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Zonie63 -> RE: Liberals in southern Arizona seek to form new state - Yahoo! News (5/11/2011 10:42:07 AM)
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Some people have been wanting to do that for decades now. I always thought that was the wrong approach to take, though. A little over 60% of Arizona's entire population resides in Maricopa County (PHX metro area), and because they control the legislature and the rest of the state government, the other counties/districts in Arizona get screwed royally.
So, what they should do, instead of Pima County acting unilaterally, is try to line up all the other counties, except for Maricopa.
Of course, the Democrats are blowing it for themselves. If only they were the "party of the working man" in fact, instead of just in name, they'd probably have better results in this state. I think the only reason the Republicans are pushing the immigration issue is largely for populist reasons. There's not enough wealthy people in Arizona to keep them in office, so they have to find other ways to appeal to the masses. The Democrats could try to attack them on this basis, but the problem with the Democrats (at least the upper-class liberal variety) is that they want to remain wealthy, too. They can't rock the boat on economic issues, so they've chosen to focus mainly on immigration, too. I think that's a contributing factor to the widening polarization, since it has the effect of dividing the masses against each other.
I don't think that "Baja Arizona" is ever going to happen. Just like with the rest of the state, most of the land isn't even controlled by Arizona. The bulk of Pima County's territory is actually within the Tohono O'odham Nation. The Yaquis have a reservation south of Tucson. Those are pretty much under Federal control and outside of state jurisdiction. Then there's Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, also under Federal jurisdiction, along with National Parks, National Forests, and land controlled by the BLM. Take all that away, and there's very little left of "Arizona." Other states in the Mountain Time Zone face similar situations, whereas it's not as prevalent in the states back east, where states have more direct control over their land. Out here, it's kind of like living in a colony, which is one reason (I think) anti-government sentiment is high out here.
Occasionally, someone will also revive the old idea of "Republica Del Norte," which is a proposal to form an independent nation from territories of the Southwestern USA and Northern Mexico. Not exactly the "reconquista" that some people talk about, but it sounds like another interesting idea that will go nowhere.
On the other hand, if Arizona decides to secede from the United States entirely, then "Baja Arizona" might be formed as a new state in the same way that West Virginia was made a state. That might be the only way it would ever happen.
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