Stephen Jones: Real Solutions for New Mexico

This is a post by contributing writer, Stephen Jones, who is a progressive political activist and a resident of Las Cruces, New Mexico.

In an earlier post this week I connected the New Mexico Republican ticket to its allies and the regrettable policy positions of the Republican Party in Texas and Arizona. A supporter of Susana Martinez, the Republican gubernatorial nominee, asks what Democrats have to offer other than connecting Ms. Martinez to her ideological fellows and campaign donors in Arizona and Texas. He points out certain bad policies of some Democrats in Santa Fe, like the so-called “tortilla tax” and tax breaks to corporations, ill-conceived responses to revenue shortfalls, as reasons to support his candidates, rather than ours.

As progressives we have spoken out repeatedly and forcefully against these so-called solutions, especially the “tortilla tax.” As progressives we retain our independent voices, in this blog and in our various organizations, and in other similar publications for the very purpose of holding all elected officials, including Democrats, accountable. We will continue to do so.

As progressive Democrats we believe in creating jobs that stay in New Mexico, not just extracting what can be extracted and leaving behind the wreckage. The Republicans' answer to hard times is “Drill Baby Drill,” and “Mine Baby Mine.” Lt. Governor Diane Denish, the Democratic nominee for Governor, is a former small business owner from a rural New Mexico community. She has helped establish a grant program that helped 1800 small businesses create jobs for New Mexico. She supports the infrastructure and education systems that will build and create the economic engine of small business in New Mexico. We applaud her answer to tough times. We think it is the better road to take.

We call for rural broadband that will build an economy and help keep our small communities together, instead of draining our human resources away from New Mexico. We work for green technologies like wind and solar, but also for algae farms, that result in both agricultural jobs and renewable fuels to drive our economy and our cars. We support building an education infrastructure that will train the workers who will help develop these new economies.

We recognize that our natural areas and preserving our environment are not just the right thing to do for future generations, but represent a powerful economic engine in their own right. We have pointed out in this very blog how wilderness has helped generate long-term economic development while mere extraction has not.

We celebrate diversity as our strength. New Mexico has the highest per-capita number of bilingual speakers in the United States. This fact alone places us way ahead of our neighbors as a potential source of economic development in a global economy. Celebrating diversity isn’t just good business, it is what we like most about ourselves. Unlike some of our neighbors, these values of respect for all are enshrined in our New Mexico State Constitution. We support those values, we hold them deeply.

We support Diane Denish for Governor because she shares our vision for New Mexico. We praise her running mate Brian Colón because he understands our passion for equality, education, economic development and lifelong learning. He is the first in his family to earn a college degree. He shares our passion.

Our Republican friends ask why New Mexico citizens should elect Democrats. It's pretty simple, really. We know that we, and not the Republicans, have real answers for New Mexico’s future.

To read more posts by Stephen Jones, visit our archive.