I want to thank each and every one of those that helped our Taos County Party bring in the President Donald J. Trump / J.D. Vance victory last night, what an amazing red wave!
Taos patriots worked hard to register voters, support and keep the headquarters open and available to the many, many people seeking information, signs, bumper stickers and like-minded people to speak with. The headquarters was open three days a week, 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm.
Thank you to the people that gave their time to organize and work the Patriot Picnic in September and the Sharon Clahchischilliage Meet & Greet in October.
Thank you, precinct chairs for calling voters to encourage them to go out and vote.
Election Day! Thank you to the people that trained as Poll Challengers, Poll Workers and the Absentee Ballot Board. These people dedicated many hours at the polls to help maintain election integrity.
And to you, the Taos County Republican Voters, THANK YOU, you are awesome!
But we are not done yet! It is the vision of RPTC to turn Taos County RED, solid RED!
We can do it if we all pull together and put our talents and time to work. There is room for you, come join us and give us a little of your time. We can Make Taos Great!
Four days post-hysterectomy feels a lot like four days postpartum without a teeny baby to squish and cuddle. But after carrying seven children to term, in addition to two early miscarriages, I wasn’t sad to have to say goodbye to the most trash-talked of all body parts. I’m sure my husband and children will be relieved to know that I am now scientifically incapable (circa 1879) of becoming hysterical. I joke, but I don’t think it’s a secret that medical science, outdated or modern, is not exactly kind to women. We’re slow to be believed and slower to be treated. When I first fell ill as a teenager, I was asked by every doctor I saw whether I had just been dumped by a boy. Institutions don’t care about women, or children, either, for that matter. I will go on to prove that below in ways the faint of heart may prefer to ignore. Might makes right, and it’s a man’s world that we live in, though I am profoundly grateful for the many dangerously good men who protect the fragile world that women birth and nurture. Throughout my life, I have become a strong advocate for women and children. I hope my ability to hold an opinion wasn’t removed alongside my uterus, because I really am far from done.
Though I am a true anarchical feminist in the vein of Susan B. Anthony or Alice Paul, I have little in common with today’s American feminist movement. My idea of a feminist task left undone would be increasing severity in the sentencing of sexual crimes. The revolving door that allows parasitical predators to repeatedly prey on women and children was built by men (and is maintained by men) who may not be willing to fully acknowledge the depth of damage caused by rape and molestation. We need women’s voices echoing loudly in these matters. Modern feminists tout “reproductive choice” as the biggest issue facing our gender. What they do not wish to acknowledge is that the heroic women responsible (though I doubt they’d want to take credit) for today’s women’s movement were unapologetically pro-life. When Anthony wrote about abortion, she referred to it as child murder and infanticide. She identified its root in women’s oppression and argued that abortion victimized women and absolved men of all responsibility. Democrat and Civil Rights Leader Fannie Lou Hamer insisted that “legal abortion is legal murder.” Early feminists saw themselves as the voices of the voiceless whose primary mission was to protect and uplift the weak. Imagine telling them that the only ladder climbable for women is made from the bloody bodies of their unborn children.
Before the passage of Roe v. Wade, the idea of abortion was largely abhorrent, especially past the first trimester. Pro-choice groups were working tirelessly to change the culture in anticipation of nationally legalized abortion, and Catholics especially were at the forefront of fighting back. In 1973, Justice Harry Blackmun authored the majority opinion in Roe v. Wade, which he argued was rooted in the 14th Amendment’s right to privacy. The research cited by Blackmun came solely from the pro-abortion group NARAL which was co-founded by Bernard Nathanson. A leading abortionist, Nathanson performed over 60,000 abortions, including one that ended the life of his own child. He initially sought to change American minds in favor of the pro-choice movement. However, in the 1980s, Nathanson experienced a profound conversion to Christianity and became a prominent pro-life advocate. He continued this work until his death in 2011. He narrated The Silent Scream, released in 1984, which shows a twelve-week-old fetus being killed via a suction abortion. Despite a decline in abortion rates over the past decade, undoubtedly attributable to sonogram technology and the work of people like Nathanson, approximately one million babies are still aborted in the United States every year, making it one of the leading causes of death.
