The short answer is Democrats and the Californication of the state
Policies that Democrats champion or engender have foreseeably lead to the state’s problems. The worst of the Democrats double down with doctrinaire, draconian and what should be embarrassingly revealing responses to problems in their state. Democrat New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s current attempt to “suspend the constitution” is a prime example.
A matter related to the ascendancy of Democrat policies is deterioration in religion which used to hold in check some of the worst proclivities of Democrats. Orthodox religion has lost the fight for now to social justice apostasy, offering no defense from Democrats or libertarianism. The result is people like Lujan Grisham, a big-government control-freak extremist. Not liberal in the classic sense, just a big-government control-freak extremist.
Readers are no doubt aware that Lujan Grisham, optically a stand-in for Katie Couric but without the sweetness and light, has imposed to no avail (other than her feeling good or something and a smattering of applause from California transplants in Taos) a ban on open or concealed gun carry in Albuquerque and surrounding Bernalillo county to fight criminals Lujan Grisham offhandedly admits won’t abide by her brilliance (no doubt welcome it) as they go about their business. Observers have pointed out that the increase in shootings in the state are largely gang related (here and here), the gang phenomenon symptomatic of social pathologies Democrats engender.
Her edict was such an egregious patently unconstitutional flail at the Second Amendment that members of her own party, positioned to enforce the edict, quickly lined up to publicly announce they will not do so. That key list of chagrined Democrat office holders included her own New Mexico Attorney General, and the Sheriff of Bernallio county and I believe the Albuquerque police chief. Democrat members of the state legislature also called the edict unconstitutional and Republican members of the legislature have called for her impeachment. Earlier today a weak-hitter federal judge issued a temporary stay of the edict.
It appears that Lujan-Grisham, one of if not the most draconian governors regarding COVID 19 edicts, who went beyond Biden to destroy the economy there, has no political capital. Besides seeing her as an ignoramus, stupidly putting their stock in jeopardy, her otherwise partisan hack friends are perhaps tired of her Karen ways.
Her supposed solution to gun violence in the state is at best the triumph of “do something even if it is wrong”. Of course that essentially describes Democrat policies, indeed it is a feature. More prudent Democrats there would simply slow the ratcheting away of constitutional rights if for no other reason than survival — in particular in the face of a culture elsewhere in the state where guns are not considered the enemy, bad people are.
Lujan Grisham acted more than stupidly, it was a political blunder exposing the sort Democrats put in office. Unconstitutional, dictatorial, outrageous overreach and completely true to type and therefore dangerous to the cause of political survival. She is a Democrat dangerous to Democrats.
Now Albuquerque has just about every disease a dominant city in a Democrat state has as relates to crime: it “contributes” indeed drives the state having the second highest violent crime rate in U.S. — one of two states with rates more than double the average for the rest of the country. Other states in the top ten are grouped more incrementally.
As to that issue one would think New Mexico would have an equally high incarceration standing among the states in order to deal with crime – but no — it is 23rd lowest on that score.
New Mexico now has to be one of the worst states to raise kids with a high poverty rate and an educational outlook dead last (51st) among the 50 states and the District of Columbia. That’s right, its education problems are even worse than DC — notoriously bad over the years but which has a lot of exclusive schools to prop up its ratings.*
Albuquerque is a mess and like other Democrat states as its largest city it dominates the rest of the state politically, insuring “solutions” are Democrat policies which of course exacerbate social sequelae. But the whole state is a Democrat mess. The entire federal delegation – Democrat. The state legislature – overwhelmingly Democrat in both houses, not one statewide office holder and the governor an ubber-liberal idiot from a politically prominent family.
Lujan-Grisham has a law degree from the U of NM where they let her through or perhaps developed her belief that she can suspend the constitution of the state and the United States. She is the fruit of a Democrat educational system at work.
The state could definitely use some old-time religion.
*Yours truly was born in Albuquerque and spent some formative years especially in Carlsbad, attending parochial schools. Two brothers graduated from UNM on scholarship (speech/communication and NROTC). The state and people still have many enchantments and we wish them all well.
How did the land of disenfranchisement miss the trend of other interior western states to be Republican?