A packed week, with good information to share with others, most importantly the Voters Guide with recommendations on all state and local races. Also brief commentary on how the prevailing political discourse and toxic exhortations to revile the opposition is bearing fruit, a truly horrid fruit that is poisoning our land.
Eight days to go. Many of us canvassed all weekend. Tomorrow we will have information on how you can call for Abbas Akhil from home. Today, click here for other campaign activities. This is no time to rest. Let’s leave no stone unturned and rest on Wednesday. It will be here soon enough. Much more to do. Every vote counts.
I Disagree with You, So You Are Evil and Worthy of My Hate….and Where That Path Leads
Donald Trump did not directly cause pipe bombs to be mailed, nor did he directly cause Bowers to murder 11 Jews in a Pittsburg synagogue. But for the past four years (two years of campaigning and two years as President), we’ve been beset by rhetoric that doesn’t just divide, it excoriates, reviles and dehumanizes the opposition. Trump has questioned Obama’s citizenship, used demeaning, disrespectful nicknames for each of his primary opponents, chanted “Lock Her Up” endlessly, praised a Montana legislator for body slamming a reporter, encouraged his crowds to behave violently to protesters at his rallies, noted that many white supremacists are good people, and reviled desperate refugees as ‘rapists and gang members….really bad people.”
This kind of rhetoric has opened a Pandora’s box and from that box we are now seeing what can emerge. Trump’s language and the equally offensive language coming from Fox News and Koch brother funded ads, breeds distrust and foments hatred of others. We have become not just a nation divided on issues (as discussed in Thursday’s post) but one that is creating an Us vs Them false choice where Us is supreme and all important and They are subhuman, suspect and disposable.
There was a time when the two parties disagreed on policy, but respected the opposing viewpoints and those that held them. That seems oh so long ago. There was a time when a U.S. crisis resulted in our coming together as a Nation. Think WWII and food rations, victory gardens and sacrifices made by everyone. And after WWII we didn’t revile our enemies we worked to rebuild their countries and their communities. Even as recently as around 9/11 and the anthrax attacks, politicians did not accuse the other party of responsibility for these events as we are seeing now.
As noted in Sunday’s post, there were times when desperate people could seek refuge in the US and would find a welcoming nation. Whether refugees were from Cuba, Haiti, El Salvador, Honduras, Africa or the Middle East, we opened our borders, considered claims seeking asylum and welcomed hundreds of thousands of individuals who have added a cultural richness to our country. We are the better for them and we are the better for how we welcomed them. But today, rather than recognizing our role in the desperate situations in Central America and welcoming the few thousand refugees walking to our country, we propose to greet them with a closed door backed by our military might.Mexico puts us to shame by offering the same refugees housing, asylum and jobs.
We are at a moral crossroad. Are we to become the America First of Trump’s dreams, build not just a physical wall but a moral wall around our Nation, a fortress that distinguishes Americans as of greater moral value than other human beings or are we going to become part of the international community and work collaboratively and respectfully to solve the world’s problems?
The Week in Review
Toxic Plumes from LANL Threaten the Aquifer & LANL, the US Dept of Energy & NM Environment Department Want to Keep Us in the Dark
Tuesday, October 23. This post got overlooked in the flurry of election activities but is well worth your review and sharing with friends. We have a real threat to our water supply and not from draught, but from our neighbor Los Alamos National Labs. With three huge and spreading toxic plumes resting atop our aquifer and very uncertain science as to how we can remediate it. In the context of the severity of the threat and the uncertainty of the science, one would hope that local stakeholders and the public would be part of the decision-making and would be kept current on the process. Not even close. This blog outlines the history of how the plumes evolved, what the plumes contain, current mediation efforts, and hearing to consider a permit for how the remediation work will be conducted on one plume and how the public will be kept in the dark. The hearing will be held on November 7 at 9am, the day after the election. The blog includes info on the hearing. Click here to read the full report.
A Country Deeply Divided & Unlikely To Find Common Ground
Thursday, October 25. The post includes an analysis of just how far apart America has grown with one segment’s reality formed by Fox News, Koch-funded ads, and Trump Tweets and the other formed by a range of more mainstream media. Polling shows that not only do we differ on how to solve our problems but we even disagree on what constitutes a problem in need of a solution. The take-away is that thankfully we can outvote the GOP if we fully engage voters with whom we have shared interests and get them to the voting booth and keep them involved. Click here to read the full report.
Voters Guide: Recommendations on All State & Santa Fe Local Elections Including Amendments, Judges, County Races and More
Saturday, Oct 27. Don’t you hate it when you get to the voting booth, knowing how you plan to vote on all the major votes and then you see a couple of state or local amendments and some judges listed and you are clueless what to do. It has happened to all of us. So this post includes complete recommendations on all the races from Governor to County Commission, including judges, State and City amendments and County Commissioner races. This would be an excellent post to send to friends. And while you are at it, suggest that they may want to subscribe to our blog. Click here to read the full report.
Refugee Hysteria, Another PRC Obscenity, and an Opportunity to Canvass for Steve Fischmann
Sunday, Oct 28. Once again, the PRC, gets it wrong, approving a solar installation that will charge consumers 400% more than the cost of the same solar energy available by purchasing it on the grid through either Community Aggregation or a Community Solar installation. Once again the vote was 3-2. But this time you can do something about it. Electing Steve Fischmann would end the PRC’s G&O/PNM domination and we have three trips to Las Lunas planned next week to canvass for Steve. The post.also an excerpt from a good article from The Hill which contain illuminating numbers of refugee waves to the US that make Trump’s “onslaught” look pretty manageable. Also a short report on our canvassing for Abbas Akhil Saturday. Click here to read the full report.
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