Over the past decade or so it has become fashionable on both the left and the right to call for America to be more detached from the world, you’ll hear advocates of this approach state that it would lead to more diplomacy or that it would lead to a more renewed focus on domestic issues. Unfortunately, the only fruit that this approach has borne is a more dangerous and unstable world. With democracies like Israel and Ukraine under attack and invasion it should be a wake up call to our people that American strength is the greatest deterrence and peace maker there is. Right now our international enemies and rivals are taking advantage of our inability to unite around the idea that freedom and democracy are worth defending, not only at home but abroad.
Israel in particular should worry us, October 7th is a grim reminder that technological and material superiority alone will not be enough to stop an enemy determined to destroy peace and our way of life. We have to understand these new threats that America and the free world faces, we have to understand that these enemies are not motivated merely by material or economic means, and that by trying to reason with them merely on those grounds will not stop them from advancing their goals. In the case of Putin we have a madman who is motivated purely by a deranged sense of legacy. He wants to use his final years on this planet to advocate his ideology of Russia’s place in the world and doesn’t care how many of his own people he has to kill to do it. With Hamas, their only motivation is the death and destruction of Israel and the Jewish people, there is no middle ground for them. They will use innocent Palestinians as human shields to do anything to advance this goal.
For New Mexico this once again means our little state has to step up to the plate once again to help provide answers to bring deterrence of increased conflict and restore a sense of peace. As the world is on the brink, the missions at Los Alamos and Sandia are once again becoming relevant on the world stage. Our congressional delegation needs to call for more support to these vital institutions as well as calling for the federal government to make more investments in our cities that support them. Los Alamos’ ability to meet the task at hand will require a much larger workforce, this means they will need more housing, strong schools, and better infrastructure. In the coming years Española’s importance in New Mexico and internationally will become increased, locally we will need to improve the stability of our local governments, schools, and economy.
While I am deeply sympathetic to the fiscal concerns that such increased investments may bring, the price of deterrence and maintaining peace is pennies on the dollar compared to the price of war. Making these crucial steps now will prevent our children from having to fight wars tomorrow.
Sam LeDoux is a candidate for Española City Council District 4, he’s worked in Government and Politics for over a decade and is a former Staffer for Sen. John McCain, and is a voting member of the McCain Alumni Club at the McCain Institute at Arizona State University.