Stop farming our elders for executive bonuses

We’ve got a big problem. Corporate pirates have taken over our elder care. They charge so much that it costs people their entire life’s work to get cared for. Then they pay so little that care workers don’t show up. Our elders and our vulnerable neighbors are not livestock to be farmed and fleeced so executives and shareholders get filthy rich. We need a new system that doesn’t rely on extracting unearned money from seniors and taxpayers. A system where workers are well paid, rested, and qualified to do the hard, dirty work of caring for people with the disabilities and indignities of age.

They’re trying to use every trick they have to remove me from the ballot. They think they’ll win because they’re the only ones with a lawyer, but I think we’ll win because we’re the only ones with a vision. I’m appealing to the Supreme Court. Lawfare ambush tactics can’t be how elections are decided. Donate to the fight here: secure.actblue.com/donate/ryan-slawson-1

Arizona’s economy is reeling from a federal rug pull and corporate cannibalism of our public and private resources.
We cannot rely on the old systems for our survival. They have proven there is no benevolence waiting for us.
But there is a system we can build—one that protects us from the extortion of Washington, Wall Street, and Silicon Valley. We can build it outside their political and market control. Outside of their system that denies us dignity and prosperity.

The Republican elites of Cochise County thought they could use an AI to bring me down through a ballot petition challenge and win the election without a challenger. They didn’t even check its work.

I did. It was less than half right in its challenges and full of nonsensical errors that no human would have made unless suffering from severe head trauma.

This contempt for work and inability to do even the littlest bit of actual mental labor is an indicator of their entire attitude towards us. Dismissive, lazy, and entitled.

It’s time for somebody willing to do the work.

When Cochise County wanted to get in front of the issues with data centers, a lot of people were angry that the ordinance they passed didn't actually protect our water supply.

Unfortunately, that was the best they could do with the situation Gail Griffin has given us. She passed a resolution threatening any rules that expanded limitations on groundwater usage with litigation—by declaring that the 1980 Groundwater Management Act must be "strictly interpreted."

We can make individual contracts with developers who want to build here. Those Community Benefit Agreements can put some protections in place. But when it comes to having the right to protect our water from corporate heavy industry? Gail has made sure that as long as she's got a say, no local government will dare to try.

Duchess of Drought indeed.

Even though there is darkness, oppression, and suffering. Remember this Easter Sunday: Good Wins.
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The most powerful empire on earth tried to silence the message of community, compassion, and love. They used every power they had, including death.

Even death failed.

The President has stated that the federal government should get out of the business of social services and expects the states to raise taxes to cover them while he focuses the federal government on nothing but war.

We already pay taxes for those services and the state would have to charge every working Arizonan nearly $6000 a year just to make up the difference for Medicare, Medicaid, and child care programs the President cited as his targets for cuts.

We simply cannot raise these taxes to cover social programs not matched by the federal government because of our constitution’s gift clause. There’s a solution though, we have the state stand up a qualifying tax exempt retirement fund that we pay into that invests in those services and charges a sliding scale to combat inflation, reduce poverty, and keep wealth in our hands.

The Republican energy policy for Arizona is big tech smoke and mirrors: snake oil designed to make us trade what we have for a promise of abundant power for Silicon Valley’s AI data centers—in ten to fifteen years, when it is finally ready.

We have some of the most abundant land for renewables in the world and could start today building a future that is energy independent, sustainable, and right for our limited water resources. What’s best is that solar is cheap, modular, scalable, and already a mature commercially available technology. Perfect for community investment into power projects that build and retain wealth for working Arizonans.

Our Constitution was written for the realities of 1910. In 2026, we've created a convoluted system of workarounds, loopholes, and cut corners that continuously fails to provide the governmental action our people and communities require—while making us look cartoonishly inept to the rest of the country.

With public trust in the legislature at historic lows, a complete modernization through constitutional amendments is politically impossible. So instead of waiting for Phoenix to fix itself, we should build organizational infrastructure and mechanisms to offload direct responsibility.

