When I first started writing regularly for the Bulletin about a year and a half ago, the paper was fairly thin. Just a couple of standing columnists in the opinion section and the occasional letter to the editor.
I am pleased to see that the opinion section has grown substantially of late. Many more citizens are feeling engaged and empowered to put their thoughts to paper and submit for publication. My heart swells reading letter after letter, on a myriad of topics. A few of them lament opinion pieces from previous weeks, but for the most part, they stand alone as citizens simply thinking out loud and out in the open.
It is a hard thing to do – put your thoughts out there for the world to analyze and, often, criticize. But it builds a robust local paper and lays the groundwork for healthy and necessary debate about the state of our world.
It gives me hope that our next election cycle will see similar growths in participation. Not just from candidates, but from citizens supporting those candidates or, at minimum, voting. New Mexico is plagued by incumbents running unopposed, year after agonizing year, as well as abysmal voter turn-out numbers.
Oftentimes, less than 10% of registered voters elect officials that make decisions that affect our everyday lives. I’ve written before about how folks are enthralled with the national elections, but that your local leaders are those that impact what happens in our communities, with our tax dollars.
Yet we all have opinions. Coffee shops, abuzz with arm-chair quarterbacks. Social media frenzies around polarizing national issues happening 5,000 miles away.
And yet how many of Las Crucens can name the mayor? Or a single city councilor? These are the people that support your kids’ school fundraisers or specify which plants you can have growing in your front yard and which are weeds, or pass taxes that squeeze just a little more than the paper bag fee out of your grocery budget.
So, I will ask all the Bulletin readers, new and old. Instead of entering a heated Facebook debate that you obsessively check whether that anonymous participant has volleyed back for an hour of your time, instead consider researching your New Mexico House district, who currently represents you on city council, or who is running for sheriff of Dona Ana County this November.
What are their backgrounds? Do they support your values? Get informed before you get out to vote. Social media banter doesn’t usually lead to epiphanies, but a few minutes of research can lead to questions and questions lead to answers and answers lead to understanding. Understand who you support and why. Our digital age has led to knowledge at our fingertips. Use it. Discern it.
Why do incumbents run year after year unopposed? Because New Mexicans haven’t been paying attention. I challenge you to change that.
And keep writing letters to your editor!
Shawna Pfeiffer is a life-long Dona 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.
