It’s been over two decades since my family and I moved from a once embattled swing state where candidates and voters had to consistently live up to its Show Me attitude. My family moved to a small town in Northern Arizona, where most of the charm if you grew up low-income came from the blistering summer heat and how it turned the beautiful Colorado River into a perfect place to swim, temperature and all. We moved here when I was young, but I do vividly recall the election and how people treated one another at that time. It was during the lead up to the 2004 Presidential Primaries, a time not that long before the seemingly rapid metamorphosis of the GOP in the party of That Guy.
For whatever reason at a young age I noticed politics, I noticed it all around, day in and day out. I suppose that isn’t why I was never truly shocked by the demise and hijacking of the party of Lincoln by a want-to-be dictator and self-centered narcissistic cheat. That’s due to the unfortunate lived experience I endured watching decent people quickly fall into the pit full of Palin Kool-Aid in 2008. Witnessing public school teachers be targeted for simply thinking that President Obama was in fact born in the United States, intelligent and loving parents and friends go down the tin-hatted doomsday prepping rabbit holes that were all too popular in Obama’s first term, and the utter disregard of human life and respect when SB1070 passed by so called Christians.
I remember just chalking it up to the consistent 120+ degree days during the summer, or the prevailing alcohol, drug, and gambling problems that the area has persistently had. I used to think that I was just naturally immune to the heat of those raging summers melting my political and social moral compass. In reality, I think I could just sniff through the bull crap the city and county was covered in. However, I suppose that must be why Gosar, the once most extreme GOP member of the Arizona delegation to congress carpetbagged to the area in 2012.
Democrats for most my life were never in a position to put Arizona on the map, at least not until recently and thanks to the countless hours of countless staff, volunteer, and diehard activists lives. Hell, I bet most people under 30 in Mohave County may not know that Arizona has a statewide Democratic party. Much like I hadn’t until life took me to cooler and bluer pastures in Coconino County. The two counties couldn’t be more different, one has prevented the complete erosion in trust and preservation of an engaging civil society, while the other has gotten lost in the self-fueled and perpetuated culture wars fueled by far-right echo chambers.
While I have met many well-intended people that have tried to write some of these wrongs and meet people in Mohave County where they are at to help change the narratives and work to restore a foundation of civil society, the resources have never been accessible in the way or level that they are needed to combat the fear based division that is so hard to overcome. I truly do hope that Quacy Smith is able to pull off a stunning underdog win in November against the embodiment of what is inept leadership and representation, Paul Gosar. If you can chip in a bit to help his campaign make an impact in an area that is politically motivated by fear and in need of a little stability and sanity, consider sending him a donation here.
However, what I am both most afraid of what might happen, but yet optimistic and hopeful will not occur, is the fall of civil society in the rest of Northern Arizona, primarily in it’s Second Congressional District, now represented by extremist and do nothing freshman congressman Eli Crane. The freshmen Bannonite moron has only been doing a good job if his sole intention for his job is to make do nothing Gosar look like a functioning member of Congress and society. In his short tenure he has managed to do little to no governing, often taking the lead from former-want-to-be-furor in chief. From denying to even consider applying pressure on his own party to approve a likely once in a decade border security deal, or quite frankly much of anything at all, to not even performing the most basic duties of a congressional representative, like keeping the government funded and working for the taxpayers and not acting like a child and throwing a fit in ousting former speaker McCarthy for doing the bare minimum of his respective job.
We do have hope though. Hope that this November we will be able to send Eli Crane and his carpetbagging self back to the couch where he can yell at Bannon’s propaganda shows. Hope that history will be made, and barriers broken for thousands of Arizona’s children across the state. Hope provided to working families and our seniors in that our next delegation will go to DC to work for them, and not against them.
That is the hope I see and hear from people when they talk about Jonathan Nez and his run against this out of touch extremist. A candidate and former elected leader that has personally overcame a struggle with an alcohol addiction, who has worked with both sides of the aisle, and will provide both a historic breaking of a barrier for Arizona and a refreshing return to functional representation in contrast to destructive governing we have all witnessed with this current congress.
This is the chance we all have to do the part that we can to insure that Arizona’s Second Congressional District never begins to feel indistinguishable from how the hell hole I grew up in feels today.
Please join me in choosing sanity, democracy, hope, and leadership in donating to his race.
Jonathan Nez Website Here: www.jonathannezforaz.com
Jonathan Nez for Congress Donation Link Here: www.actblue.com