COMMENTARY: Where is the Doña Ana County Republican Party (DARP)? In the party chair’s May 12 open letter I see signs of “blame anyone else” as the modus operandi. Too bad.
Courtesy photo
Jerry Nachison
We can probably say that the DARP mostly remains “loyal” nationally, without “forced oaths” as of this writing. Mr. Jimenez, you’ve yelled “local” while using variations on national GOP themes — targeting of course, the county’s Democrats and volunteers.
“Our” so-called “rich hippies” — who are they? Certainly not many people I know, many of whom are long-time residents of 20+ years and fully part of the local scene. Many others work for a living and/or are young, intensely involved, born in New Mexico and fully invested in the borderland and all its people. They are sometimes in the news.
Our local Republicans are involved in elections, protests, recalls, etc. They are sometimes in the news too. They are not extinct. Maybe their words — er, messages — of “appealing” to the people didn’t resound locally. Now we have “DINOs” — Democrats in name only — on the Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners. Is this the latest tactic?
The local Republican Party doesn’t seem to care that at least 54 percent of the county’s people of working age are below the poverty line, and the county’s median income is at least $7,000 below the New Mexico median. I find your letter’s closing phraseology admirable: “…where a burning to be a part of the good fight against the evil of this world exists — the evil that uses propaganda to pollute the free minds of the vulnerable and weak.”
That’s a perfect description of this administration and its followers. I assure you Mr. Jimenez, you don’t get it.
In closing, “Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer.” — former President John F. Kennedy
Jerry Nachison is a 10-year Las Cruces resident who is active in local politics and nonprofits. He’s a retired social/housing gerontologist.