By GEORGE CHANDLER
Los Alamos
On Saturday Feb. 22 at noon, Chair Andrea Determan will convene the Democratic Party of Los Alamos County at the Unitarian Church on North Sage Loop. First the three wards (North Townsite, South Townsite, and White Rock) will meet to elect ward officers and members of the Central Committee. Then the new Central Committee will meet to elect County officers (Chair, vice-Chair, Secretary and Treasurer) and at-large members of the State Central Committee. Takes usually about two – three hours. You can attend, vote, and run for any of the positions if you are a registered Democrat and a resident of Los Alamos County.
Why should you care? Isn’t the party system failing, leading to chaos and gridlock across the nation? Isn’t the Los Alamos Democratic Party in disarray?
Well, sort of. Famously, in 1947 Churchill told the House of Commons: “it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government – except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” If you have spent a little time reading US history it must be apparent to you that, uncomfortable as we may feel right now with Trump extorting the entire free world for economic advantage and Musk rummaging through the US Treasury, this is actually in accord with Churchill’s observation about democracy. A little more creative than usual, but here we are. We made it through Andy Jackson, a civil war, abolition, Joe McCarthy, Vietnam and the sexual revolution: we can handle this.
What’s the role of the loyal opposition?
That’s easy. Stay the course. Keep your powder dry. Organize. Build an organization and recruit leaders who are ready to lead when the tide turns, which it will. That’s what the Los Alamos Democrats do, and have always done, and we have been effective in producing leaders for Los Alamos and New Mexico. Importantly, but harder to see, our effectiveness contributes in a small but critical way to supporting the national party as it struggles against the autocrats. Don’t believe the national Democratic Party is failing – it is within a few seats in both houses of bringing Project 2025 to a screeching halt.
You count in this struggle. We need a couple dozen Democrats to step up to vote and/or take roles in the local party. It’s not a big time commitment, and you will find it rewarding, as I have over several decades. Come on down to the Unitarian Church on Saturday Feb. 22 and you too can be a Warrior for Democracy!