Random thoughts for the 2022 NM governor's race

Category: Libertarian Leanings Libertarian Leanings
Published: 23 November 2021 23 November 2021

By Peter Burrows 11/23/21 elburropete@gmail.com

Republicans can oust Michelle Lujan Grisham next year, but only with a hard-hitting, issue-oriented campaign that gets the Republican candidate a lot of favorable attention, something difficult to do these days.

As a card-carrying Libertarian, I usually find myself voting AGAINST the Democrat as opposed to FOR the Republican. Steve Pearce was an exception. I liked him as my congressman, but his district popularity didn't travel at all and he lost two state-wide elections, one for Senator and one for Governor, by 22 and 14 points, respectively.

Steve is now chairman of the New Mexico Republican Party, and as much as I like him, I think he's too much of a gentleman to approve of the type of campaign I think is needed to win. I have a few kick-ass ideas that I think might work.

Some of them may need legal vetting and some are unlikely to ever be legislated, but all of them should get some publicity. I think #1 might even get on Fox or CNN. These are serious proposals that the candidate could also have some fun with. The first five are education related, a BIG hot button issue, and all five lend support to school vouchers, which should be a Republican priority.   

1) As governor, you will recommend that the county sheriffs arrest any FBI agent who interferes with a school board meeting. The First Amendment's right to free speech and peaceable assembly will be enforced in NM, etc. You will order the state police to provide backup if requested.

2) You will order the PED to ban any CRT instruction and any school district that doesn't comply will not receive state funding.

3) Any athletic coach who allows biological males to compete against biological females under the guise of transgenderism will be arrested for child abuse.

4) Since some parents may wish to have their children learn CRT and/or subjective genderism, those parents can use vouchers to have their children attend private schools with that curriculum. This opens up vouchers for ALL parents.

5) Since COVID restrictions have led many parents to home-school, it is only fair that those parents also receive some form of voucher compensation. This would be payable if the home-schooled child scores at the median or higher on whatever tests are given to determine how the schools/kids are doing. The compensation could be set at 50 percent of voucher value, or something like that.

6) As governor, you will recommend the death penalty be reinstated for anyone knowingly dealing in fentanyl. (Maybe meth, too.) They are killing us and we should return the favor. At the very least, dealers should be charged with assault with a deadly weapon, depraved conduct that endangers lives, or whatever the lawyers can come up with. This proposal can also be used to dramatize the border crisis.

The above ideas are easy for the typical voter to grasp and should give the Republican candidate a helluva lot of publicity, both pro and con. Sadly, if history is any guide, the Republicans will pick somebody too nice to take any of these recommendations and I'll end up voting against MLG again. Sigh.

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