by Dr. Thomas Patterson | Jun 7, 2025 | Opinion
By Dr. Thomas Patterson |
Suppose you were an evil genius who decided to create a permanent underclass out of a particular race. What provisions would you make to ensure that they remained permanently poor and outcast?
Here are some ideas. First, physically separate them from the rest of the population. Give them room to live, but make sure the land is not owned by individuals who could grow their net worth, but by the collective, each tribe with its own sovereign government within the national government.
Encourage economic dependency by supplying them with lots of free stuff, some available only to them. Create a bureaucracy to manage the financial affairs of only this particular race. Grant them special privileges exclusive to their race, such as the right to operate certain businesses, but again on the condition that the ownership is by the collective.
Finally, emphasize the history of oppression this selected race has experienced and how the guilty oppressors owe them these “favors” in perpetuity.
If you’ve deduced that this roughly describes the treatment whites accorded to American Indians, that’s because it does. We all know the story of how this came about. When Europeans settled the New World, the clash of civilizations often wasn’t pretty.
Yes, there were atrocities on both sides, and it probably was historically inevitable that the more technically advanced culture would prevail. Nevertheless, our treatment of the indigenous populations can never be totally defended.
In a better world, when the fighting finally ended, we would have worked out a shared arrangement where both sides would have enjoyed equal citizenship rights and responsibilities. We would all have had the right to participate in the religious and social structures of our choosing with no special legal status belonging to any group.
In short, we could all be Americans, a blessing sought after around the world.
That’s not what happened of course. Instead, in the words of an 1881 Supreme Court ruling, the tribes were fashioned into separate “domestic independent nations” with a relationship like “that of a ward to his guardian.” The federal government began management of the land use and title management for millions of acres in Indian country.
Moreover, the government to a large extent assumed responsibility for the care and upkeep of Indians, including everything from schools and medical care to infrastructure projects and routine maintenance on reservations.
The result in hindsight was predictable. American Indians, no surprise, did not become the first group ever to achieve prosperity through welfare benefits. Instead, of all the racial minority groups in America, they today have the lowest average income, despite, or maybe because of, receiving the most economic aid from government.
In fact, of all our ethnic groups, the less access historically to entitlements they have received, the more wealthy they have become.
Also unsurprisingly, the federal government has done a notoriously terrible job of overseeing Indian economic affairs. For example, 66 million acres of land are held in trust by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), presumably to be managed for the Indians’ benefit. Yet the lands have produced minimal profits for the tribes.
The reservation lands contain abundant uranium, coal, and gas reserves. Still, Senate hearings concluded that only two million of the 15 million acres of energy reserves have been developed, leaving $1.5 trillion in underground resources untapped.
BIA rules or “white tape” often result in stricter regulations for tribes than for others. The result is that up to 49 steps can be required to obtain an oil lease in Indian country that requires four elsewhere. Excessive regulation also explains why valuable farmland is often left unused.
Before the European conquest, American Indians operated self-governing states in which they were “strong, self-sufficient, self-initiating, independent powerful individuals,” according to an historian of the period. Now they’re trapped in a no-man’s land between citizenship and status as wards of the state. Worse, after living under these conditions, many Indians themselves have now developed the habits of chronic dependency.
Some sympathetic observers call for more effective supervision of Indian affairs. But bureaucracies are notoriously resistant to reform. Let’s work instead to achieve for our countrymen full status as free Americans.
Dr. Thomas Patterson, former Chairman of the Goldwater Institute, is a retired emergency physician. He served as an Arizona State senator for 10 years in the 1990s, and as Majority Leader from 93-96. He is the author of Arizona’s original charter schools bill.
by Michael Way | Jun 5, 2025 | Opinion
By Representative Michael Way |
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs has signaled again and again that she is so committed to the dogma of the most extreme elements of her party that she’s willing to ignore wide swaths of the Arizona public and veto the most commonsense bills. The most recent is her veto of my bill, HB2868, that would have ended taxpayer-funded DEI in K-12 schools and public universities. She claims (disingenuously, of course) that such a commonsense prohibition will “jeopardize the continued stability” of Arizona’s universities and community colleges. How exactly, is intentionally left unclear. This adherence to extreme ideology by a blue governor in a red state is not unique to Arizona. Kentucky’s Governor, Andy Beshear, just did the same.
