In contrast to the spare language of our nation's Constitution stand the volumes of blather crammed into those of most states. New Mexico's charter has been the bane of governors, legislators, judges and our state's citizens, loaded as it is with amendments dreamed up by legislators — too many of them approved by voters at nearly every election.
The state messes, to a great degree, are by design: America's founding fathers left most decisionmaking to the states. And wish though we might that state constitutions could be as sleek as the one beginning "We, the People," local and statewide pressures prompted lawmakers to forsake mere statutes when it came to many policy statements, carving them instead in constitutional granite, con permiso from the voting public.
During four decades since the last constitutional convention, whose efforts were rejected by the Legislature, the need for a new one has become increasingly apparent. In 1995, a constitutional-revision commission began ... Read more >>
Editorial: Coal use comes with hazards
To the list of environmental threats facing modern America, add coal ash. Seen largely as a necessary evil turned good by industrial recycling, the leftovers of coal-burning steam generators gained greater villain status on Christmas Eve 2008, when t ... Read more >>
Editorial: Will ethics beef prompt reforms by the city?
Give the Lone Ranger of the City Council credit for signing onto a concerned citizen's ethics charges against the councilor currently in charge of Santa Fe's government — whether or not those charges will get any results.
District 3's Miguel Chá ... Read more >>
Editorial: Iraq occupation and costs are far from over ...
The biggest regret of all his presidency, George W. Bush told a TV interviewer during his waning months in office, "has to have been the intelligence failure in Iraq." A lot of people put their reputations on the line, he noted, when they said "the w ... Read more >>
Editorial: Monday's phone threats were against justice
It was a jarring reminder of what it takes to be a judge: Honesty/integrity, knowledge of the law, a keen analytical mind, fairness, compassion, a long attention span, a sense of when to assert oneself — and courage.
On Monday afternoon, someone ... Read more >>
Editorial: Small business hostage to fat-cat greed?
Senate Republicans talk a good ballgame when small business is the sport — and well they should: Our nation's small-businesspeople embody the free-enterprise spirit of America — and they're the real generators of jobs; they employ two out of every th ... Read more >>
Editorial: Crosses crosswise in Utah; OK here
Our state's roadside descansos are safe — for now, anyway: That was the word last week from Attorney General Gary King, who's sat in on a federal appellate-court case involving crosses along public roads in another state, and we'd guess that most New ... Read more >>
Letters to the editor
More than money involved in health care provision
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Los Alamos Medical Care Clinic understands the anguish that Christus St. Vincent is feeling in its decision to not renew their Lovelace Health plan contract. We made the same decision several years ago. Most of the other primary care providers in Los ... Read more>>
My view. Reader Op-eds
THE REV. GARY KOWALSKI
Laboring for workers' justice
PATTI ROGOFF
'Investors' getting raw deal from Blue Cross Blue Shield
CAROLE DARR
Balloon bomb story revives terrifying take on history
STANLEY ROSEBUD ROSEN
Stand up for unions — America's proudest export
LAURENCE SHANDLER AND JOANNE M. RAY
Doctors concerned about children, families, race for governor
KATHRYN C. SHERLOCK AND LYDIA PENDLEY
Tax credits help working families; make them permanent
SYLVIA SIMS
The Obamas personify the audacity of excess
RONALD BOYD
Wind from right wing is fanning anti-Moslem flames
NANCY LINDELL
Individuals, too, can do much for ill-treated pets
JIM MCCULLOUGH
State needs to measure process, as well as outcome
JOSEPH L. MOURE
Economic, financial illiteracy is rampant in America
SOFÍA ENCINIAS MARTÍNEZ
Wagon Mound fights for its rights, rural traditions
