What is a constituent? A lot of people believe that it is a group of people who voted for a particular politician, but that’s not correct. A politician’s constituency is defined as the people who are eligible to vote in the district or area that that politician represents. That means that a politician represents you as a constituent even if you didn’t vote for them. Let’s take that one step further, though. Does the mayor represent people who visit Las Cruces? Should he listen to them if they have suggestions on how to improve their experience in his city? One could certainly make the argument that he should… and the same is true for councilors that sit next to him on the dais.
Those that work, send their children to school, visit, shop, recreate or otherwise conduct business, either personal or professional, within the City of Las Cruces should have a voice with the council. They represent the city to the people and for the people. The same is true for the commissioners that represent Doña Ana County and the governor of this state. And for the school board members – everyone in the area gets a say in how you’re doing your job because they have to live, work or otherwise engage with the children you help produce to adulthood.
And what standards should our elected leaders be held to when they represent us? Should they attend town halls, community outreach endeavors and hold public forums to seek input into how the city can be made better? Absolutely. Should they limit those events to only citizens that voted for them? That answer, too, seems obvious. Should they demean, denigrate and resort to name-calling the very citizens who seek to simply have their voices heard, as is the most foundational democratic legacy of our great nation? You would think that answer would be even more obvious.
But sometimes those answers would elude the very people we elected to lead us in these respective positions.
The time for political sensibility is gone. A political environment built on compromise and collaboration has been abandoned for dramatic and dipolar absolutes – so much so that it rings of feudalism, meant to incite feelings of racism, classism and ultimately fear, where none actually exists.
And for what? Why dismiss, or worse, demean, your constituents? To hold power over others? To win at any and all cost? To get your name etched in the annals of progressivism? Ironically, that’s not progressive at all, but rather only serves to further divide us all and erode the social evolution that our democratic forefathers worked so hard to build.
Shawna Pfeiffer is a life-long Doña Ana County resident, graduate of NMSU, small business owner, hobby farmer, dog-lover, outdoor enthusiast and mother to two young children. She can be reached at srpfeiffer1@gmail.com.
