{"id":459339,"date":"2017-11-10T11:59:49","date_gmt":"2017-11-10T18:59:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=459339"},"modified":"2017-11-13T07:44:34","modified_gmt":"2017-11-13T14:44:34","slug":"democrats-whats-going-to-be-different-this-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2017\/11\/democrats-whats-going-to-be-different-this-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrats, what\u2019s going to be different this time?"},"content":{"rendered":"

COMMENTARY:<\/strong> It\u2019s not surprising that Democrats had a historic election night in Las Cruces<\/a> and across the nation on Tuesday. The pendulum swings, especially after new presidents take office.<\/p>\n

\"Heath

Heath Haussamen<\/p><\/div>\n

It\u2019s swinging particularly hard and fast this time because of the radically abnormal presidency of Donald Trump. In New Mexico, Republican Gov. Susana Martinez\u2019s low approval rating<\/a> will exacerbate the swing to the left.<\/p>\n

So Las Cruces\u2019 city council now includes six Democrats, one independent and no Republicans. Burque\u00f1os will probably elect Democrat Tim Keller to be their new mayor next week<\/a>. New Mexicans will probably choose a Democrat to be governor in 2018. Democrats will likely keep \u2013 and maybe even increase \u2013 their control of the state House of Representatives next year.<\/p>\n

Meh.<\/p>\n

I believe who we elect matters, and I vote. I\u2019m also sympathetic to the vast majority of people in this state and nation who could be voting \u2013 but choose to stay home instead.<\/p>\n

What reason do people have to believe either party\u2019s rhetoric and attempts to paint itself as the agent of change? Democrats have controlled this state\u2019s government for most of its history. Republicans have held greater control of state government in recent years than ever before.<\/p>\n

Did either party move New Mexico up in the rankings? Did either party substantially combat child poverty, improve education, create jobs for New Mexicans, give our children the means to be anything other than New Mexico\u2019s greatest export?<\/p>\n

Nope.<\/p>\n

The United States has been in decline for my entire life<\/a>. The middle class is vanishing<\/a>. Fewer Americans are earning more than their parents<\/a>. The future doesn\u2019t seem so bright. That\u2019s been true my entire life, through the tenures of three U.S. presidents who were Democrats, three who were Republicans, and Trump, who doesn\u2019t seem to have allegiance to anyone or anything but himself.<\/p>\n

So as the pendulum swings, and Democrats are handed more power this year and next in local, state and national races, I want to hear what\u2019s going to be different this time. I want to hear why electing Democrats in 2017 and 2018, unlike all the other times this state has elected them, will result in my 6-year-old daughter having a better future.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy right now for Democrats to run on a platform of dumping Trump, and they\u2019re going to win lots of races by doing it. But to earn my vote, and to inspire the silent majority to engage, candidates are going to have to articulate what they\u2019re for \u2013 and it\u2019s going to have to be deep, systemic change.<\/p>\n

Because Trump is a symptom of our dysfunction, not the cause. Our society is heading for a serious crash caused by bipartisan failure over decades. We need visionary, nuanced, bold action to change course.<\/p>\n

The Democratic Party will have an opportunity over the next few years to lead us to a better future. I\u2019m not yet hearing that it\u2019s any better prepared for that challenge than the Republican Party.<\/p>\n

I hope I\u2019m proven wrong.<\/p>\n

Heath Haussamen<\/a>\u00a0is NMPolitics.net\u2019s editor and publisher.\u00a0Agree with his opinion? Disagree? We welcome your views. Learn about submitting your own commentary\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the pendulum swings to the left, I want to hear why electing Democrats in 2017 and 2018, unlike all the other times this state has elected them, will result in my daughter having a better future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":383420,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,16,10],"tags":[3334,2238,135,3307],"class_list":["post-459339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-guest-columns","category-haussamen-columns","tag-2017-election","tag-2018-election","tag-democratic-party","tag-donald-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}