If you care for our public land, vote for Clinton
New Mexico’s sportsmen should be at the forefront in renouncing Trump’s anti-conservation rhetoric
I’m a God-loving, red-blooded, gun-toting, camo-wearing sportsman. I devoutly pledge allegiance to the Republic. For the majority of my life I was a Republican. This November, I’m voting for Hillary Clinton.
My political shift over the past few years is not something that I take lightly. In fact, it was one of the hardest transitions of my adult life. Growing up, I was always proud to be a Republican. I was proud that I came from the party of Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. I was proud that a core part of my party’s platform was conservation, progressive reform, and social justice.
My family had deep ties not only to the Republican Party, but also to New Mexico. My blue-collar parents were of the “Greatest Generation.” My father and his Seventh Army’s 45th Infantry liberated the concentration camps at Dachau and Buchenwald. My mother witnessed the bread lines in Chicago. She and her parents fed the homeless at her doorstep daily for years. They saw the world and humanity at its worst and finest.
My hard-working parents emulated the meaning of “conservative.” They had few precious resources to work with, and yet they were very efficient with how they used what they had. They instilled that value in me, and I was honored to carry the Republican flag.
But that party I knew and loved is nowhere to be found these days. It has — by and large — been hijacked by opportunists, radical ideologues, hucksters, narcissists and special interest shills masquerading as “conservatives.”
Today, we have someone (eagerly supported by party leadership) running for president who condones sexual assault of women and shamelessly objectifies them, disparages people of color and culture, and champions religious segregation. If this isn’t enough to turn your stomach, he recently proclaimed at a rally held in Yellowstone Park, “The truth, my friends, is that the environment is a socialist plot to destroy capitalism. The whole thing is a hoax. It’s garbage.”
Trump wants to run roughshod over our public land and eviscerate our bedrock conservation water and wildlife laws. If you love to hunt and fish, you know damn well that quality habitat and clean water are fundamental to thriving game and fish populations.
Trumps’ anti-conservation platform would be detrimental to New Mexico. Here in the Land of Enchantment, our great outdoors are both our cultural identity and our bread and butter. People come from near and far to hike our mountains, paddle our rivers, and hunt and fish on our public lands. And it is our shared natural heritage that provides the best backcountry for big game and the cleanest water for the most vibrant fisheries.
I want to pass down New Mexico’s outdoor tradition to my 10-year-old daughter. Some of our best times have been spent out in the great outdoors. It is there that we have made memories and dreamed about her future. And the future I see for her is one where she has a role-model she can look up to, and dream about being the second woman president.
It was watching my daughter grow this year that made me realize that I’m voting for someone who believes in her future. Hillary Clinton’s conservation platform ensures access for sportsmen and protects our public lands. It grows our investment in renewable energy, and it preserves our natural heritage for future generations to enjoy.
Clinton is a smart, tenacious, courageous, nononsense, battle-tested scrapper with a formidable resume and unprecedented lifetime spent in the trenches of government and civil service. She has, for 30 years and despite seemingly insurmountable odds, fought and clawed her way up the maledominated civil servant ladder and therefore is unquestionably the most qualified civil servant we have ever seen rise to the presumptive candidacy — regardless of party — for president.
Theodore Roosevelt said, “The credit belongs to the person who is actually in the arena, who face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming: who does actually strive to do deeds...” I can think of no other living elected official that embodies these qualities more than Clinton.
So this November, I’m voting for Hillary Clinton. I’m voting for the one candidate who understands what’s important to the nation, and especially to sportsmen and women and how to conserve our backcountry traditions. I hope you will join me.