The pro-choice lobby insists that it is indeed pro-choice and not pro-abortion, that it exists to provide women with the options they deem best for themselves. I have always been suspicious of this claim considering how many women and girls have, historically, been ripped from their offspring against their will. In the not-so-distant past, unmarried pregnant women were regularly sent away to hide a pregnancy, birth, and subsequent adoption to protect the reputation of the family or families involved. This practice was rooted in social and moral norms rather than legal mandates. The secrecy and shame associated with unwed pregnancy have been widely documented, and many women felt compelled to keep their situations hidden due to fear of judgment. It is not only my contention but the research-based claim of pro-life advocates that legalized abortion is the quick fix to what was in the past seen as a 40-week-long problem. According to a study published by the National Library of Medicine, 61% of respondents reported feeling pressured into having abortions. This number would likely be higher, but a significant number of respondents found themselves emotionally unable to complete the survey. Independent studies suggest coercion at a number above 70%. Former abortionist Steve Hammond shares heart-wrenching stories of women protesting once the abortion has commenced, underscoring the irreversible nature of the procedure once the cervix has been dilated and metal tools passed into the uterus.
The misconception that abortion is offered as a loving choice granted to free women is debunked by examining Planned Parenthood in a historical context. Planned Parenthood is the largest producer of abortions in the U.S. Planned Parenthood’s founding documents lack a commitment to medical ethics, protecting the vulnerable, or safeguarding women’s well-being. Instead, they align with the goal of population control, echoing their founder Margaret Sanger’s eugenic aspirations. Sanger explicitly expressed her desire to “exterminate the negro population.” Although she did not advocate for abortion, which was not legal in her lifetime, Sanger paid African American ministers to promote a low birth rate among their parishioners. Presently, African American women are three times more likely to undergo abortions than other racial groups, and abortion stands as the primary cause of death in African American communities.
Most hesitant pro-choicers identify this way because of two exceptions: rape and incest. They would take almost any step possible to avoid adding to a victim’s pain. This is certainly the way I feel. While pregnancy due to rape and incest are estimated to count for less than 2% of all abortions, these women’s stories are important to the overall discussion. According to a study published by the National Library of Medicine in 2018, “Common ground exists regarding the very basic fact that at least some women do have significant mental health issues that are caused, triggered, aggravated, or complicated by their abortion experience.” While we may never reach a consensus about just how prevalent post-abortion trauma is, it seems common sense to conclude that layering one trauma upon another isn’t conducive to health. One cannot erase the trauma of rape by pretending it didn’t happen or by hurrying a woman through the healing process. While most victims of rape do not become pregnant as a result, those who do are said to have a life-long reminder of their trauma should they choose to keep and raise the child. Most victims of rape will assure you they have a life-long reminder regardless, but women who choose to parent their child have a life-long reason to heal. For those who feel that raising the child is not something they want to do, there are far more potential adoptive parents with their arms outstretched to a newborn baby than there are babies aborted each year. If we, as a society, are going to sentence anyone to death in this scenario, shouldn’t it be the rapist?
In addition to legitimate doubts over whether exceptions for rape and incest are needed, there are even more reasons to reject separate laws for these outlier cases. While she was still in school, Lila Rose (a now leading advocate for life) read a book by Mark Crutcher called Lime 5: Exploited by Choice. Lime 5 is an adults-only compilation of public records info gathered by Life Dynamics, Inc., an organization founded to provide litigation support to malpractice attorneys who were suing on behalf of women who had been killed, injured, or sexually assaulted during an abortion. The accounts in Lime 5 range from the tragic to the unimaginable: women whose uteruses and bowels are perforated by abortionists who then go on to perform ten abortions that same day, women who are lied to about how far they are in their pregnancies in order to talk them into dangerous late-term procedures, fetal limbs left inside their mothers, women and underage girls left bleeding to death while clinic staff hesitates to call an ambulance, women who are overdosed with anesthesia without an anesthesiologist available at the clinic, clinics in which no staff has current CPR training, reused bloody equipment, filthy conditions…and yes, women and girls raped while incapacitated on the table. When Lila Rose read these horror stories, she decided to go undercover in LA to determine whether the same atrocities were happening in her city. Posing as a 14- or 15-year-old girl with a much older boyfriend, she entered various clinics to ask if she was a candidate for an abortion. Not only was she offered services, told to lie about her age, her boyfriend’s age, etc., but she was also assured that no one would be filing a report or triggering an investigation into the clear case of statutory rape she presented to the clinic workers. As Lila continued to research the abortion industry in her area, she spoke with an LAPD detective in charge of sex crimes against minors who told her he’d never once in his decades-long career received a call from an abortion clinic.