Matters that can be handled privately should go to public benefit corporations—member-owned co-ops that deliver services cheaper and better than private companies while keeping wealth in our communities. Matters that belong in the public sphere should be pushed down to local governments, along with the resources to implement solutions that fit their circumstances.

At the same time, we can make the legislature itself more capable without rewriting the entire Constitution. Shrinking legislative districts to the size of communities people can mentally engage with—about 45,000 people—makes representation meaningful. Adding modern digital tools, intern staff, and expert advice through collaboration with state universities gives legislators the capacity to do their jobs well.

This approach doesn't require a perfect legislature. It works even if the legislature stays broken. And over time, it builds a new way of governing—one that's transparent, accountable, and built for 2026.

In the relentless pursuit to see who can prove themselves as the one who hates immigrants the most another cartoonish bill, SB 1421, has hit the floor in the AZ legislature. Not only is it illegal and unconstitutional, it’s also not practically enforceable, nor would it accomplish what it’s supposed to even do if it were. In fact, if we did this, it would cost us tax revenue, damage businesses, and harm law-abiding people. Wile E. Coyote levels of self-defeating turbo genius on display as our elected lawmakers scramble to engineer campaign slogans instead of bothering to lead.

It’s no secret that the call is coming from inside the house when it comes to the allegations of election tampering. The record is clear, the perpetrators were caught red-handed. However, like clockwork, the elections loom and accountability is likely so the roaches in the kitchen seek to disable the light switch. The arguments for the SAVE act and federal access control of polling locations are based on statistically insignificant instances of fraud while allowing partisans in federal uniforms to pick and choose which voters are allowed to enter based on the voter’s assumed party loyalty. No loyal American patriot should accept this and no elected leader in Arizona should dream of looking the other way for this. Leaders who are charged with the protection of our constitutional rights should be doing everything possible to protect lawful voters from being prevented from doing so. Whether it be through corruption by local officials, unconstitutional laws to remove lawful voters from registration, or armed officers using law enforcement as a pretext to reject opposition voters, our leaders should be making the laws and making the plans to head this treachery off well in advance. If we really wanted integrity we’d provide for voter audit to ensure their ballot was cast for the candidates they chose and get it fixed in time to be properly counted. Instead we attack valid systems with good track records and ignore the stink of corrupt attempts at election manipulation emanating from those who most want to take direct control of the system.

The merger between federal corruption and corporate greed is steering us towards a systemic meltdown. We must intervene with local solutions that will strengthen our communities and build the real material wealth of Arizona residents to stave off the worst of the fallout. The elected politicians of the state who are collaborating with this plunderous scheme must be removed from their positions and replaced with principled people who will lead by example.

I am not here because I happen to be running under the right party for the moment. I am not here to be a rubber stamp for the status quo. I am here to build a movement of community, starting right here in Southeast Arizona's LD 19. A community that provides support, prosperity, and ownership of our future. I am not here to make you a Democrat or a Republican. I'm here because you're my neighbor, and we need each other if we're going to build a legacy worth passing to our children.

Culture war reduces us to livestock and it’s keeping us from being the neighbors we need. The obsession with conformity is a tyranny that has no place among free people. How you present yourself should be a window into your inner world, not an indicator of your use.

The past does not hold all of the answers to the future, but it tells us what roads have led us here. What we now remember as normal was an era in which the prosperity and stability of the working class was undone by the powerful to return us to a state of resigned codependency with empire and monopoly. It is time we came together as a people, as communities, and took responsibility for our future away from the would-be gods and petty kingmakers that have plans for a future without most of us.

Arizona has a legislature to deal with Arizona problems. Gail Griffin has used her position to block any such work on the water shortages for years and emptying aquifers are already destroying her district and now threaten the rest of the state. She published an Op-Ed in early march with Andy Biggs basically begging the President to build dams and other interstate mega projects to bring more water to Arizona. Projects that will bring more water to Arizona are all well and good, but in light of her obstructionism in dealing with the reality of water shortages over the past several years, her begging the President for federal projects that are years away rings hollow and arrives too late.

Let’s help protect those workers affected by the government shutdown!