Estes Park and Politics

[John Meissner]

On Tuesday, February 27, I went to Denver to attend the Nikki Haley rally.  Estes Park used to host Republican presidential candidates for weeks at a time, now we have to travel to Denver to get even a glimpse of a contender.  It seems unlikely the eventual Republican nominee (something of a pariah, thanks to his behavior and a partisan Colorado Secretary of State) will step foot in Colorado before or after November 5, while our current President and presumptive nominee's campaign time is best spent in actual battleground states elsewhere.  

Colorado's primary is this Tuesday, March 5, and there is no excuse not to return a primary ballot if you are a registered voter.  It costs you nothing (just drop your completed ballot in a local drop box), keeps you active on the voter registration rolls, and while the Democratic and Republican nominees are essentially a foregone conclusion, the only message you are sending by not voting is that you are lazy.  We already knew our democracy was not much of a participatory sport among the disaffected three election cycles back.

Where you can send a message, if you are a registered Democrat, is whether you approve of President Biden's continued funding of the Israel-Hamas conflict (one hesitates to call it a war, since the carnage, like the precipitating event, is so one-sided).  Where you can send a message, if you are a registered Republican, is whether you agree with Colorado's attempt to remove an accused but not yet and perhaps never-convicted candidate from the ballot.  Where you can send a message, if you are an independent and received both ballots, is by choosing which candidate out of the 15 or so listed comes closest to mirroring your beliefs on deficit spending, immigration, abortion, foreign policy, global warming, housing costs, and the future of our country as a beacon of freedom.  

As candidate Haley noted to a packed airplane hangar full of raucous supporters of the democratic process, by the time the general election rolls around, you are reduced to picking between two candidates, whether you like them or not.  Come November, the president is chosen by the voters.  But during the primary season, your voice determines the actual candidates.  You have the power.  This Tuesday, your votes, not the parties, not the press, not the pundits, determine who moves on to the final round.   

John Meissner

Estes Park