One of the four core abortion lies exposed by Nathanson after his conversion was that abortion is a medical issue best left to medical professionals, not a moral issue best left to thinkers. Of course, moral thinkers had already seen through this lie. Medicine heals, or at least it attempts to; real doctors do no harm. Abortion is the intentional murder of a child with a beating heart. The method of destruction is often dismemberment. The child is in many cases fully pain-capable, but no anesthetics are used. Lethal injection is another method used to end the life of a fetus, a method many consider cruel and unusual punishment when suggested for death row inmates. Though social media comments lead me to believe that the left’s propaganda is almost airtight, convincing the masses that late-term abortion happens rarely to never and partial-birth abortion is an urban myth, it is a researchable fact that we are so sold out to abortion in American that viable babies who survive abortion procedures are being born alive and then drowned, the backs of their necks are being slit, or they’re being left to die alone without any aid or comfort. Former abortionist Anthony Levatino describes abortion in this way (trigger warning, to say the least):
The first task is remove the laminaria that had earlier been placed in the cervix to dilate it sufficiently to allow the procedure you are about to perform. With that accomplished, direct your attention to the surgical instruments arranged on a small table to your right. The first instrument you reach for is a 14-French suction catheter. It is clear plastic and about nine inches long. It has a bore through the center approximately ¾ of an inch in diameter. Picture yourself introducing this catheter through the cervix and instructing the circulating nurse to turn on the suction machine which is connected through clear plastic tubing to the catheter. What you will see is a pale yellow fluid the looks a lot like urine coming through the catheter into a glass bottle on the suction machine. This is the amniotic fluid that surrounded the baby to protect her. With suction complete, look for your Sopher clamp. This instrument is about thirteen inches long and made of stainless steel. At the business end are located jaws about 2 ½ inches long and about ¾ on an inch wide with rows of sharp ridges or teeth. This instrument is for grasping and crushing tissue. When it gets hold of something, it does not let go. A second trimester D&E abortion is a blind procedure. The baby can be in any orientation or position inside the uterus. Picture yourself reaching in with the Sopher clamp and grasping anything you can. At twenty-four weeks gestation, the uterus is thin and soft so be careful not to perforate or puncture the walls. Once you have grasped something inside, squeeze on the clamp to set the jaws and pull hard – really hard. You feel something let go and out pops a fully formed leg about six inches long. Reach in again and grasp whatever you can. Set the jaw and pull really hard once again and out pops an arm about the same length. Reach in again and again with that clamp and tear out the spine, intestines, heart and lungs. The toughest part of a D&E abortion is extracting the baby’s head. The head of a baby that age is about the size of a large plum and is now free floating inside the uterine cavity. You can be pretty sure you have hold of it if the Sopher clamp is spread about as far as your fingers will allow. You will know you have it right when you crush down on the clamp and see white gelatinous material coming through the cervix. That was the baby’s brains. You can then extract the skull pieces. Many times a little face will come out and stare back at you. Congratulations! You have just successfully performed a second trimester Suction D&E abortion. You just affirmed her right to choose.
We like to think of ourselves as advanced here in the U.S. Perhaps that’s why we are one of only seven countries in the world that allow elective abortions after twenty weeks. 75% of all world nations, including twenty-seven EU countries, do not permit abortions past twelve weeks. Only three of forty-two European countries permit abortions past fifteen weeks. Loose or absent abortion laws are most common in countries where abortion is forced upon women.
The disingenuous claim that abortion removes leechlike clumps of cells and not genetically unique human beings has been handled by modern science. Perhaps some still choose to believe this lie, though that’s hard to imagine with the technology we possess today. In a survey of 5,000 biologists, majority liberal and non-religious, 95% answered the question of life’s beginning with “the moment of conception.” Zygote, blastocyst, embryo, fetus, infant, toddler, child, adolescent, adult are all terms used to describe stages in human development. While inside his mother’s body, a preborn baby is cared for by the body of his mother. After birth, he will continue to require constant care to sustain his life, and this need will continue throughout his early years. Pro-life advocates believe that people should possess full control over their own bodies. We simply do not believe that this bodily autonomy extends to the bodies of others.
