ON YOUR RAINBOW SHADES

ARIZONA, PUT ON YOUR RAINBOW SHADES[i]

Arizona is the 17th largest state in the Union, with almost 6 million people. (2005) It dwarfs its neighbors Utah and New Mexico, but is overshadowed by California to the east.

Arizona has an extremely high rate of population growth, jumping from the 20th largest state by population in the year 2000 to the 17th largest in 2005. Arizona was the second fastest growing state in the 1990s. The Phoenix metropolitan area increased by 45% from 1990 to 2000.

Readers familiar with the Phoenix community know that it is a sprawling growth center, devouring vast amounts of land and turning one-stoplight towns on its periphery into mega commute exurbs.

SUN CITY, OLD FOLKS

Arizona is a retirement mecca with the Del Webb communities pioneering the large retirement community complexes. The presence of these retirees requires that Arizona devote a good portion of its healthcare resources to senior care. This large senior population will also make great demands on the state’s Medicaid system as it pays for nursing home care for the large senior population.

LOTS OF KIDS, TOO

In 2003 the number of Hispanic births overtook the number of white non-Hispanic births. This change in birthrates means that Arizona is predicted to become a “Majority-Minority”[ii] state in 2035, Currently, California, Texas, New Mexico and Hawaii are “Majority-Minority” states[iii].

LOTS OF BIGOTS ON THE BORDER

Arizona is also the center of activity for the so-called “Minutemen”, vigilantes that wish to halt “illegal immigration”, or Mexicans from migrating north to work at low-wage jobs. “Illegal Immigration”, or “Economic Relocation” as movement between the borders should more properly be called, is an economic fact. It is a central foreign policy accomodation between the US and Mexico. Wages earned by Mexican workers are sent back to Mexico. Both countries benefit, but bigotry and American Nativism run deep in this land of immigrants in denial.

ARIZONA, HAVE ANOTHER LOOK AT YOUR WORLD

The Arizona state government is the largest employer in New Mexico, followed by Wal-Mart. And according to an Arizona State Department of Commerce report, cited in the Arizona Wikopedia entry, Arizona lost much of its comparative advantage as a high-tech industry leader from 1990 through 2001.[iv] Sound familiar? Seem kind of representative of anything?

In 29 years, whites will be a minority in New Mexico. It will be a state of color and the largest population group will be Hispanic. It will be, as a practical matter, a bilingual state, just as America will be a bi-lingual country. And Arizona will have lots of retirees drawing Social Security benefits and other government benefits. Retirees will demand their “due”. Younger workers may not want to pay. But the situation must be resolved and each group needs the other.

This is the world America is moving into. From about 2020 through about 2060, America faces a retirement and healthcare funding crisis. This crisis needs Mexican immigrants to have any hope of funding this retirement shortfall.

America’s future can be seen in the present trajectory of Arizona. A diverse multiculture bearing huge burdens to finance healthcare and pensions for its elderly.

AMERICA, HAVE ANOTHER LOOK AT YOUR WORLD

FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN AND LIGHTENING IN THE AIR IN THE DESERT OF THE REAL!

[i] A paraphrase of a lyric from “Arizona”, a song by former Paul Revere and the Raiders bandsman Mark Lindsay. Other paragraph headers may use lyrics from this song.
[ii] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minority-majority. This appellation basically means that there are more non-Whites than whites. The Author uses these terms only to illustrate the changes in population and demographics. The Author does not fundamentally recognize the concept of race among and across human beings. Human beings from certain areas of the world have some small genetic differences to the effects of evolution, climate and other conditions. But the term “race” is a construct, used to separate and divide humans.
[iii] By contrast, more rural states such as North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine are not projected to experience such a change for centuries, if ever. Of course, if the majority of the U.S. population becomes Hispanic (for example), then it is those more rural states which will become majority-minority states, as their white majority will be at odds with the non-white national norm. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minority-majority.

[iv] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona