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We are better working together than apart
Bill McCamley
Republicans, conservatives and Tea Party members aren’t my enemies. That’s why, despite our disagreements, I recently accepted an invitation to speak to the Tea Party group in Las Cruces.
“Do not think of knocking out another person’s brains because he differs in opinion from you. It would be as rational to knock yourself on the head because you differ from yourself 10 years ago.” – Horace Mann
About a month ago I was invited to speak at a meeting of the local Tea Party, the group most associated with the ideas of limited government, low taxation and (locally anyway) disagreement with federal wilderness designations. I am a Democrat running for the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission, and have been a fairly regular attendee of meetings of the local Progressive Voter Alliance.
After thinking about it, I accepted the Tea Party’s offer and last week attended a question-and-answer forum with the group. The decision was based on two principles:
• First, I wanted to ask them for their vote. Though we have issues of disagreement (the environment, unions, school vouchers), there are some that I agree with many of them on (nuclear power, economic development, fiscal responsibility, ethics reform, 2nd Amendment rights).
• The second reason, though, is more important. Even assuming none of them vote for me, if I am fortunate enough to win they will pay taxes that fund my salary. Therefore, it is important to hear their opinions while letting them know the process that I use to make decisions.
Apparently I was the first Democrat to agree to appear, and this surprised some of their members. However, the discussion was healthy, people were for the most part polite, and everybody shook my hand after we were done.
Reactions before and afterward, though, are a bit thought provoking. Friends on the left referred to my attendance with terms like “going in to the lion’s den,” while people on the right commented on the guts it took to speak before a group with whom I had many obvious disagreements.
A social dividing line that’s stopping rational dialogue
My friend Matt (a Marine Officer, an independent, and someone for whom I have the utmost respect) had a different take. He wrote me and said, “I am less surprised to hear you went to the Tea Party meeting than I would have been if you didn’t go. Why wouldn’t you? They’re New Mexicans right? They vote right? They’re going to be affected by decisions you make as PRC Commissioner right? Well then…”
That matter-of-fact response was enlightening, and his surprise at why this was a big deal highlights a relatively new problem in American politics: Political opinion is on the way to becoming as much of a social dividing line as more traditional barriers (race, religion, gender).
There are many speculations on why this is the case, ranging from the 24-hour, partisan news-cycle to the new need for constant political campaigning to the rise of interest groups. Fear over the current economic recession and frustration about our involvement in long-term wars have only added fuel to the fire.
Whatever the cause, anger among Americans with our political process is greater now than at almost any other time in our history. Examples of this include talking heads screaming at each other on television, political parties in Washington trying to block everything the other side proposes no matter the content, and serious calls for secession in both Vermont and Texas.
There are even new novels based on the premise of a second American civil war between liberals and conservatives. And this anger is stopping rational dialogue between people of differing political opinions.
Solving problems the American way
This is bad for Americans. One aspect that makes us unique is that our nation is not based on a specific religion or ethnic group. Instead, our society supports the theory that progress comes from decisions made through a shared discourse among all of us.
The preamble to our Constitution never talks about partisanship or division, instead referring to provision of the “common defense,” promotion of the “general welfare,” and securing the “blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.” The minute we let fear and anger get in the way of our ability to have conversations about our policies is the minute we stop being Americans.
I am a Democrat and am proud to reflect many of the positions to which my party adheres. This means there will be many times that I disagree with those of different political persuasions.
However, my enemies are not Republicans, Tea Party members, or people who identify themselves as conservative. My enemies are unemployment, corruption, exploitation and terrorism – the same obstacles that all of us face in the pursuit of productive and happy lives.
Solving these problems needs to be done the American way: with the passion to involve ourselves in the democratic process and support positions we feel are important, the tolerance to understand that we are all different, the patience to understand that solutions will never go entirely our way, the courage to make compromises that will result in solutions better for the community, and the faith in our own process to know that while we may not always get what we want, we are better working together than apart.
McCamley is a former Doña Ana County commissioner and a candidate for a seat on the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission. A prior version of this column incorrectly identified McCamley’s friend Matt as a Republican.
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I received a note over the weekend inviting me to help Rorsachch1492 pile onto comments in defense of McCamley. Well, after looking at the tone of the comments here, I think both Rorsachch and CrucesVaquero need to cool it. Both sound like they have axes to grind.
If McCamely has some relationships to repair, he should get to it. People like McCamley who have been in politics for a while are bound to make someone mad at some point or you aren’t doing your job. His commentary here makes very good points. Good for him for talking to the other side. And Rorsachch shouldn’t demonize people like Estrada that work for corporations or leave the state to experience different things. My oldest son happens to be an engineer at Intel in Phoenix and has some political ambitions. He isn’t evil and neither is his company and as a mother, would hate to see his name dragged through the mud for things he should be extremely proud of.
These young men are well educated so let them debate the issues.