Perhaps the biggest abortion lie both propagated by Nathanson and later dispelled by him is that legal abortion saves women’s lives. From the beginning of the pro-choice movement, the pro-life crowd has been consistently accused of saving babies only, mothers be damned. According to Nathanson, maternal mortality statistics from illegal abortions are roughly on par with the statistics post legal abortion. In other words, not only are no abortions safe for women, legalizing them didn’t make them safer. Nathanson admitted that he and other early pro-choice advocates pulled maternal mortality numbers out of the air and began repeating them widely. Those numbers are still quoted today, but they were never based in fact. Because states are not mandated to report abortion, we do not even have solid numbers on maternal mortality due to abortion. Thanks to the careful record keeping of other developed countries, however, we know that a woman is three times more likely to die having an abortion than she is giving birth.
Dr. Anthony Levatino, whose graphic testimony I included in this article, no longer performs abortions. In 2015, he explained before Congress that abortions are not necessary to save the life of a mother. Having worked at Albany Medical Center for over seven years at that time, he told of his personal experience treating hundreds of high-risk mothers. He argued that while conditions requiring immediate care may (and do) arise in the late second or third trimester, abortion is usually not a viable treatment option due to the time-intensive nature of cervical preparation for procedures like Suction D&E. He illustrated his point with a real-life case of a mother with severe preeclampsia at 28 weeks gestation. To save the mother, he was forced to terminate her pregnancy through an emergency Cesarean section. This case ended well for both mother and child as he was able to save them both. To this day, Dr. Levatino acknowledges that the baby cannot always be saved when delivered early, but that the intentional killing of the child is never required, or even useful, in saving the mother’s life.
The latest tactic of the left is to convince voters that pro-life advocates are willing to endanger the life of the mother to end abortion. While abortion is a broad term that is medically applied to everything from miscarriage (spontaneous abortion) to elective abortion (induced abortion without medical cause), not a single pro-life law impedes necessary medical care for mothers. Contrary to misinformation, the newest statutes in question explicitly permit medical professionals to exercise reasonable judgment in life-threatening emergencies, aligning with ACOG guidance. In situations such as miscarriage management, ectopic pregnancy treatment, and treatment of medical conditions qualifying as life-threatening, abortion is permitted under pro-life laws as these laws do not obstruct standard medical care. Pro-life voices in no way advocate for a woman to be forced to choose her baby’s life over her own. We simply advocate for compassionate care and fetal respect, emphasizing that even when induced abortion is legal for maternal safety, efforts should be made to deliver the fetus intact and alive.
Most of the prominent voices in the pro-life movement today are men and women who have come out of the abortion industry. The pro-life movement is a place of solace, firmly rooted in the principles of repentance and forgiveness. We believe that more babies will be saved by those who know the pain and guilt of abortion than by those who can only imagine it.
My experience with abortion is not personal, though the issue is personal to me. I was a politically engaged high schooler when Bill Clinton vetoed a ban on partial-birth abortion, and I read every abortion-related news piece from that point on. I trained as a midwife the year after graduation, and it was during that time that I watched the recording of a suction abortion. Shortly after passing the NARM exam, I found myself back at home, holding the tiny body of my baby sister as I nursed my mother through a heartbreaking miscarriage. She was less than ten weeks gestation, but every part of her was human, both in reality and in appearance, and fully identifiable down to her tiny fingers and toes.
Abortion does not exist to help women; it exists to silence them. It does not exist to empower women; it exists to convince them they are weak. It is a tool used by traffickers, pimps, pedophiles, rapists, married men with mistresses, men looking to avoid child support, racists, and misogynists. It is a heartless industry of outpatient procedures whose “medical professionals” wash their hands of both the physical and psychological aftermath of their work. It is the same war on women that has always existed. Sadly, now, women have joined the fight against themselves. It is time to end this war and reclaim the culture ahead of the laws. It is time for pro-life women to reclaim feminism for the good of others — to reposition our hearts, and when necessary our bodies, as protectors of vulnerable children.
Sarah Hawkes Valente is a married mother of seven, an author, and an advocate for women and children — born and unborn. She is the chairwoman of the Republican Party of Taos County.