DEI—or “diversity, equity, and inclusion”—is the slick marketing name for what is a dangerous, bigoted, and divisive ideology. It’s actually about ideological sameness, inequity of opportunity, and exclusion. Today, it flavors the instruction in our K-12 schools, exerts total control over places of higher learning, and is used as a corporate bludgeon (or “re-education” tool) for employees who espouse ideas the ruling Left deems “out of line.” Not very American.
I’m a Constitution-loving, free-speech believer. Anyone is free to like or discuss bad ideas. If you want to think individuals should be elevated because of immutable characteristics like race or gender, and not by merit, go right ahead. But taxpayers shouldn’t be funding the totalitarian use of DEI in public classrooms. Students shouldn’t have to bend the knee to ideas they don’t agree with or face social shunning or worse.
How does totalitarian DEI look in practice? Think publicly-funded DEI offices charged with implementing this thinking across departments, curricula, and in hiring, selecting employees based on their race, sex, color or ethnicity (is this not a blatant violation of the Civil Rights Act?), requiring the signing of what amounts to a DEI-statement of faith, mandating “re-education classes,” and more.
President Trump signaled nationally that the federal government was done funding this circus and states’ funding was in jeopardy if they didn’t take action to eliminate it. The President is smart and understands—beyond the constitutional ramifications—that Americans are tired of being controlled by a woke, DEI thought-police funded by their own hard-earned dollars. I’ve sensed the same frustration from my own constituents. So, while I’m a first-term legislator, this was one of my top priorities. And we got it done. I held out hope, perhaps naively, that the Governor would sign at the very least out of political self-interest. She presumably hopes to be re-elected. But she once again signaled that she either doesn’t know the state she governs (her ban on tamale trucks, anyone?) or doesn’t care. She has been vetoing with immunity until now with the only consequence being that she is universally disliked on both sides of the aisle.
My fellow Republican legislators and I are holding the line against all the really dangerous stuff she’d like to do. But we’d like to do more than stop the bad. We’d like to make some real, positive, America-first change for our constituents. And that will require a governor who knows (and actually likes) the state he or she represents.
As a father of four, I’d like my children to grow up in a world where they can think and believe what they choose, disagree openly in institutions of higher learning, and rise in their careers based on merit, not race or gender. The extreme Left is clearly intent on taking us back. Next year, Arizona voters will have a chance to let them know exactly how they feel about that, starting at the top.
Representative Michael Way serves Legislative District 15 in the Arizona State House. He makes his home in Queen Creek with his wife Raimee and their four children.
by AZ Free Enterprise Club | Jun 4, 2025 | Opinion
By the Arizona Free Enterprise Club |
In November 2022, Arizona voters narrowly approved Prop. 308, making Arizona the 24th state in the nation giving taxpayer-subsidized, in-state tuition rates to illegals. Its narrow passage on the ballot was preceded by its razor-thin passage at the state legislature, slipping out because two former Republican legislators, who since lost their seats to primary challengers, rolled their caucus and voted in lock step with Democrats to force it for a vote.
After making the ballot, the measure was bankrolled by a small but well-financed cohort within the political class, business community, and immigration activist organizations funded by George Soros. Even a handful of Republican elected officials and candidates jumped on board, including a few city council members and current candidate for the Republican nomination for Arizona Governor, Karrin Taylor Robson.
It was in part billed by proponents as only applying to “Dreamers,” or recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program established under the Obama administration. In reality, it allowed for anyone here illegally to get in-state tuition rates as long as they spent at least two years in an Arizona high school—signaling to the rest of the world that if you enter here illegally in time to go to an Arizona high school, American taxpayers will subsidize your tuition at our universities.
But they hid from the public one important fact. It unequivocally violates federal law…
>>> CONTINUE READING >>>
by AZ Free Enterprise Club | May 30, 2025 | Opinion
By the Arizona Free Enterprise Club |
Within President Trump’s first 100 days in office, he has issued back-to-back executive orders aimed at cleansing America of woke ideologies as well as dismantling the Green New Scam. States can hardly keep up with the rapid changes being made. U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary (USDOT) Sean Duffy is leading the effort to defund city projects involving road diets and “green infrastructure.” Leftists and bike-enthused activists are losing their minds over the removal of “Complete Streets” links on the USDOT website, horrified by the idea that vehicle travel might be prioritized over barely used bike lanes.
And good to his promise to unleash American energy, Trump’s team has eliminated excessive greenhouse gas (GHG) rules, vowed to get existing and new coal plants opened, and most recently played a major role in the House’s passage of the “Big Beautiful Bill” that included the repeal of many of the Inflation Reduction Act green scam subsidies. Every day this administration is dismantling the Green New Grift and restoring practical, pro-America policies.
