William S. English
As you know, I am running for the U.S. Senate here in New Mexico. While it may seem that this is not the case, since my name recognition is on a level with a pet rock named Seymour, it’s true that I am running.
Not too long ago I had the honor to be invited to the Santa Fe Republican Party’s Lincoln Day Dinner, where I had the opportunity to meet Heather Wilson, among other pundits of the party. Politics aside, she seemed like a very nice person.
During the event I had the occasion to be interviewed by Capitol Report New Mexico. During the interview, which can be seen on my website by clicking here, I was asked if “it was fair to say that I was the farthest to the right of all of the candidates.” I answered that I thought it was fairer to say that I was an American.
I was also asked what I would say to those who “thought that some of my ideas were good, but that I was unelectable.” If you take a look at the video, you can see what my answer was, but I think that I would like to go a step further here in answering that and the other questions.
The Code of the West
Having been born in Alamogordo, and essentially raised in the Southwest, I have a somewhat different outlook on life. Even though it seems that with the passage of time, the code of ethics, or if you will, the Code of the West that I grew up with, is adhered to less and less, it is a code that is as much a part of me as the code that is America. I refer of course to the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights, and, as with the Code of the West, these two documents are adhered to less and less.
With the Code of the West, you never deny a thirsty person a drink of water, you never deliberately hurt someone, and for the most part you leave people alone and try not to bother them overly much. Yet at the same time you never let a wrong go unrighted, or allow someone who is less fortunate or unable to defend themselves to go undefended.
But it is also a code that allows for a tall tale to be told and enjoyed both in the hearing and in the telling. Sounds pretty much like the general code of ethics of most Americans, doesn’t it?
A belief in what is right
I’ve never really thought of myself as being from the hard right politically, nor as being a tea party candidate. This only because my political stance and attitude is not based on radical opinions or ideas, unless you want to count a belief in what is right and in America as radical.
Those that know me will tell you that I have always had a basic belief in the Constitution of the United States, and that my patriotism is old school. I know that my government is prone to mistakes, and I also know that, given time and commonsense, the American people will correct those mistakes if they can. At the very least they will own up to them once they are discovered.
I think what marks me as a hard-right candidate is that I have very little tolerance for stupidity or stupid people, and when I see it I refuse to back down from pointing it out and am very vocal about it. And right now, at this point in our history, it seems that stupidity is running rampant within our government, and it needs to be fixed!
At this very moment Heather Wilson and Lt. Gov. Sanchez are verbally duking it out with one another while Greg Sowards and I are being pretty much ignored. Yet to my way of thinking, if your look at both of their political records, neither one of them would be defined as “the best” candidate.
As for Greg Sowards, I have to admit to having a great deal of respect for Greg; however, I get the sense that he is trying to hard to please everyone all at once, and trying to appeal to the tea party and conservative faction only. He doesn’t yet realize that you cannot please everyone, and there comes a point where you can talk the talk but you have to be ready to walk the walk, and in all of the times I have talked with Greg or listened to him I am not sure he understands completely what that means.
Maybe, maybe not
As for myself; well, I am by no stretch of the imagination “the perfect or best” candidate, but I seem to be the only one who sees what is happening, understands why it is happening, and has a willingness to get up there and fight for what is right.
I also seem to be the only one who is willing to stand up and say to the voters that I am applying for a job and, as such, I am accountable to the voters and to the citizens of not only New Mexico but to the citizens of the United States. This because, ultimately, whatever I did or would do while a member of the U.S. Senate would have far-reaching effects on not only the people of New Mexico, but on the entire country.
That’s something that both Tom Udall and Jeff Bingaman have forgotten, and for all intents and purposes something that Wilson, Sanchez and Sowards apparently haven’t even thought of.
As for being unelectable – maybe, maybe not. But in the end it’s going to be up to the people of New Mexico to decide that.
English, a Republican, is a candidate for U.S. Senate.