Will Arizona expose itself this year?

It's been over a decade since a growing number of Arizona residents began to assail the far-right Jihadists in Maricopa County. Former Maricopa County Prosecutor Andrew Thomas bragged of indicting more than 200,000 county residents in one term in office. Sheriff Joe Arpaio routinely says, "People die in jail". The story that these two Jihadists of the far right do not tell is that together they have bankrupted Arizona's fragile economy. Between the burden of managing the most aggressive penal system in America and dealing with the fallout from becoming globally known as the State of Hate, Arizona's economy is on its last legs.

On the bright side, a growing army of citizens and activists have been bringing the atrocities of Arizona's Maricopa County to a worldwide audience. Andrew Thomas is no longer in politics. Next month, he is expected to be disbarred from the practice of law by the Arizona Bar for corruption and abuse of power while in elected office. Both federal and state agencies are closing in on the infamous sheriff. Last year, 100 percent of his Chief Deputies were fired for corruption. Years of investigations are coming to a head in 2012.

This may be the year that both Andrew Thomas and Joe Arpaio face indictment for the hundreds of thousands of lives they have destroyed. The year when Arizona begins to heal and recover some of its old glory as a retirement mecca.

The book, Accidental Felons, was the first book to expose these two men for the corruption that is coming to light. FBI, Arizona Bar, county government, and federal government investigators have copies. It has been read by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, members of the Arizona Legislature, and the Arizona Attorney General.

The movie, Backspin is being produced this year and hopefully released in the United States in 2012. It will be the first documentary to focus on the atrocities of Sheriff Joe Arpaio. In it dozens of highly respected citizens come forward to expose the sheriff's corrupt ways.

This may be the year that Arizona exposes itself, regains some of the trust it has lost with visitors, and begins to climb out of the financial pit it has dug for itself. If these potentials come to pass, maybe it will again be safe for travelers to visit Arizona, spend their tourist dollars there, and enjoy the grand sights that Sedona, the Grand Canyon, Meteor Crater, and a dozen other natural wonders have to offer. If these things happen, it means that Arizona's citizens will have taken back their state and it no longer accepts being seen as a hostile 3rd world country encapsulated inside the United States.