Real Solutions, No Excuses

Just about everyone in Arizona knows that affordability is a matter of supply and demand, if you don't have any supply they can demand whatever they want.  If elected, the bill I'm going to introduce is going to change all that. Once the Arizona Resilient Infrastructure and Capital Cooperative becomes law, you'll have a choice to take part in a retirement fund, along with the state and non-controlling bond investors, that invests in Arizona and you. At its heart ARICC is a member owned public benefit cooperative voluntarily funded by your retirement savings and it focuses on creating employee owned businesses in Arizona that fix our biggest problems while building real material wealth through appreciating assets and productive property for Arizonans and keeping the lion's share of the profit in the hands of the employees who did the work.

ARICC partner cooperatives spark this engine with tax dollars from the state earmarked for needs that are constitutional duties for the government, but it's not just the state that directs this fund, in fact, every level of government and unincorporated area in Arizona will eventually have its own member-owned companion chapter fund that gets allocated money according to verified local need and from there local members can vote for what projects those funds get used on with the guidance of experts and member-elected fund leadership from among community members bound to an enforceable oath of good faith and fair dealing to help make sure that the things your community needs most get the priority they deserve.

ARICC also allows for both governments and the leadership of each fund to offer civic bounties that are invested into your fund account on your behalf for doing the sort of things that build your community into a better place like volunteering at a qualifying non-profit, caring for children, the disabled, and elderly, educational achievement, and even taking part in community projects like cleanup days or food drives.

As the basic needs of communities get met the fund "levels up" into a new bracket of priorities with community wealth and resilience objectives baked right in from the start. So first might be coops to address food deserts, build access to fresh water, or the housing needed by the community at prices they can afford and then when there's reliable availability for the most critical goods and services, the next level can meet more complex needs with improvements to public infrastructure such as rural fibre internet or improved rail connectivity. All of these projects the fund members will be part owners of as the fund retains an equity stake in the businesses it launches and so as the network of partner cooperatives expands so too does the wealth of the members who then reap additional discounts as part owners of the businesses they helped build. The fund doesn't invest in fads, scams, or get rich quick schemes; it starts with real material wealth and known needs and creates a feedback loop of wealth that snowballs into an avalanche of intergenerational wealth that builds an Arizona that Arizonans want built and have an ownership stake in.

It ends cycles of poverty, it prepares us for the man-made and natural disasters of the future, it stabilizes prices through options with fair practices, it reverses systemic inertia and neglect by targeting the populations most affected, and it provides retirement stability and material wealth to millions of Arizonans who've never had that chance. All of this simply by passing a bill that makes the well-being of Arizonans a voluntary, intentional, and self reinforcing effort that needs no taxes, no state agencies, no government bureaucracy, no expansion of criminal statutes or police powers, and no constitutional amendment.

For how many years could this have been proposed and put into effect and for how many years have we had self dealing, obstructionism, and petty nonsense acting as politics in place.  If I am elected and this bill is passed and the private cooperatives get started, nobody in the government can take it away from us, you’ll be able to trust that your needs and those of all Arizonans are going to be prioritized over the desires of Wall Street, Washington, or Phoenix. You will know that your retirement and the fate of your community is in your hands and protected by stewards with a duty of faithfulness and not controlled by the whims of quarterly earnings reports and the emotional manipulation of ideologically motivated politicians and bureaucrats.

What greater work could I possibly offer to Arizona than a fair chance for everyone? What greater power would this give me personally as a Senator that it does not also give each and every one of you? When the status quo has offered you nothing but being sold out to the highest bidder and self-serving answers to the crises they themselves created, what have they ever proposed in all the time they've had that would give you a fighting chance at a life filled with more than debt, doubt, and drudgery? I ask only for the chance to take this to the floor of the senate for you and fight like hell to get it passed and when it does, this one election will forever change the destiny of the people of this state from servitude to stewardship.