I found this viewpoint ( link below) by the Santa Fe New Mexican very interesting. As I have stated a big challenge for the GOP candidates for Governor is name recognition. On the day Rebecca Dow announced she would run for Governor I did my ‘unofficial in-person polling’ the next day and could not find one person who knew who she was, not a large sample size, but I was surprised. Representative Dow has been outstanding in our legislature. As my Pastor friend Paul Holt told me, “Its all about being a celebrity these days.” Yes, name recognition is a huge deal .I think it also has to do with being from rural New Mexico. Many think the state begins and ends in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Can someone from rural New Mexico win the Governors seat? I am really tired of rural New Mexico being ignored. The Santa fe New Mexican quotes Dow:
Dow told The New Mexican: “I want it to be a message of hope. I really am not running to trash the governor. It’s just time for change.”
That’s up to voters, of course. But at least they will have choices, and that’s how a minority party can remain alive.
Dow off and running; the primary gets interesting
So far Dow is the best bet for the GOP.
Today at 2am the Santa Fe New Mexican reported that the efforts of the New Mexico GOP to hold an Extraordinary Session had failed. BUT! It looks like the Supreme Court is the next step to hold the Governor accountable. I am very concerned about the power grab of many Governors and Mayors and of course the Feds during COVID and now into the future. Trillions of dollars have been spent…….for what? To pay people not to work? To see businesses struggle to be at a full staff? To teach people you do not have to work for a living? This is all messed up. The new America pays people to stay home? It seems that everyday now the Feds throw money at something! Trump spent tons of play money and Biden is spending more. It is all fake money. The federal deficit will hit $3 trillion in 2021 for the second consecutive year, primarily because of the national spending blitz in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the Congressional Budget Office said Thursday, July 1st. America is broke and spiritually broke… we have drowned in red ink, but this new America acts like a drunken sailor. The Feds spend money like there is not tomorrow. The Governor of New Mexico acts like a Queen. The moral compass is at the bottom of the ocean. I am thankful that the New Mexico GOP is trying to hold the Governor accountable. If not them, who?
GOP effort to convene New Mexico Legislature for extraordinary session fails
This news release from the NM GOP came in late last night, before the Santa Fe New Mexican report:
Republican Leaders ask AG for opinion on MLG billion-dollar money-grab
Santa Fe, NM – As of 4:00 pm this afternoon, the effort to convene the New Mexico State Legislature in an Extraordinary Special Session has drawn bipartisan support, including unanimous support from both the House and Senate Republican Caucuses. However, we are disappointed that a vast majority of Democrats in the House and Senate, who control both chambers of the Legislature, have chosen to silently stand by and let the Governor usurp the legislative branch’s “power of the purse.” This inaction by majority Democrats will set precedence to transfer the Legislature’s constitutional authority to spend unallocated federal dollars to current and future governors, of any political party, and negates past efforts by bipartisan lawmakers who have fought to preserve this fundamental responsibility of the Legislature.
Last week, Legislative Council Service provided each lawmaker with a copy of a petition to convene an Extraordinary Special Session, and has been collecting the signed copies for the past several days.
In response to this troubling decision by majority Democrats to acquiesce to the Governor’s dubious claim she has sole authority to spend federal dollars, Republican Leadership from both the House and Senate have requested the New Mexico Attorney General to provide a legal opinion regarding the constitutionality of the Governor spending federal dollars in the state treasury without a legislative appropriation. In the letter, Republican Leaders appeal to the Attorney General stating, “We strongly believe legislators have a sworn duty to uphold the Legislature’s inherent constitutional powers, and every action possible should be taken to preserve or exert the institution’s authority to appropriate public money.”
There are 24 House Republican members and 15 Republican Senators and in order to convene an extraordinary special session the petition needs three-fifths support from each chamber or 42 House members and 25 Senators. A copy of the joint Republican Leadership letter to the Attorney General is attached.
As America has drowned in red ink….As this new America keeps going…..I have been saying for years and years we have been in a Spiritual Drought! A falling away from JESSUS! COVID was the tipping point to much of our downfall.