I haven’t known what to say over the past several days regarding the horrors in Israel. As a Torah Observant Christian, Israel is especially important to me and my family. It’s the land of my King and the Land given by God to His Chosen People. This is true if you believe the Bible is the Word of God, which is not a requirement for Americans, Republican or otherwise, but is certainly true for me personally. I believe that the Land (significantly larger than the borders of current-day Israel) has belonged to the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob since God first made the promise to Abraham, though they have obviously not always been in possession of it.
Now, the government in charge of Israel today is manmade, not God-ordained, as is true of every other country on Earth. That is not to say that God doesn’t have a hand in setting up and taking down leaders, and I have personally always had a soft spot for Bibi. Whether Israeli Intelligence ignored Egyptian Intelligence and could have largely prevented these atrocities is far, far above my pay grade. I will continue to pay attention to the information as it becomes available, but it will not change the fact that civilians, including women and children, have been brutalized and murdered by a barbaric group who have no morals and to whom mercy is viewed as weakness. Anyone who has been persuaded to believe that Israel is the aggressor has willfully chosen to ignore the fact that Israelis and Palestinians coexist within Jerusalem and throughout Israel. When Israel sends rockets into the West Bank as retaliation against less sophisticated attacks (peace through strength), they are known to first drop papers warning civilians to leave the targeted areas. Pikuach nefesh is the principle in Jewish law that the preservation of human life overrides virtually every other law.
The IDF, like our American Military, is strong. Both, however, are not what they used to be. Both of our younger generations have been largely spared the horrors of war faced by older generations. Peace is a beautiful thing. Sadly, peace does not produce a strong people but rather a people who would sacrifice much, morally speaking, to maintain the comforts granted by it. I believe that all Americans should have their eyes and prayers focused on Israel right now, but my reason hits much closer to home than simply my love of Israel. While many of the Hamas terrorists paraglided in to carry out their attacks, men who are potentially just as dangerous to our own women and children are walking across our borders and being bussed into our interior daily.
It is not wrong to want peace with all mankind, it is simply naive to believe it is always possible. I spent some time on Instagram today, and I had to shake my head at all of the LGBTQ support for Palestine and hatred for Israel. Some naivete is too stunning to fathom, and it is a virus spreading throughout our youngest generations.
What weakened or distracted Israeli intelligence so badly that this was allowed to happen? What will be the catalyst when it happens here? When I say Make America Great Again, it is not because I believe we’re deserving of something others are not. It’s because I believe that our strength is important to our peace AND to the peace of the rest of the world. This does not mean war, but rather avoiding it as Trump did for his four years in office. We have to put our own oxygen masks (not COVID masks!) on first so that we can be useful to others.
Sarah Valente, RPTC Chairwoman
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: ‘May those who love you be secure. May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels.’ For the sake of my brothers and friends, I will say, ‘Peace be within you.’ For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your prosperity.” Psalm 122: 7-9
Facing severe political backlash over her original decision, MLG reduced the size of her gun ban. Which public spaces remain “gun-free” under the altered ban? Oh, that would be public parks in areas where violent crime is a problem. That makes sense because this whole thing is about protecting the kids.
Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up. NEW MEXICANS, STOP VOTING FOR THESE PEOPLE!
You can take your kids to play where the gangs play, just leave your guns at home.
Last month, Albuquerque’s mayor Keller asked Grisham to call a special session on gun violence, but Grisham responded that her edict would accomplish more than could be achieved through legislation.
Yesterday, (October 11th) U.S. District Judge David Urias (a Biden appointee) upheld MLG’s unconstitutional edict.
In case anyone is paying attention, the world is still insane.
Original post below:
“Gun violence is a public health issue, poverty is a public health issue, environmental consequences from energy is [sic] a public health issue, all of these disenfranchised populations, all of the equity barriers, are all public health issues. And when we address those, our economy is better, our families are stronger, our risks are fewer.”
The above is a direct quote from MLG last Friday to the dean of Maryland-based Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. As one of the nation’s leading abortion enthusiasts, she then added, “Women’s reproductive rights are a significant public health issue, not the least of which is giving families and women the tools they need to do effective family planning.”
