No Democrats! No Chocolate!

RUIDOSO, NEW MEXICO. Last week the local Oktoberfest organizer denied a booth to the local chapter of the Democratic Women.

By his own admission, the director "hates everything the Democratic Party stands for” and won’t consider their participation."

For many years, our softly-lit park in the pines hosted a carousel of charming holiday celebrations, that is, until the restrooms and parking lots at the new civic center proved more alluring to the organizers.

Now, the eternally scrolling roster of rather homogeneous annual events includes Ruidoso's Oktoberfest, a charitable event produced by a local non-profit, the Special Events Resource Group (SERG).

If the erosion of our slice of aesthetic Americana weren’t bad enough, now it seems civility and fair representation are the newest casualties in our little village.

A few days ago, the vice president of a newly formed local chapter of the NM Democratic Women, Mrs. Foulds, began investigating the possibility of selling chocolate at Oktoberfest in 2010. She phoned the special events director (the founder of SERG), explaining that she was well aware that the 2009 deadline had passed.

“Not necessarily,” the director replied encouragingly. “What is your product?”

When Mrs. Foulds answered, “chocolate,” the director expressed a friendly appreciation for chocolate, explained that so far no one was selling chocolate, and then asked, “What is your group?”

The instant Mrs. Foulds replied, “We are the Democratic Women of the Sacramento Mountain Area,” the conversation flipped on a tiny mean dime.

The director responded coldly, “I've had too much trouble with your group in the past and I won't even go there" and hung up on her. Persistently, she phoned him back and explained that he was mistaken, because the group has only existed for six months. He answered, "I hate everything the Democratic Party stands for and I won't even consider it" and with a decisive click, hung up again.

As one might expect, Mrs. Foulds immediately dialed the Ruidoso Chamber of Commerce to report the incident. (Keep in mind, that SERG and the Ruidoso Chamber are tucked together as cozy as peas in a little green pod.) The Chamber offered the following recourse: file a formal written complaint, send it to the Chamber for his file, and they will forward it to him. He can address the matter if he chooses.

Now, is it just me, or doesn’t this seem an inordinately weak, candy-assed response in the face of such an insult to our fellow community members? What a racket! The Chamber avoids confrontation, SERG avoids accountability, and viola, the women of the Democratic Party are shut out, just as the SERG coordinator insisted that they would be.

Well, we shall see.

Apparently, the charming town of Ruidoso has no compunction about discriminating against its citizens based on political affiliation. For Mrs. Foulds and her organization, there’s no thin veil of convenient excuses; not a single salty solitary crocodile tear related to scheduling or booth availability were offered. After all, this year, the Republican Party’s annual booth will be selling burgers.

Even if the Democratic Women are ultimately allowed their booth, (which they are now willing to pursue for this season) this conflict has soured the experience. So much for Americana. Ruidoso is overwhelmingly Republican (witness the craziness of our town hall in “Billy the Kid and the Town Hall Meeting”) and SERG stands only to gain sympathetic profits because of this incident.   Yet, in his determination to withhold from the Democratic Women the opportunity to give back to the community based on his own political agenda, SERG demeans the very community it claims to promote and represent.

Although I am not a member of the Democratic Women, I assure you, I would be equally outraged if Republicans were being refused representation. Such an act weakens all of us. As Americans, our duty is to stand first and foremost to protect the rights of our neighbors to freely express their beliefs or affiliations, whether we agree or not. Whatever separates us, we have in common our rights. Once American rights are protected, then we can gather in our own self-interest.

The intimidation and shunning of good American women from fair political representation of either party undermines the most fundamental principles of our democracy. Surely these issues were resolved by our suffragist grandmothers and need not be re-fought in community celebrations in Ruidoso, New Mexico in 2009? One would think.

Yet, with civics classes cut from education across the country, our democracy increasingly develops gaping wounds to its collective consciousness. In times like these, with right wing extremists ironically screaming, "Nazi" at the president, such wounds open our country to particular vulnerabilities. From tiny pockets to sweeping community segments, many remain shielded from consciousness about what being an American means. Rights historically understood in an almost sacred light now shift to a perversion under such a lens. These days, thinking members of both parties find themselves constantly reviewing the basics of democracy through letters to their editors and water cooler conversations, because for far too many, the most rudimentary understanding of American principles has become eroded and moth-eaten.

Even as they write their letters to our town fathers and fume behind the scenes, members of our local chapter of Democratic Women stand determined to hold high ground. They are assertive and measured in their response, though I’ve no doubt that they will be depicted in our local paper as frothing shrews cawing from the pits of hell.

We’ll see. The situation continues to stew around us, but if the Democratic Women are successful at gaining an Oktoberfest booth, I know they will buy Republican burgers and share their chocolate across the aisle with the women manning the Republican booth. It’s part of their graciousness -- the kind I remember from the old days, when we were a warm community enjoying our slice of Americana under the twinkling lights in the park among the pines.

Comments

[PapaPig]

Good article Susan. That is shocking it's come to that. But I too have lost several friends in the last year just because I won't bad mouth the left. The remaining vestiges of the NeoCon hate speakers considers anyone not as far right as them to be a communist. This is so sad.

[Susan L. Travis - Huffpost Blogger]

Thanks, Papa! I think that the hate speakers are simply exhibiting a primordial howl of rage and pain that their myth is fragmenting around them . . . it's not supposed to make sense . . . it's part of their anti-intellectual strategy. It is indeed a sad thing that there are so many who misunderstand American values.

[alto]

Susan - you have my great admiration for upholding any kind of progressive cause amongst the Ruidoso neanderthal knuckle draggers (to borrow a phrase from Alan Grayson). My wife and I left Ruidoso after 7 years. The biggest factor in our leaving was our inability to cope with the constant and pervasive wingnut hysteria. The wingnuts have destroyed what could be a wonderful place to live - with your Oktoberfest problem being only one small example.

We are both native Texans, but after our time in Ruidoso (and the Dubya years) we now keep our Texan background a deep secret. We say we are naturalized New Mexicans.

[Susan L. Travis - Huffpost Blogger]

It's strange to find my hometown harbors so much racism and mean-spirited conservatism. I never really felt it until after 9-11 when suddenly I realized hardly anyone I knew really understood that America's "greatness" is about guarding one another's rights even if you don't agree with the. Habeas corpus doesn't extend to people who are "obviously" guilty - the ignorance about our national identity is very frustrating. I don't know how to combat the craziness, but I intend to call it when I see it, so thanks for the kudo.

[sfch]

Good article, Susan. This type of right-wing behavior grows out of other unrestrained behavior, like the town hall stuff. They've gotta be called out on it. Keep up the good work.

[Susan L. Travis - Huffpost Blogger]

Thanks, SFCH - the director of SERG insists that there were simply no more booths - his response is all over the map and can be found at: http://www.ruidosonews.com/ci_13464807?IADID=Search-www.ruidosonews.com-www.ruidosonews.com

I understand that there have been boycotts and some serious disruption to the sponsorship, but we are a primarily Republican area, so I imagine he's receiving all sorts of consolation. He's no doubt going to be held up as a victim and his business will boom more than ever. Nonetheless, you are right, we need to call out when they are so blatantly discriminatory.