Pastor Posts:
From Dr. Jim Denison:Kelly Kullberg, editor and co-author of the bestseller Finding God at Harvard, responded: “The Left is attempting to redefine the gospel, using biblical words but not their accurate meanings. If we, as individuals, no longer admit our sin, we no longer turn to Jesus. And he is our actual hope. And biblical truth yields great love for people and great progress for cultures.”Kullberg is exactly right. The paradoxical truth is that we will not turn to Jesus as our “actual hope” unless we recognize that we need what he alone can provide. As we noted yesterday, to fear and revere the Lord is to recognize that he is the true King and Judge of the universe and to admit that we need his forgiveness, grace, and peace.
TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES – Today, Rebecca Dow launched her campaign to unseat current Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham in a video that praises the character and grit of the people of New Mexico while contrasting the state’s failed leadership and government policies.
Dow’s launch video addresses some “hard truths” including New Mexico being ranked last in the nation in education and child welfare and ranked highest in unemployment. “These are the consequences of bad government,” she says, using as an example Lujan Grisham breaking her own lockdown rules, wasting taxpayer money on lavish things for herself and settling her sexual harassment suit for over $60,000.
This bad governance contrasted with Dow’s job-creating, people-centric career as a businesswoman, child and family advocate and state lawmaker leads to an obvious conclusion for Dow: “Our kids deserve better. That’s why I’m running for Governor,” she says.
In her video, Dow aligns herself and her values with the true character of the people of the state, as opposed to the Governor’s radical agenda. “We are New Mexicans,” she says. “When there’s work to be done, we do it. When there are problems to solve, we solve them.”
“As a state, we have never experienced more dire conditions than we are currently struggling through right now,” said Dow in a further statement. “Our children are going uneducated and unequipped for further schooling or jobs at best, and they are literally dying at worst. I refuse to get one more call that a child died from neglect and poor conditions. I will not let one more business suffer under draconian shutdown measures. I refuse to let power hungry career politicians like our Governor keep dragging us down to the bottom of every list. I know the people of New Mexico, and I know they deserve much better than this, so I’m stepping up to lead us, for the first time in a long time, in the right direction. It’s time for change”
Watch Dow’s full campaign launch video here.
About Rebecca Dow
Dow has represented District 38 in the New Mexico House since 2017. During that time, she has passionately defended New Mexico jobs, fought to stop the overregulation of industries like energy and mining that provide so much of the state’s income, and successfully challenged powerful opponents of basic, inalienable rights, like the Right to Life and the Second Amendment.
Along with co-owning a technology firm, Dow provides consultation services to for-profit and community-based early childhood providers operating in the Rocky Mountain region. As the founder of one of Sierra County’s largest employers, AppleTree Educational Center, Dow worked hard to create more job opportunities for New Mexicans, opposing job-killing regulations and policies while promoting free market solutions.
To help push back on the far left’s radical agenda, Dow built a coalition dubbed the “Save Our Western Way of Life” PAC. This group is comprised of law enforcement, ag producers, outfitters and guides, and hard-working New Mexicans to support pro-liberty candidates for office.
Dow has been a statewide leader calling for a restoration of integrity at all levels of New Mexico’s government. She has opposed the Governor’s endless shutdowns and punitive consequences for citizens who disobeyed her orders. Dow believes that the Land of Enchantment is disenchanted with shutdown orders, social restrictions, and petty politics. Dow is committed to ending shutdowns, to restoring civil liberties, to reopening businesses and the economy, and putting the responsibility of providing high quality education in the hands of New Mexico educators.
Because of her extensive background in both business and childhood education, Dow has been appointed to serve on various economic commissions, councils, and task forces for both Democrat and Republican Governors. She is recognized as a state and national expert on faith-based and early childhood education, called upon to advise and speak to numerous groups around the country. She is the founding member of the New Mexico Early Childhood Alliance and the Early Childhood Caucus, and she founded various educational, recreational and behavioral health services including a private K-12 school and homeschool co-op to fill unmet needs in her community. She is also the founding chair of the Sierra County Juvenile Justice Advisory Council, a member of the New Federation of Independent Businesses, and a member of the Truth or Consequences Rotary Club.