At first read, it may appear that New Mexico’s governor has taken some word salad-making lessons from our nation’s VP, but she’s actually saying quite a lot here. In my recent article for the New Mexico Sun, I addressed the tyrannical way in which the constitutional and ongoing referendum project has been dismissed and belittled by the governor and her SOS. In that very important test case, the soap box Grisham and Toulouse-Oliver are standing on is also labeled “Public Health,” or, more broadly, “Public Peace, Health and Safety.” In other words, “We know what’s good for you. You’re not allowed to disagree with our expertise, our science, or any decision passed down from our Ministry of Truth.”
As a middle-aged woman, I’ve been grown for a while. It’s been a long time since someone has had the right to tell me what to do outside of the law of the land. As a student of the US Constitution, and, more recently, the New Mexico Constitution, I am well aware that the smoke-blowing, heart-string-pulling language from our nation’s most left-leaning governors is an attempt to grab power that simply does not exist within the law. Though it is evident that MLG’s most recent, and most incredible, gun grab will not be allowed to stand, the fact that she would consider it is, and will remain, worth discussing, repeating, and publishing in history books as a warning to all future dictators.
Don’t tread on us. We’re not dead yet.
Because Democrats do not believe in letting tragedy go to waste, Grisham insists that New Mexico’s gun violence is forcing her to strip law-abiding New Mexicans’ of their right to defend themselves in public. When asked if she believed that criminals would obey her edict, she barely bat an eyelash before replying in the negative. Criminals do not obey the law, let alone edicts. That’s what makes them criminals. This is why we have the God-given right to self-defense in the first place. Of course, the primary enemy our founding fathers left us armed to defend against is an overreaching, tyrannical government.
It takes an iron stomach and strength of conviction to understand that human depravity cannot be solved by tightening the leash. Scripture says that sin exists because the law exists. From the moment mankind was given a direct command, the possibility of breaking that command came into being. That’s what people do who are in possession of both freedom and selfishness–they sin (some more than others). Still, the Creator, the only one with a right to tyrannical rule, found freedom a precious enough thing to allow us to keep it. When we as humans begin to take freedoms from each other, rebellion and revolution are inevitable. This is not to say that we should live in a libertarian’s dream or that there should not be consequences for sin (imposed by God) or for law-breaking (imposed by government). On the contrary, there are plenty of things our government could be doing to protect and uplift its innocent while either sentencing or healing its guilty. We could dramatically increase the minimum sentencing requirements for first-time violent offenders, close the border, reduce regulations and create jobs, reopen mental institutions, fund rehabilitation centers and addiction-related research, and, most importantly, put God back on the throne so that our children find hope again. What we cannot do, what will never work, is expect the wolves to obey the shepherd. We’re told that banning the murder of the unborn will force pregnant women to become desperate criminals. Still, somehow, banning the right to self-defense will compel the depraved to comply. I’m not sure how else to say this, but wishing doesn’t make it so.
The three precious children whose deaths the governor is using as a shield for her tyranny might be alive today without the invention of the firearm. This isn’t something one can know for sure, but it’s certainly probable. One would, however, be hard-pressed to prove that any one of these deaths could have been prevented through stricter gun laws. I will argue that to even suggest such a thing is an exercise in ignorance of the human condition.
I fully agree with Sheriff Medina who said at an Albuquerque Police Department’s news conference regarding the death of an 11-year-old boy, “The simple fact that you would get cut off and fire 17 rounds at a car that you don’t know who is in, is just completely unacceptable. Individuals who have that mindset have no other place in this community but jail.” I would argue that the death penalty is more appropriate here than the suggestion of “jail”; still, I agree with the sentiment. It must be clear to any thinking person that the kind of individual who would use their weapon in this manner is not the kind of person who obeys edicts to disarm.
Article V, Section IV of the New Mexico Constitution outlines the very succinct powers of the governor. In addition to being the commander in chief of the state’s military forces, the governor’s job is simple: to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. Laws require the legislature, not simply the opinion and pen of the executive.
As a woman, I am particularly incensed by the implication that I do not have the right to defend myself or to equal the playing field in the way guns do. Guns are not the reason for the increased violence in our society. Guns have been hanging over doorways and within the reach of children since the founding of this country and before. The mere existence of guns is not the reason that hopeless children are taking their lives and the lives of others. Accidental gun deaths may be reduced dramatically by increased education, but criminal gun deaths will only be reduced by healing the souls of the broken and keeping violent offenders behind bars.
