Unless you have been fortunate enough to be out in the wilderness for the last nine months, I am sure that you are aware that election season is upon us.
Actually, I think that election season has just gone on since the year 2000. Since that time the polarity and political fighting has gotten worse. You can hear politics brought up on everything and at any time. Any subject seems to trigger it. You can hear people talking in stores, on street corners, in restaurants, pretty much everywhere. If you use social media, nothing is immune to the same thing. The moderators on a few history-related sites I visit are kept busy deleting comments that bring up current political stuff on posts as diverse as the weather in 1888 to Southwest cowboys going off with Teddy Roosevelt to fight the Spanish-American War.
This has gotten ridiculous. Why have politics erupted into such a divisive force in our everyday lives? I believe that there are two main reasons. The first is that we have a political system that is rigged so that for the most part, there are only two viable options in any election: Republican or Democrat. On the face of it, this seems ridiculous because voters registered as independent outnumber voters registered with either party. While for quite a while this worked for us. People who ran for office were quite willing to work with those on the other side of the aisle to find workable solutions to issues important to all the people. Over the last two decades that has turned into an us versus them battle. Compromise has become a dirty word in politics.
The second reason is that because of the way our elections are scheduled, the political season just goes on and on. When people in office are not campaigning, they are raising money to continue to campaign.
In other democratic systems, there are multiple parties, the campaign season is very short and political donations are minimized. We could take steps to help turn down the heat by getting the Citizens United decision overturned and by voting “yes” on Colorado Proposition 131, ranked choice voting.
We can take some steps here locally to help turn down the heat in our politics and help bridge some of the divides among us. One of the easiest things to do is to take voting seriously. Quit voting straight party. Take the time to learn about the candidates and vote your conscience. Democrats are not a bunch of socialists who hate America, nor do the majority of Republicans want to take away the rights of other Americans. The minority on either side are on the extremes are just the loudest. Look at the individual candidates. How long have they been here? What are their positions on things that affect you the most? Are they discussing issues or are they just attacking their opponents? If you can’t find any details, just vague generalities, that candidate does not deserve your vote.
The other thing I believe we need to do is to elect our county commissioners by the people in the district they represent. Because the urban population now far outnumbers the rural population, the current system pretty much ensures that people in the rural areas do not feel that they are truly represented.
So I am just asking that you give a good look to each candidate. Look for the things that are important to you and think how their policy ideas will affect your neighbors as well. We need to end the fighting.
Scott Perez is a Durango area-based former working cowboy, guide and occasional actor. He has a master’s in Natural Resource Management from Cornell University.