Dow holds an associate degree in Early Childhood from Tulsa Community College and a bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Oral Roberts University. She is married to Aaron Dow and they have two children, Jaylah and Seth. Rebecca and Aaron live in Truth or Consequences.
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The following letter to The Editor of the El Defensor Chieftain out of Socorro, New Mexico makes clear the challenges the community of Socorro is facing. I am posting this because it not only takes a look at Socorro, but many of the problems facing Socorro, are the same all over rural America, like declining population. Trying to keep staffing up in positions like law enforcement….extreme poverty, hunger, (Joann Young of the Reserve Food Bank tells me they have never been so busy) child well-being, crime, drug addiction, losing young people to the bigger cities. I was just reading that Las Cruces, New Mexico, one of our bigger cities here in New Mexico, is suffering from a shortage of police as is Albuquerque. This is a huge problem all over America as the progressive movement destroys our law enforcement. Who would want to be a police officer in America? I asked a young officer here in Albuquerque that very question awhile back and he said, “Sir, it is because I want to serve.” That made me choke up with tears…..It’s like being a Pastor, It has to be a calling!
The other point I want make is that a mistake made by many here in New Mexico is that they think the state begins and ends in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Thankfully we have more than a few very strong legislators in rural New Mexico who stand up against that nonsense. The Governor does not focus much at all the problems facing rural New Mexico, she is all tied up in pot being the savior of our state. Huge mistake! What about the suffering of our farmers and ranchers during the extreme drought? If you have heard anything from the Governor on the suffering of our farmers and ranchers let me know!!!! A whole new batch of problems are going to come about because of legalized pot! MARK MY WORD!
I have traveled through Socorro so many times in the last 9 years serving as a circuit preacher at FBC in Reserve. I am impressed with the ‘clean up’ of the town in the last couple of years. The community is served by State Representative Gail Armstrong, she is such a strong advocate for the area!
I have to add in the last month or so Reserve, New Mexico has 3 new businesses, a brand new wonderful hotel, a huge flea market, and a new restaurant! Love it! There are sparks of new life in Reserve! It takes people coming together and working toward the same goal of building up their communities. Amen!
Letter to the Editor: Population decrease Story by El Defensor Chieftain
THE GREATEST PROBLEM AMERICA FACES:
Is humanism the same as today’s progressive movement?Jul 7, 2021 |
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From the writings of the Rev. Billy GrahamQ: I struggle with living in the Christian world and still being part of the whole world. Is humanism the same as today’s progressive movement? — P.H.A: Humanism is the worship of man. It has taken on the form of religion; glorifying self and taking God out of His rightful place. This has always been prevalent in the world and is called by many different names.A London magazine carried a story that said, “No more subtle enemy has ever faced the Christian church than this one which dethrones her God and replaces Him with His [creation].” Young people today may not know who Julian Huxley was, but he said that if humanism is to acquire a wider appeal, it must become a religion.And so it has. Humanism has become for many a polite name for a vocal and aggressive movement against God’s truth to advance its own brand of social influence. Humanism is not new; it emerged in the Garden of Eden. It is the yielding to Satan’s first temptation of Adam and Eve. He told them they could be gods (see Genesis 3:5).
Mankind continually rejects the revelation of the Bible concerning the true and living God, substituting gods of its own making. Many intellectuals have come to believe that the human mind can understand everything eventually. This is nothing but total rebellion towards God and Satan is behind it all. The underlying principle of all the devil’s tactics is deception. The Bible warns, “The devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him” (1 Peter 5:8-9). The Lord will help us stand strong in the face of deception if we will stay in the Word of God and pray that He will give us discerning minds. The important thing for all of Christ’s followers is to live “in Christ” as the Bible teaches. ======== (This column is based on the words and writings of the late Rev. Billy Graham.) ©2021 Billy Graham Literary Trust. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. (c)2021 BILLY GRAHAM DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC. |