And if there ever was a city in Arizona that should be jumping on the Trump bandwagon – it’s the City of Prescott. Prescott is a conservative community where registered Republican voters out number Democrat voters 3:1. It’s “Trump Country.” But take a look at Prescott’s recently proposed General Plan and you would never know it.
In Arizona, every municipality is required by statute (ARS §9-461.05) to build out and adopt a General Plan that outlines a pathway for growth in the community, covering topics such as land use, transportation, environment, water, and energy. This seemingly innocuous document that must be ratified by voters has become a pathway for city bureaucrats to sneak woke ideologies and climate goals into city planning…
>>> CONTINUE READING >>>
by Garrett Riley | May 29, 2025 | Opinion
By Garrett Riley |
For decades, the rallying cry of “choice” has driven the abortion debate. Pro-abortion advocates paint it as a matter of personal liberty — a private decision between a woman and her doctor. But real choice demands full, honest information. And the latest evidence on chemical abortion reveals a disturbing truth that’s been hidden for too long.
A massive new study by the Ethics and Public Policy Center, analyzing over 865,000 chemical abortions from 2017 to 2023, shows that 1 in 9 women who take the abortion pill suffer serious medical harm. That’s nearly 11% of women dealing with severe complications like hemorrhaging, sepsis, and infection — consequences that can lead to permanent damage, emergency surgeries, or even death. Another 5% need additional medical interventions, exposing the pill’s failure rate.
For anyone who claims to care about women’s well-being, these numbers demand immediate action. For the government agencies that regulate drugs and healthcare, they require urgent oversight. And for those who genuinely believe in the “pro-choice” principle, they demand a clear-eyed rethinking of what real, informed choice means.
Choice Without Truth Isn’t Choice
“Choice” means nothing without accurate information. The abortion pill has been spun as “safer than Tylenol,” but that’s a blatant lie. The FDA’s official label for mifepristone claims a serious adverse event rate of less than 0.5% — over 22 times lower than what the real-world data proves.
No one can make a good decision if key facts are hidden. In any other area of medicine, these numbers would trigger an immediate recall or at least a thorough review of safety guidelines.
When the FDA fast-tracked the abortion pill in the 1990s, it was with a promise: that safety standards would be rigorously upheld. Today, those standards in Arizona— like mandatory ultrasounds, in-person exams, and physician oversight — are being threatened and have been stripped away in other states by abortion-rights legislation.
The result? A pill once administered under a doctor’s care is now shipped through the mail, often with no medical oversight. No follow-up exams. No real informed consent. Women facing vulnerability—particularly those under the coercion of abusive partners—are exposed to severe risks affecting both their physical and mental well-being.
Pills That Kill: Medicine Turned Upside Down
Abortion advocates call the pill “medication abortion,” as if it heals. But real medicine heals. Chemical abortion does none of that. It destroys innocent unborn children and puts women’s health at risk.
Calling abortion “medicine” is a dangerous lie. True medicine doesn’t harm or kill. No one who truly believes in women’s health can honestly call this “medicine.”
The original “safe, legal, and rare” mantra has vanished. Chemical abortions now make up 63% of all abortions in the United States — and in some states, as high as 80%. Each pill dispensed means more danger for women — not less.
We’ve gone from “safe, legal, and rare” to “dangerous, deregulated, and widespread.” That’s a betrayal of women — and of the very idea of healthcare.
This Is About Women’s Health, Not Politics
This isn’t about partisan politics. It’s about whether women can truly make informed choices. It’s about whether agencies like the FDA and HHS will honor their mission to protect the public — or cave to ideological pressure.
If you believe in choice, you must also believe in full, honest information. Anything less isn’t choice — it’s propaganda.
If you believe in human rights, you must recognize every human life’s inherent worth — and the dignity of every mother’s health and future.
If you care about healthcare safety, you can’t ignore these numbers. You must demand a full review of the abortion pill’s safety — and an end to the lies that have kept women in the dark for far too long.
Read the full EPPC report here.
Arizona Life Coalition Stands with Women’s Health
The Arizona Life Coalition, along with more than 100 pro-life organizations, has urged the FDA to act on this alarming evidence and reinstate the safety standards that once protected women. You can read that letter here.
What Can We Do?
We must ensure that every woman facing a crisis pregnancy has support and the truth — not abortion industry spin.
