It’s Time for a Truce: Why I’m Over the Culture War

When I look across Southeast Arizona, from the Cochise County grasslands to the San Pedro River, from Sierra Vista to Willcox, I see neighbors. Not numbers. Not livestock. Neighbors.

But there are people in Phoenix and Washington who see us differently. They look at our communities the way a rancher looks at cattle: sorting, branding, using.

And that's where the trouble starts.

The Trap They've Set

A small group of people who want total control have a big problem: it's really hard for a few to control the many. So they need a shortcut.

That shortcut is the culture war.

They create strict rules about how you should look, who you should love, and how you should act in public. They fill the TV and social media with fights about things that don't put food on your table or water in your well. They get us arguing with each other while they keep running the show.

When a family in Sierra Vista can't afford groceries but politicians are fighting over what books are in the library, something's wrong.

When a retiree in Willcox is struggling with a dry well but the news is yelling about pronouns, ask yourself: who benefits from us not talking about the water?

Why They Do It

To those in power, you are not a person. You are a tool.

They want to look at you and immediately know your role. That's why they love uniforms and dress codes. That's why they obsess over how we look and not who we are: skin color, gender, all of it. These are shortcuts so they can sort people into categories: useful, not useful, or disposable.

Think about it like a ranch. A prize-winning bull is valuable. But a bull that doesn't do what it's supposed to? It's sent to slaughter.

To an authoritarian, your only value is how well you fit the role they've assigned to you based on your appearance. If you don't fit, you're a problem to be removed.

How They Get Us to Help

Then they take it a step further. They use propaganda to make us afraid of people who are different. They blame crime and hard times on whoever is easiest to point at.

Soon, regular people start policing each other. Your neighbor might report you for the “wrong” bumper sticker. Your boss might punish you for the "wrong" opinion online.

This is great for the rulers. We do the job of controlling each other for free.

The culture war is a trick. It gets us fighting our neighbors so they can keep controlling all of us.

I Won't Play Their Game

This is exactly why I refuse to participate.

I don't care about culture war distractions, because they're designed to take our eyes off the ball while others pick our pockets and trample our freedom.

Do I care how you present yourself? Yes.

Do I care who you love? Yes.

Do I care what you do in public? Of course.

But not to control you.

I care because these things are an honest expression of who you are. And when I know who you really are, I can approach you not as a cog in a machine, but as a member of my community.

And to me, being a neighbor in Southeast Arizona is infinitely better than being a ruler. I'm running for State Senate to represent you—not to sort you, brand you, or use you. Our campaign is about freedom, dignity, and the future of Southeast Arizona.

Everything else is just noise.