On the Eve of Elections in New Mexico and Doña Ana County

New Mexico, normally a reliable Democratic State, will elect mostly Democrats again according to polling data.  This is especially welcome this year.  But the driving force behind probable victories in the governor's office, the US Senate, at least two House seats, and the state legislature, is not enthusiasm for candidates or expectations of better government.  It is fear, a rational fear of what the Republican Party has done and might yet do with the power they appropriated but did not truly earn, after the 2016 elections.  On the eve of the 2018 election it is important to remind ourselves Republicans seized the apparatus of government in the aftermath of Vladimir Putin's successful and as yet unpunished attack on the vital, fragile inner workings of American elections.  The sheer magnitude of this attack--millions of partisan messages were received by unsuspecting voters--casts serious doubt about the underlying legitimacy of the current national government, even if Democrats in Congress, who have access to national media, remain too timid to mention it.

Rather than behaving cautiously after such a desecration of civic fairness, and emboldened by the timidity of Democrats in Congress, Republicans under Trump blithely disregarded the hopes and dreams of that sizeable majority of voters who voted for Hillary, or any sense of fair play.  You want health care?  Let us reduce the coverage for a few million people and cut taxes so much for the rich we won't have revenues to improve health care.  You want to keep guns out of the hands of wackos?  Don't make me laugh.  Wackos, if they don't necessarily vote Republican provide the kinds of extra profit margins hedge fund managers want to see in gun manufacturers.  You want even-handed, balanced justice and proven wisdom on the Supreme Court?  How about swallowing instead our partisan operative, Kavanagh, who may, incidentally, have nasty sexual hangups?  You want immigration reform?  Let's start by separating innocent children from their parents and sending the Army to the border to stop (shoot at?) several hundred refugees who still believe in the American dream.  These are the memories, and fears of what is to come, that are driving this election in spite of serious efforts at the national level to divert your attention away from them.  It is also important to remember that the other side is also motivated by fear, a fear fueled by powerful forces behind the scenes to attach itself to convenient scapegoats--Jews, Mexicans, Muslims, and others who aren't like the people in the Little House on the Prairie.  This election can be seen as a battle between two kinds of fear, and battles between fears are the stuff of civil wars.

But beyond all of this, does anyone have the slightest idea what Michelle, as governor, might really do to improve the performance of students in public education, which absorbs well over 50% of what taxpayers shell out to the state each year?  Does she have a time frame for when we will move up to 49th from 50th in education?  Does anyone know what Heinrich might promote in the way of sensible legislation to reduce the outrageous monopoly pricing of pharmaceuticals?  Of course not.  We are slowly becoming trained by the media not to judge candidates by the coherence of their proposals but by the likely success of their "strategy" for electoral victory, and we find ourselves mindlessly doing the same thing in our conversations with friends.  The appalling ignorance of the electorate about the basic values embedded in the Constitution is partly responsible for this state of affairs, and this in turn tells us volumes about the national failure of educational policy.  This takes us back to Michelle:  will she do more to improve education than read to third graders?  Quien sabe?  But the alternative is almost certainly worse. 

On the positive side, fear and disgust have mobilized youthful candidates.  Micaela Cadena is likely to replace Bill McCamley as state rep in the Mesilla district.  Angelica Rubio is likely to be re-elected to a second term in the City district.  And Ray Lara is running unopposed in the Southern district.  Charmingly inexperienced, we should not expect miracles from them, but we should remind them we will hold them accountable for their public actions and warn them not to succumb to the temptations of the Bullring or the Rio Chama. David Garcia and Beal Gomez are two recent reminders of what happens when elected officials get to thinking they are better than their voters.  Also on the positive side, Hatch and Anthony are two municipalities appearing to be in good hands.  If Mayor Diana Murillo Trujillo and the Trustees can negotiate the purchase of the Dos Lagos Golf Course citizens should take up a collection to commission Sonny Rivera to sculpt a statue in their honor.

There is growing evidence the corrupt faction that won city elections in Sunland Park this year are back to the old mischief that led to lap dancing blackmail and the takeover of the city by the DFA.  No one, however, seems to be covering what is happening there, in spite of its strategic location on the US-Mexico border.  This gap in fundamental information will simply make it more difficult for the governor to get her arms around the state's interests in the largest economic development project in the state.  And, incidentally, make it more likely the guv will simply yield to the few self-interested voices of those who lined her palms with silver donations, at the expense of the broader interests of the region.  Yes, this year you have to vote; we have run out of other options.