thomas leverett weblog

High drama in NM-02

I can't really be quiet on this much longer. As a teacher, I try to keep my politics out of the classroom, and avoid antagonizing conservatives, parents, or whoever. They have a right to their views, so I teach only the facts, things they can't argue with. I teach what I'm supposed to, and avoid saying things like "Trump is a crook" or "Trump has sold out the country."

But, Trump is a crook, and Trump is busy selling out the country as fast as he can, before the law catches up to him. His corruption is blatant, as if he knows his time is limited. And, though he will be gone soon, the wreckage will last for years, and those who have allowed for him for so long will have to pay.

That's where NM02 becomes an interesting part of the picture. It has been represented by S.P., a very aggressive old-school conservative. I can guess that S.P. is quite uncomfortable that Trump sold out to the Russians, follows Putin's orders, etc. He doesn't seem to mind that Trump sells out the public lands, or dismantles the public schools, or various other things. Some conservatives are ok with much of Trump's agenda and they always start with the Supreme Court as if violating the law to get conservatives up there is something to be proud of. But, Pearce has his eye on the New Mexico governorship and is vacating his seat; it is being contested by Yvette Herrell, Republican, and Xochitl Torres-Small, Democrat.

NM-02 is a traditionally conservative district. It covers more than half of the state, going all the way up as far north as Albuquerque, to the east, west and central, and most of that is ranch country. The ranchers vote at a high rate and generally vote conservative. In the bootheel (far southwestern NM) they voted for Obama but this time around voted for Trump, possibly because of concerns about the porous border. The cities in the district are all small: Las Cruces (now over 100,000, by far the most liberal), Roswell, Alamogordo, Socorro, Carlsbad. It doesn't take long before you're talking really small towns, places nobody's ever heard of. These towns would be overwhelmingly Democrat if everyone voted, but they don't. My town, Alamogordo, whites are a distinct minority in the schools, and most of the kids' parents are residents, citizens. I doubt they vote, or that most of them vote. They're busy making a living.

NM-02 is considered by some "leaning R" but by one "likely R." People at the national level are analyzing this stuff, and possibly allocating resources where it could make a difference. If so, this is one place where it could. I would say that any Hispanic who would still vote Republican, or vote to continue to approve and allow the kind of things Trump is pushing, is definitely not paying attention. And if the rest of the Hispanic vote would simply register and vote, it could swing this thing.

I started a Facebook page and a twitter account to target the legions of young New Mexicans who have so far not been mad enough to vote. These are non-partisan: if you are telling everyone to vote, you are not blatantly on one side or the other. I think, in this part of New Mexico, it's a pretty-much Democrat thing to do, since there are thousands of young Democrats out there, whereas there are what, a few young ranchers who are probably already registered. Nevertheless I ought to be able to go just about anywhere with these two sites, and say, vote vote vote (or vota vota vota) in any crowd, and not feel like I'm making people mad in this partisan world.

My problem is that I'm finding it hard to keep quiet about the other stuff. It feels so good to release my anger, to actually do something about the situation, that, once started, I can't very well stop. My message really is, this clown is crooked, evil and temporary, but the shame of those who have allowed it to continue must be dealt with. And it must be dealt with on a local level. We need to get these clowns out of there. Sure, they were in a tough position. They felt like they had to support him because that's what their constituents wanted. So now what, they have to stand by while he sells out all the nation's resources, follows Putin's wishes, sells out the free press? They can stand by, but I won't stand by.

posted by tom @ 10:24 AM