Diary of a Mad Voter: Heath Haussamen

Newly Elected Officials Need Us To Stay Involved

By Heath Haussamen, 12-31-08

It began with U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici’s retirement, and it ended with President-elect Barack Obama nominating Gov. Bill Richardson to be commerce secretary. In all, 2008 led to turnover in New Mexico politics on an almost unfathomable level.

As a result, New Mexico is greener, both in the political and experience senses of the word. It was a year of great opportunity for politicos who wanted to rise in the ranks, and many did. Of course, in this left-leaning year, most of the newbies are Democrats.

Also leaving office are Republican U.S. Reps. Heather Wilson and Steve Pearce and a number of state lawmakers, including Senate Minority Whip Leonard Lee Rawson and House Minority Whip Dan Foley. Republicans lost a lot in state and federal government this year. Conservative Democrats also lost several seats in the state Legislature.

The progressive charge won the 2008 election for Obama and so many others. It appears the crippled economy will have to serve as the check on that power, because there aren’t enough Republicans on the state or federal level to do much of anything to counter the Democratic tidal wave.

So forward we go, in one of the more uncertain times in our nation’s history. Two wars. A crippled economy. An auto industry on the verge of collapse. Need I go on?
Voters have chosen progressives to clean up the messes left by the Bush Administration, and said Obama should lead that effort. Here’s to hoping he and all our other newly elected officials are up to the task. It’s a critical moment -- one our grandchildren will read about in the history books -- and these politicians have been entrusted with the task of leading us through these times to a better America.

One thing I know is that they can’t do it alone. Obama’s potential is not in his policy ideas or his intelligence -- it’s in his ability to get people who have not historically been involved in their government to hope, to believe they can change the world, and to inspire them to get involved.

That must continue. Conservatives and liberals and everyone in between must stay involved. Government left to itself becomes corrupt, regardless of who is in office. We all must hold these new leaders accountable. We, regardless of who we voted for, must be part of the change our government needs, or it won’t come.
What I know: Gridlock is not an option. Washington and Santa Fe must function. Our government must set aside partisan bickering. It must reject the influence of special-interest money. We need real solutions to the very real and pressing problems our society faces in the 21st Century.

I’ve already written that I believe change is coming because Americans are standing up and demanding it. I believe -- at least, I have hope -- that people are going to stay involved. There doesn’t seem to me to be any other option. We have allowed so many problems to stack up that government simply won’t be able to fix our problems without our involvement.

In this new year that’s about to arrive, we must all rededicate ourselves to staying involved.

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