A defense of governor's pandemic actions

If you didn’t know that more than 203,000 virus cases have been reported in the state and that over 4,200 New Mexicans have died, you would likely get the impression from Sen. Pirtle that COVID-19 itself played an almost unnoticeable part in the economic hardships that have befallen many New Mexicans over the last 16 months. Rather, he lays the fault for the tragedy entirely at the feet of the governor.

If it were not for what he terms her “unscientific” and “draconian” public health emergency orders, New Mexico’s economy would have apparently been just fine. Also noticeably ignored is that the New Mexico Supreme Court twice unanimously upheld the governor’s use of emergency powers under state statute in the cases of Lujan Grisham v. Reeb (opinion dated Nov. 5) and Lujan Grisham v. Romero (opinion dated Feb. 15).

Pirtle cites no data about what in fact the economic impact has been. He expresses no real sympathy for the horrible, human tragedy of the pandemic. There is only one oblique, statistical reference to deaths per capita. He doesn’t appear interested in what happened to real people during this crisis — only numbers and dollar signs.

Moreover, his economic focus, though total, is shallow. He only complains how businesses’ profits were hampered by restrictions, never examining the impact on working people and those who depend on them or the future economic loss from the deaths of New Mexico workers. Rather than offering something useful for us to take away from all this so we can be better prepared to face a similar crisis in the future, Pirtle is intent only on casting a mountain of blame upon the governor and the Democrats.

In the 21st-century, post-reality world in which we live, the papers, airwaves and internet are flooded with lies, misleading information and disinformation from foreign and domestic sources. As this My View reveals, partisan propaganda machines are already gearing up for the November 2022 elections. How will New Mexican voters be able to judge what they see, hear and read? How will they be able to make intelligent choices at the ballot box?

The First Amendment protection of free speech has been stretched beyond all recognition. It is sad and perversely ironic that, fashioned by the framers of the Constitution to prevent the government from silencing the people, it is now used to permit the monied elite to drown out the people’s voices. Worse, the right to speak has metamorphosed into a license to lie.

At present, there does not appear to be a constitutional or legal solution to this dilemma. Consequently, the role of the Fourth Estate has become even more critical in this age of “alternative facts” and revisionist history. Only the press can get behind the curtains, blow away the smoke and allow the light to illuminate this darkened political environment. It must expose the lies and the liars and exalt the truth and the truth tellers. If not, the nation will be lost.