Sarah Valente is the chairwoman of the Republican Party of Taos County
My earliest political memory is still vivid. It was 1988, so I was nine. Reagan was president, and I was already a proud Republican (though after Reagan that pride would often wane). I, the daughter of a preacher and the granddaughter of a newspaperman, had invited my best friend over for a sleepover. She was the daughter of a lawyer. Somehow those facts seem relevant to the story. The memory I recall often is of two scrawny kids sprawled out on an unfolded sleeper sofa gazing up at a glass-front TV. We had straws in our hands and bits of torn paper surrounded us. Two men were featured on the screen. One of them received our full devotion, the other a veritable onslaught of spitballs to the face. Looking back, perhaps both men should have taken a splattering. It was, of course, a Bush versus Dukakis debate.
Though I’ve loved politics from infancy, I never imagined being involved in it in even the smallest of ways. My job was to vote always, to speak boldly (in one-on-one conversation), and to write honestly. It’s the same job I’ve had in my spiritual life though I don’t get a vote with God. And that’s what I’ve done for my entire adult life. In fact, this was supposed to be my year to throw myself back into writing (about politics, specifically) and finish the book I’ve been researching since 2019. All of that began to change just before the 2022 election when I decided that Ronchetti would be a dream compared to MLG and that I needed to do something, anything, more than vote and continue to preach to the choir. I was surprised to find a small Republican headquarters in Taos, and I tracked down the people in charge (aka Sadie Boyer and company). They were happy to put me to work, and after setting up a few Ronchetti campaign signs I worked election day in Taos as a poll challenger. I worked alongside two lovely Democrat challengers, one in the morning and another later in the day. I don’t mean that facetiously. They were both kind to me. We chatted amiably as we observed the crowd. One of them noted how surprising it was that we were getting along so well. She mentioned that things would likely be different if we addressed the elephant in the room. I laughed to myself that I hadn’t seen many elephants but had seen my share of jackasses that day. Things between us soured a bit when toward the end of the day she was downright disrespectful to two Taos police officers who had come inside as the result of a disturbance. She included me in her anger as she videoed the men. “We are challengers, and you’re not allowed to be here. It’s voter intimidation,” she said in her best incensed church lady voice. I did ask her politely how police were intimidating voters simply by existing. She thought for a moment before responding, “Well, if someone had an outstanding warrant they might be afraid to come inside.”
I came away from my conversations with Democrats on election day with the knowledge that the Democrat Party is organized and mobilized in Taos. They don’t simply exist organically in large numbers; their base is being actively built and maintained.
I came away from my conversations with Democrats on election day with the knowledge that the Democrat Party is organized and mobilized in Taos. They don’t simply exist organically in large numbers; their base is being actively built and maintained. In 2022 they had enough volunteers to fill two or three poll challenger shifts at every major polling place while we only had enough to cover the very busiest locations. And they had been registering people to vote “like crazy” in the weeks preceding the election (often using the UPS Store as the registrant’s address). There are thousands of them, and there are (fewer, but still) thousands of us. We could and can be the army that they are.
Angry, inspired, sad, discouraged, I again called Sadie and asked her what more I could do. It was only a month or so before she said she’d like to see me run for chair (which simply meant “volunteer” since no one else wanted the position). I laughed because, frankly, me as chair of anything was and still is a ridiculous idea. I’m not trained for this. I didn’t go to school for this. I definitely don’t have the time or the resources for this. But here I am, for the next two years, and I’m going to give it my all. Just four months into the job and it’s easy to see how discouragement could set in. It feels like I’m preaching over and over again to the same ten people who still have a little fight left in them. We’re always on the verge of broke, and we’re only not because we’ve been funding it ourselves. I’ve sent about 500 texts just so far this week, and I haven’t received many responses. Well, I have been thoroughly cursed out several times, but I’m not counting those. To those of you who have responded, thank you, thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
My question to all of you going forward is this: am I wasting my valuable time? No, I’m not asking if you think Taos County or even New Mexico is flippable. The fact is it’s only winnable if enough of you decide to fight. It’s wholly unwinnable if you don’t. And to answer your question: yes. I absolutely believe in fraud and ballot harvesting. I choose to remember 2016 and believe that a truly energized base can outvote even a well-laid plan.
