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Opinion: Infrastructure bills should provide a foundation for a fairer more equitable society, not hurl us against the rocks as conservatives would have you believe.

Alan Austin| opinion contributor

In his commentary on Sen.Kyrsten Sinema, Arizona Republic Editorial Page Editor Phil Boas soundsgenuinely confusedby what he terms her radicalism.

Her opposition to spending, however, does fit in with his own political philosophy and background with its echoes ofthe Calvinist heresy where the world is divided into the powers of good and evil who fight it out.

Boas writes that mans worst instincts are the result of animal impulses only to be redeemedpresumably by the sanity of the elect and righteous. According to Boas, Democrats, with their repeated condemnation of Sinemas actions, give forth apocalyptic rants and err on the side of profligacy, spendingour money wantonly on some chimericbrave new world.

Republicans are the calm conservatives, cautious preservers of the status quo. Democrats, on the other hand, are the devils of excess, a monolithic party of radicalsforcing infrastructure reforms down the throat of a weary populace.

Such fears of social and economic chaos from political division also haunted the Founding Fathers. They eyed the chaos of the French Revolutionwith fear though they espoused it values and were careful to put the Electoral College in place to prevent the mob from taking over.

Privilege and power were to rest in the steadyhands of the propertied and educated classes. There were to be no peasant revolts in America, no manning of the barricades, no Madam La Guillotine. Too much ill-informed democracy in the hands of the illiterate masses could, in their view, onlylead to moral and social chaos.

Though Boas doesnt say this in his piece, its implied.

In Arizona, if you actually count the votes, Republicans are the minority party but control the Legislature and have done for many years.

As in the rest of the country, it has used gerrymandering and voter suppression and the pressto restrict and discourage minorities and the poor and disadvantaged from voting. Postal voting, which they thought would increase the Republican vote, is now suddenly a threat because its convenient and popular and helped Biden win.

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The recent sham audit was Republicans pressing their panic button. Now conservative editorial writershave the challenge convincing voters that the out of control mob is going to take over and spend everyones money, convenientlyforgetting Trumps tax cut or the fact that the national debt rose by almost $7.8 trillion during his time in office.

The Radical Democrats are heading the ship toward the rocks or the iceberg or whichever metaphoryou prefer. Boas enjoins us to sit down and debate whether the reformswill make life better.Surely, he writes, we all need time to recover from Trump and the pandemic?

We sat down anddebatedall these issues prior to the 2020 elections and the country voted for Biden. Now, Republicans Plan B, with a little help from Democratic senators in partisan states, goes into motion and to their joy twowilling Democrats are doing the job for them.

The Senate, a democratically lopsided institution, where Democrats represent 41,549,808 more people than the Republicans, is split 50/50 so two senators can make themselves the focus and can control what happens.

Boas never suggests that we dont need the reforms proposed in the two bills in question. The bills have popular support across a widepoliticalspectrum. They will not bankrupt us but should provide a foundation for a fairer more equitable society where people matter as much as profits.

The young Miranda who utters the words Oh Brave NewWorld is commenting on her first sight of other human beings as they recover from a shipwreck, an appropriate parallel. Miranda represents youth, and hope against the political and natural forces ofdestruction and division.

We need her youth,joy and idealism as we pass the torch to a younger generation, in a world wrought by division, hostility and a deteriorating environment. A Brave New World is all we can hope for.

Alan Austin was a longtime English teacher in Arizona. He lives in Phoenix. Reach him ataustinas@cox.net.

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Progressives see a 'brave new world.' Republicans see chaos and catastrophe - The Arizona Republic