To be a self-aware Arizonan was to live with an anomaly. The state was dependent on the federal government for its prosperity, even its survival. The vast water projects greening the desert and populating the Phoenix suburbs were paid for largely by the American taxpayer, via the lawmakers and regulators in Washington. Being human, the people who lived in Arizona, as well as other western states, often felt more hostility than gratitude for this largesse, which of course came with strings attached. They denounced Big Government as they drove down interstate highways. They waxed nostalgic about
...more