Cruces Vaquero,
Are you talking about the 2008 Democratic Convention that McCamley won? He got almost 50% of the vote in a four way race if I remember correctly. And you talked about how the rank and file Democrats in Dona Ana County hate him so much. If that’s the case, why did he beat Harry Teague almost 2 to 1 here after getting outspent like crazy? Oh, and you claim that all the people on this post like McCamley because they are in the PVA. Do you know Michael Swickard? He ran a VERY conservative talk show for years in Cruces (not exactly PVA material), and he just said some really nice things about McCamley. You may not like him, but it seams you are in the minority.
And you missed my point regarding Estrada. You talk about his “life experiences”; all of which involve him working for big corporations. Do you know what the job of the PRC is? It’s to regulate corporations, and they have been doing a bad job of it lately (see massive Blue Cross/Blue Shield increases). Letting a lobbyist (please note the “government affairs” job he had at Intel) like that in to the PRC is like letting the fox in the hen house.
Say what you want about McCamley, but the one thing he isn’t is afraid of those people. And that is exactly what we need on the PRC right now.
Rorschach1492, you are missing my main point by talking about a candidate I like vs one I don’t. Those of us involved in 2008 saw the real politician at work, like at our Democrat’s state convention. We were turned off and lasting damage was done. Although there are PVA people commenting here who like McCamley’s politics, there are lots of Democrats like me that don’t. People figure it out quickly when you talk to groups of people only when you want something out of them. Commentaries like this that say “oh, let’s work together” fall short because past actions and current associations speak louder than words.
but thank you for sending us that link about Estrada cause now I know he’s even more qualified. Good person from a good family who gives a lot back to Las Cruces. So what if he left NM for a while and got some life experiences? He’s back and willing to give. More than people like your candidate who doesn’t think he’s important unless he’s on the ballot. What about Bill Richardson who was never from here but came here from Mexico by way of Boston just to get elected? We got used and look what that got us. That’s real pandering.
Hey Bill – nice column. I think the important part is we can disagree without rancor. While I am neither Republican or Democrat, I do feel you would be a good PRC representative for our area.
Several years ago when I had the radio talk show four hours a day, five days a week from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. you were a regular guest (as a county commissioner) and I found you to be “a stand-up” person in that you spoke in policy and thought for the long haul. We had some differences but even when we did disagree, which was not often, I could see your point. It was a reasoned approach to the question: what is the legitimate role of government in a free society?
Go to all the meeting and just talk policy. For the record I have not ever been to a progressive nor a tea party event. Maybe one of these days.
Cruces Vaquero,
You have got to be kidding. You may not like McCamley for some reason, but don’t go spouting a bunch of garbage about how Estrada is “one of us”. The guy left Las Cruces years ago, working as a corporate lobbyist and Washington bureaucrat. Just look at his biography: http://www.manufacturing.gov/das.asp. He only moved back here because he was out of a job and couldn’t get in with the new administration in DC.
You want to talk about pandering. At least McCamley’s been here.
I have always admired your approach to politics, Bill. Good work.
Bill, i’m glad that you’re finally growing up and realizing that Democrats here in town have always known how to get along and work together with Republicans and every shade of politics in between. This isn’t anything new for Las Cruces or throughout New Mexico for that matter.
For at least the last 5 years of your politics, you turned off a lot of Democrats like me with the way you treated us when you were on the commission. Then you weren’t exactly genuine when you asked us to support you in your run for congress. So now you’re trying to lecture people now about “working together?” Seems to me the reason for this article is because you’re trying to rebuild your political career since I think you’re now figuring out that rank and file Democrats here in Las Cruces and Dona Ana County aren’t buying into your PRC race. The TEA Partiers aren’t going to vote for you not just because your politics are way left of them. Just like many Democrats they know when they are being pandered to.
There’s a lot of Democrats here in town that know that regardless of some differences, we are probably more welcome at TEA party meetings than at PVA meetings. So that’s why many of us are backing Mr. Estrada because beyond politics, he’s one of us.
Kudos to you for being open-minded and willing to listen to your potential constituents. I have no problem with the tea partiers who are expressing their desire for policies such as responsive government, lower spending, or constitutional rights. When I have problems with them is when they say one thing (limited government interference) but then support the Arizona racial-profiling law. Or when they don’t understand the issues that they are protesting (keep your government hands off my Medicare). Or most especially, when they express hate and lies toward the President of our country (which is their right) but then get upset when their hate gets a lot of attention in the media.
Which leads me to my second point about your article. I believe much of the friction in our country is a direct result of the media’s need to have a “sensational” story every single day about some ridiculous thing somebody in politics says or does…and their laziness in letting two political enemies just go at each other on TV without even trying to require a little bit of fact-checking in the he-said, she-said talking heads segments. We as media consumers need to tell them we want substantive news stories about polices and issues….not just tabloid-type reporting intended to get ratings, but leaving every watcher a little dumber than they were before.
Bill,
Nice piece except for one thing– even a pro-nuke guy like yourself must be amazed at the idealogical inconsistency of tea party “limited government” activists being for socialized nuclear. Nuclear energy is the MOST government dependent energy of them all, just look at all the massive government underwriting, loan guarantees, credits, grants and government giveaways to the nuclear industry in the Kerry Lieberman bill. If they believe in “less government” and free market forces than this position is just incoherent.