Behind the Chile Curtain

Behind the Chile Curtain

April 28, 2026

There’s a good chance we all agree on the 4 fundamentals that local and State government should be able to handle. Some people think government should do more and some less but here are those fundamentals or basics:

1. roads and bridges (infrastructure)
2. public education
3. crime
4. laying the groundwork for economic opportunity – some people think this means government getting out of the way and letting free people create and build products, services and businesses – some people think this means government meddling and deciding (promoting or hindering) what can be created or built

It’s likely that at least 80% of the population will agree that State and local government should be successfully handling these 4 basic areas. New Mexico (NM) is usually ranked badly for these areas which has been consistent for at least several years.

1. Roads and Bridges

According to Construction Coverage (U.S. States With the Worst Roads [2025 Edition]), in 2025 New Mexico had the 11^th worst roads in the US. It may not be in the top 5 worst states but consider this: most of the states ranked higher are in high population and high traffic density parts of the country. They also have lots of ice and snow in the Winter. Other than I-40, which has a lot of semi-truck traffic, NM is a low population and traffic density state.

If you’ve ever driven on NM roads, driving can be a game of “miss the pothole to save your life.” When the State is not fulfilling its responsibility to take care of the roads, it sends some loud and clear messages:

• we don’t care how much it costs you to repair your car (we don’t care about affordability)
• we don’t care about your time
• we don’t care about your safety

2. Public Education

It takes a lot of work to repeatedly be last (or near last) in something but NM takes this prize. According to New Mexico Education (New Mexico 50th in Education – Again – New Mexico Education), New Mexico ranks 50^th in education (that’s out of 50 states). Recently I heard the Governor say that NM is now ranked much higher (around the middle). Hmmm, I’ll have to investigate that but chances are this isn’t exactly true. This state has been at/near the bottom for her whole tenure and rankings just don’t change that dramatically unless the following occur:

• data is cherry-picked
• the success criteria (known as the bar) has been lowered specifically for NM
• the data is re-interpreted or finagled with statistics

When the State is not fulfilling its responsibility to take care of education, it sends some loud and clear messages:

• we don’t care about your child’s future
• we don’t care about crime
• we don’t care about economic opportunity

3. Crime

According to Crime Grade (The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in New Mexico: Crime Maps and Statistics | CrimeGrade.org), using 2024 and 2025 data and projections, NM crime costs each resident an average of $835 per year. The US average is $471 per year.

According to World Population Review (Most Dangerous States 2026), New Mexico is considered the 2^nd least safe state in the US in 2025 (only Louisiana is worse). No one here seems to do much about safety. A lot of talk but no action. These statistics do not include the plethora of crimes that go unreported. It is very common for residents to not bother. Nothing will happen and your already high insurance rates will go up if you report something involving your car or property.

In Albuquerque, there is never ending chaos around the homeless issue. Granted, most homeless are not committing crimes (maybe outside of trespassing, vagrancy and loitering). But many are criminals and there are neighborhoods in fear and businesses which have shut-down as a result. Some of these businesses were icons of the community that employed people. Is this acceptable to the citizens of Albuquerque?

When the State is not fulfilling its responsibility to keep crime low, it sends some loud and clear messages:

• we don’t care about you and your family’s safety
• we actually don’t care about your children’s safety
• we don’t care about your hard-work and sacrifice to build a business and have a home
• we don’t care how much crime costs you (an affordability problem)
• we don’t care if you live in fear
• we even want to take away your right to self-defense (huh?)

When the Democrats talk about safety, walk away and stop voting for them!

4. Economic Opportunity

According to New Mexico Education (New Mexico 50th in Education – Again – New Mexico Education), New Mexico ranks 48^th in economic well-being (that’s again out of 50 states). According to US News and World Report (Rankings: Economy – States With the Best Economies), in 2025 New Mexico ranks 43^rd for economy and 50^th for business environment (for goodness sakes, that’s once again out of 50 states). NM relies heavily on federal government support (military bases, national labs). Economic conditions would be even worse if NM couldn’t take money from other States.

As a result of the poor NM economic conditions, according to the NM Health Care Authority (Monthly Statistical Reports – New Mexico Health Care Authority) as of February 2026, about 845,000 New Mexicans were on medicaid (there’s only 2.1 million people here).

When the State is not fulfilling its responsibility when it comes to economic conditions, it sends some loud and clear messages:

• we don’t care about affordability
• we don’t care about your independence; we want you to come to us for your needs
• we don’t care about your life goal to improve yourself and your family’s well-being
• we don’t care about you having a great life

New Mexico government is not broke. In addition to a State income tax and sales tax, it levies a gross receipts tax and where that matters is in the oil and gas industry which has been going gangbusters in the NW and SE regions. Otherwise, the gross receipts tax suppresses business formation and growth.

One party has been in charge overwhelmingly in this state, Democrats. Occasionally, there is a Republican governor but the roundhouse (a round building in Santa Fe where Representatives and Senators hold their legislative sessions) has been controlled by Democrats for virtually all of the last 35 years. The current 2-term governor is a Democrat.

In this year’s election, what do you think the Democrats will talk about? Surely the four fundamentals:

• women’s health care access (abortion)
• transgenderism
• ICE and illegals
• Trump-this and Trump-that
• the Epstein ranch (who may have driven by it)
• billionaire boogey-men
• your right to self-defense is not allowed (call us and we’ll be there in a few hours)
• democracy is in trouble (according to Democrats, anyone in the world should be able to vote in US elections which might be why your democracy is actually in trouble)

The fundamental four are the top priorities for the State but they are all failures here in NM. That doesn’t mean some of the issues noted directly above aren’t important. But if you can’t handle the basic four then you need to go. I think you get my point.

Focus on the fundamentals. The good news in NM this election year is that the Republicans are proposing solutions and programs to address the four fundamentals. We’ll see what happens.

By the way, I like red, green and Christmas when it comes to my NM chile. It just depends on the particular dish or food item.