From Mexico City to Los Angeles: My Perspective on the Drug War

Huffington Post - Drug policy reform appears to be sweeping Latin America. The regional movement headed by Guatemalan president Otto Pérez Molina, Colombia's Juan Manuel Santos and most recently Uruguay's José Alberto Mujica has sprouted from an inability to quell the growing violence, corruption and economic instability that results from the illegal drug trade. So why has Mexico -- a country that has lost more than 60,000 people to the drug war -- lagged behind? Although President Felipe Calderon has stated that Mexico must seek market solutions to the drug problem, he has refused to be associated with the liberalization movement for one main reason: Calderon considers himself to be the regional leader in this matter and to pursue legalization would mean to admit that his war strategy was never the most adequate approach. I used to be like Calderon, patriotic and hardheaded, but after leaving Mexico City to go to college in California I am no longer the latter. Living in the U.S. has made me realize how far Mexicans are from winning the drug war. We can continue to fight the cartels but we will never be able to beat Uncle Sam's insatiable 23 million drug consumers. The government cannot simply outsmart an army of undergrads who at least once a week smoke a joint or snort a line of coke, maybe both. In the meantime, we are killing ourselves down south. Is holding on to a taboo worth this unbearable cost? Read More NMP

Chief Justice Robert's Folly

National Review - In today’s deeply disappointing decision on Obamacare, a majority of the Supreme Court actually got the Constitution mostly right. The Commerce Clause — the part of the Constitution that grants Congress the authority to regulate commerce among the states — does not authorize the federal government to force Americans to buy health insurance. The Court, by a 5–4 margin, refused to join all the august legal experts who insisted that of course it granted that authorization, that only yahoos and Republican partisans could possibly doubt it. It then pretended that this requirement is constitutional anyway, because it is merely an application of the taxing authority. Rarely has the maxim that the power to tax is the power to destroy been so apt, a portion of liberty being the direct object in this case. What the Court has done is not so much to declare the mandate constitutional as to declare that it is not a mandate at all, any more than the mortgage-interest deduction in the tax code is a mandate to buy a house. Congress would almost surely have been within its constitutional powers to tax the uninsured more than the insured. Very few people doubt that it could, for example, create a tax credit for the purchase of insurance, which would have precisely that effect. But Obamacare, as written, does more than that. The law repeatedly speaks in terms of a “requirement” to buy insurance, it says that individuals “shall” buy it, and it levies a “penalty” on those who refuse. As the conservative dissent points out, these are the hallmarks of a “regulatory penalty, not a tax.” Read More NMP

Obama's Privilege of Executive Hypocrisy

Candidate Obama clearly states 'the American people deserve to know what was going on there' when referring to the Bush administrations controversial use of executive privilege. Does he not remember these words or is it too inconvenient for him at this time allow the American people to know the truth behind his covert, illegal Fast & Furious program administered by his 'justice' Department. Attorney General Eric Holder is in clear contempt of Congress and asked the administration to cover his derriere. As Fox News Legal and Constitutional Contributor Judge Andrew Napolitano states, 'This is not an acceptable subject for executive privilege, as it only applies to communications to and from the President himself; and only about military, diplomatic, and sensitive national security issues.' The American people have no appetite for lies nor do they suffer hypocrites, Mr. President this is your moment to prove yourself otherwise.  

Union Violence Exposed

Wow, that was brutal. New Mexico workers deserve Right-to-Work legislation. I want to thank State Representative Candy Spence Ezzell for sponsoring Right-to-Work legislation in the 2011 regular session of the New Mexico Legislature. I encourage candidates running for legislative office to review and support this legislation that will protect workers and foster a better economic environment for all New Mexicans. Please contact your congressional representatives and ask them to support the Freedom from Union Violence Act. Fear has no room at our places of employment. 

Ron Paul Message to Supporters

Two weeks ago I was elected as an alternate delegate from New Mexico's Second Congressional District to the Republican National Convention in Tampa Bay, Florida. While I was not part of the Romney approved slate of candidates, the Conservative Unity slate added me to their full slate of consistent conservative, liberty minded candidates here in New Mexico. Our Conservative Unity slate was successful in electing a strong contingency to send to Tampa. These are young, principled activists that are taking up the cause of liberty here in New Mexico. I am currently working with other activists, leaders, and a new generation of Republicans in establishing the Republican Liberty Caucus of New Mexico. While we've lost one battle, the cause of liberty has just began. As Ron Paul stated, 'the real war is the war of ideas', we must continue to promote consistent conservative ideas, the rest will follow. 

Resurgence of Ideas

Aaron Henry Diaz

Las Cruces - In the fall of 2005 I was a college freshman far from the landscape and inner workings of 'la politica' in my native New Mexico. Although I was 1,549 miles away from home my honest intrigue in policy and elections kept my political 'umbilical cord' tethered to the Land of Enchantment. I decided to take part in the latest internet phenomena, 'blogging',  to offer my young (perhaps naive) commentary on politics, current events, and any other happening that caught my fancy. I can state without a doubt my decision to write in the public forum was the best decision I ever made. Life has been busy for me since 2010 and the New Mexico Politico lacked content because of time, energy, and the fact that I was living in Texas, immersed in Texas politics and policy that kept me from following New Mexico politics to the degree needed for this site. In late 2010 I decided it was time for me to return to New Mexico, I immediately found myself once again in the political trenches as an operative and subsequent candidate for city council in my hometown. While my bid for office was unsuccessful, the experience I earned proved to be invaluable to me. While I can't serve my neighbors and peers in public office right now, I will continue to serve by providing insight, analysis, commentary and ideas to my contemporaries hoping that someone at the very minimum listens with an open mind, I promise I try to do the same. The divisive nature in modern politics is ever increasing because policy has taken a backseat to an era of personalities not ideas. Personalities don't listen and neither do their followers; both Democrats and Republicans are guilty of this. It is time we have a resurgence of ideas, a new era where leaders appeal to the best of people not the worst. My involvement with News New Mexico and re-commitment to the New Mexico Politico is to promote a dialogue that current policy, political, and media leaders refuse to partake in. I refuse to shout to be heard but with consistency and a genuine enthusiasm to see my friends, family, neighbors, countrymen succeed perhaps we can influence a new era of leadership and ideas. Battles are won with weapons but wars are won with the stroke of a pen, my proverbial inkwell is ready, thanks for reading.