Possibly my favorite thing about writing this column is interacting with readers. That goes for the critical comments as well as the positive. I try to reply as my day job and bourbon consumption allow.

(Here's a tip: if you want to criticize me, please make it conversational. Screeds that just focus on calling me a fascist/RINO/moron with no contribution to the political debate do not receive replies. Pejorative profanity gets blocked. Repeat screeds get blocked. I mean, I understand it is probably pretty fun and cathartic each week to break out the keyboard and tell me what a fascist/RINO/moron I am, but please know it's going straight to the spam folder after the second message.)

Every now and then I get what is for a pundit high praise: A suggestion I run for office. I simply cannot think of enough swear words to put in front of my very emphatic "no." For print propriety standards, I'll just say, "hell, no."

I have seen the good side of public office – watching a family member really enjoy public service representing her community and supporting her constituents. I've also experienced first-hand the awfulness of campaigning in the 21st century. And primary voters are a big part of the problem. Allow me to explain.

The ongoing and ever-increasing political polarization and culture wars of this century have made primary election campaigning a true ideological minefield. Key to any campaign is the grassroots effort, which in New Mexico mostly means knocking on doors.

Door-to-door campaigning in the past has been a proven way to connect with your voters and help them connect with your campaign and values. The problem is, in recent years, national-level tribal issues have taken over the real issues that affect our lives in a more direct way.

For most legislative and even statewide elections, the issues to bring up when knocking on doors used to be jobs, the economy and education for both Democrats and Republicans. No more. Now it's abortion, guns, and more recently, immigration. This is what voters want to hear about. And you must be very, very careful saying what you really think. None of these issues are black and white. But special interest groups, biased media outlets and straight up disinformation campaigns on the internet have made many primary voters "all or nothing" on these issues.

Depending on which party you are in, your answers will have to be:
• Abortion: either a total ban, or complete access up to the day of delivery (i.e. Texas or New Mexico)
• Guns: either everyone can have as many of any type on demand with no restriction or waiting period, or law-abiding gun owners must store their firearms in their homes unloaded in a safe (i.e., Mississippi or Massachusetts)

• Immigration: something has to be done, but we aren't sure what (the parties seem to have the same non-position and in 2024, the Democratic Congressional caucus seems willing to take a harder line while the GOP fiddles in the flames).

Hitting the pavement knocking doors, you could never say, "I think abortion should be legal until (16, 20) weeks and then allowed for medical reasons or in cases of rape or incest." You could never say, "The problem is we have too many guns in circulation, and any regulations will impact law-abiding citizens more than criminals. But we have to try something." But you know what? I bet, if polled, most Americans would agree with both statements.

And here's the other thing. If you have said anything on these tribal topics in the past, they will be used against you. In other words, if you have an opinion, keep it to your ownself, please, and just make something up for the election.

Here's how this can work. I was on NMPBS the week that the Las Vegas mass shooting happened in the fall of 2017. I opined on air that I thought Congress would have to take up the issue of after-market bump stocks and also gave some background on the National Firearms Act of 1934 which proscribed the public from owning military-grade weapons.

Fast forward to the spring of 2018 when I was running for the Legislature. My opponent's campaign took that NMPBS clip and manipulated it to show me saying inane things about guns and making wild accusations about gun show operators. The campaign happily took this clip on their phones door to door and told voters I was anti-gun. When I mentioned this to my opponent at a community event, he was completely confused – he had never seen the original clip and the campaign didn't tell him it was doctored. So he felt perfectly fine pushing out the lie, since he didn't know any better.

By the time I got to neighborhoods, many had already seen the clip, as campaign surrogates simply went out with the campaign message and a fake video that I didn't like guns. My opponent didn't even have to say what he stood for, which was handy. My platform was irrelevant. It was all guns, all the time on the campaign trail.

For the record, I have owned a handgun since the age of 17. To my knowledge, I was the first student to bring a firearm on campus at the University of Notre Dame, to the amusement of campus security and the shock of my roommate from New York. I feel this is (1) fairly solid pro-gun bona fides and (2) completely irrelevant to my fitness as an elected legislator.

So when I was roundly beaten in the first week of June 2018, I certainly felt like no one cared about issues or real opinions. And I started posting on social media what I really thought about the President, the GOP, Democrats, and the state of the world; not what I felt I had to say to be elected. Trust me, there was a tremendous difference.

It felt amazing. And that November, the publisher of The Independent asked me if I would consider writing a column. Since then, the column has been picked up by a few other papers in Silver City, Las Cruces, Alamogordo, Deming, and Carlsbad. The acquisition of The Independent by Ctrl+P has seen it added to that family of independent papers around the Albuquerque metro area.

And the best part? Punditry in New Mexico pays exactly what legislators here earn: Nothing.

This has gone on too long in self-indulgent reminiscence, but there is a message for voters in here somewhere. Please: Ask questions of candidates that relate to your livelihood, your safety, and your children's future. Refuse to play a part in the political tribalism this year and make a stand for substance. Our state and our nation depend on it.

Merritt Hamilton Allen is a PR executive and former Navy officer. She appeared regularly as a panelist on NM PBS and is a frequent guest on News Radio KKOB. A Republican, she lives amicably with her Democratic husband north of I-40 where they run one head of dog, and two of cat. She can be reached at news.ind.merritt@gmail.com .