Demand that the FDA and other agencies incorporate this evidence into their safety evaluations. Share this information with your family, friends, and public officials. Urge them to reinstate common-sense safety standards. Push for a full review of a pill that seriously injures 1 in 9 women.
Medicine is meant to heal — not to harm and kill. Any healthcare policy or practice that does otherwise has no place in a just society.
Garrett Riley is the executive director of the Arizona Life Coalition, with a mission of inspiring pro-life choices through charity, education, and unifying collaboration.
by Dr. Thomas Patterson | May 26, 2025 | Opinion
By Dr. Thomas Patterson |
A German politician arguing the question of whether to admit yet more Afghan nationals cited official government statistics regarding the crime rates, especially rape, committed by these migrants. Under German censorship laws, she has now been found guilty of illegal hate speech twice, fined thousands of euros, and been given a criminal record, simply for stating government-produced facts.
The United Kingdom, once a bastion of free speech, is now moving toward ever more strict speech restrictions. Meanwhile prosecutors, reluctant to anger Islamists, ignore grooming gangs preying on young women.
In the U.S., pro-Palestinian protesters broke into a graduation dinner at the home of the Berkeley law dean, screaming and chanting. No disciplinary measures were taken against the perpetrators, but the dean’s wife was accused of racism and Islamophobia. A civil rights investigation was launched against her.
Although most Americans are not fully aware, Islamist influences in our culture have become much more pronounced in the last few years. Islamists are still committed to the transformation of Western society into a universal Muslim caliphate. Such is Allah’s will. “Submission” (to Allah) is a translation of “Islam.” Time is not of the essence, but success is considered inevitable.
In the past, the never-ending effort to convert or kill unbelievers was carried out mainly through acts of terrorism. Islamists physically attacked crowds, beheaded civilians, and flew planes into buildings hoping to intimidate the infidels.
Western democracies responded with measures sacrificing personal liberties for security, which worked to stymie the high-profile attacks. In the 2016 election, terrorism was the second rated concern for Americans, slightly lagging behind the economy. By 2024, Islamic atrocities didn’t register in the polls.
But as Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a former Muslim and prominent advocate for international women’s rights, pointed out in the Hoover Digest, it would be a mistake to conclude that we defeated or even made any progress against Islamist jihadism. Instead, elements within Islam who argued for more gradual methods of subversion from within prevailed over those favoring frontal assaults.
Agents of radicalization have built up large networks of operators in the U.S. and other democracies. They identify and radicalize subjects vulnerable to Islamist messaging. Their emphasis now is to concentrate on converting one person at a time. One institution, one professor, one community are influenced to reject all thoughts of assimilation and instead join an exciting international movement to change the world.
The Islamists are seeing much greater success with their new strategy. Social media, including TikTok, is especially effective at spreading such messages among the uninformed, often using the language of our historic civil rights movement. Few of the new converts to Islamist wokeness can offer any information on the Gaza “genocide” they protest.
The Internet is being diverted from its former free-speech ideals into a regime of surveillance and censorship. Islamists have successfully infiltrated not only mosques, but universities, political organizations, and immigrant groups. Unassimilated immigrants and young males particularly make ready targets for conversion to Islamism.
The shifts in public opinion resulting from this propaganda campaign are becoming felt. The pervasive rise of virulent antisemitism among the young, especially on college campuses, and the tendency to attribute all social wrongs to Western influence should ring alarm bells. It’s not just the kids either. Teamsters Union members were recently videotaped at their Chicago headquarters learning to chant “death to Israel” and “death to America” —in Farsi, no less.
Islamists have also been able to use our beloved legal protections, unknown in their jurisdictions, against us. The meaning of “Islamophobia” has been changed from an irrational dislike of Muslims to virtually any unfavorable fact or opinion, no matter how justified. Thus Islamists, even as they despise and condemn us, have an all-purpose shield defending them from any criticism, including of their trademark terrorism.
Islamists seem to possess the mindset that their time may have come. The West is weak and vulnerable, with many no longer believing their ideals are worth defending. Western Europe is trending to Islamist-inspired policymaking with regard to speech and law-enforcement.
In the U.S., these threats are more distant, but the trends are ominous. Islamists are content to play the long game. For now, they are gaining ground.
Dr. Thomas Patterson, former Chairman of the Goldwater Institute, is a retired emergency physician. He served as an Arizona State senator for 10 years in the 1990s, and as Majority Leader from 93-96. He is the author of Arizona’s original charter schools bill.