Taos County is small enough to make your voice big (YUGE) and you have even more swaying power in your precincts than you do in the county as a whole. To those of you who love this country but are tired and drained of hope, let me appeal to that spark, that instinct that still calls you to rage, rage against the dying of the light: Are we going to die fighting, or are we going to just die? If we lie down, death is inevitable. If we fight, we just might win.
Stop being so doggone embarrassed to be a Republican.
What can you do to fight? First of all, stop being so doggone embarrassed to be a Republican (or just a non-Democrat). What on Earth are you ashamed of? It isn’t your party that voted almost unanimously to allow minors more access to abortion and transgender drugs/surgeries without consent, or to allow felons to vote immediately upon release, or to “fix” our elections by passing a 178-page bill… Nope. Your party voted almost unanimously against those things. So slap that bumper sticker on your car and wear your political clothes. Own it! The lack of pride is demoralizing to your fellow Republicans.
Use the tools we’re putting out to persuade your persuadable friends.
Use the tools we’re putting out to persuade your persuadable friends. Speak at your churches, or ask if they’ll let me speak. There are so many amazing people in our county who are generationally attached to the Democrat label but are (or would be if they knew) repulsed by progressive policies. Talk to them. Use the printables at the bottom of this letter as the tracts you need to politically evangelize your neighbors.
We have an immediate need for donations of money and time.
We have an immediate need for donations of money and time. Some of you have a little money but your time is rare and precious. For others, it’s the opposite. A few of you can give both. We need bakers to provide goodies for the upcoming dessert auction. We need people to join the Facebook groups for their precinct and get to work inviting their neighbors. We need people to host precinct parties. We need people to dial their way through the voter rolls for their precinct to update the contact information. We need people to run for local offices. WE NEED PEOPLE TO SIGN/COLLECT SIGNATURES FOR REFERENDUMS. Soon, we’ll need door knockers and more. It’s not too early to start planning for election day. Who will you be calling to make sure they’re informed about the issues (after making sure you are informed)? Who will you be picking up and driving to the polls? It’s a numbers game, ultimately, and an excited base grows faster than a depressed one.
What small thing will you sacrifice now to put a stop to the sacrifice of freedom?
Would you like to have a voice AND a vote in what is happening in Taos County’s Republican Party? ALL precinct chairs are voting members of RPTC’s Central Committee.
What is a precinct chair?
A precinct chair is someone who is willing to lead and organize the Republicans in their precinct. The job is simple, though it can be accomplished in a variety of creative ways.
The voter rolls are outdated and need to be updated. Through phone banking, texting, and social media, we can quickly update phone numbers and mailing addresses precinct by precinct. As the chair, you may take this project on personally or recruit a small group of registered Republicans from your precinct to help you. The existing voter roll for your precinct will be given to you directly. It will be your job to ensure it is kept confidential and that the information is used only for GOP business. We need to raise money! Money given to the Republican Party at large does not filter down to the counties. Everything accomplished in Taos County is funded by local Republicans. No one is being paid, but we’re paying out of pocket to fund this mission. We need your help gathering both large and small donations.
As the county chair, I’m regularly producing new content for distribution. Finding a group of people in each precinct who are willing to distribute flyers and stuff envelopes is important. At times, it will also be important to knock on doors. We need a group of brave Republicans who have received the necessary training and are ready to get the job done.
“It’s time for a few things to happen,” said incoming Chairwoman Sarah Valente. “First of all, we need to find each other. There are Republicans in Taos County, many more than are involved or even voting. A few of them probably don’t want to get involved, but I believe that more simply don’t know how. We need to get organized and serious about growing our base and speaking out about what we believe. Being a Republican in Taos County means being pro-innocent life, pro-2nd amendment, pro-America, pro-business, and pro-personal freedom. We’re a big-tent party, for sure, but our messaging is lacking. If we’re going to reverse the tide that has for years eroded the foundation of our faith and freedom seemingly unimpeded, we need to raise our voices (as well as the funds needed to make that happen). It’s certainly not time to become discouraged or to stay home because things haven’t gone our way. It’s time for far more involvement, not less.”
— Sarah Valente, Chairwomen, Republican Party of Taos County.
