The Hundredth Meridianrnby Chilton Williamson, Jr.rnMexico WayrnBack in the 70’s when the pubHcity stuntrncalled Hands Across America was inrnthe planning stage Kenny Rogers announcedrnhis intention to assume a positionrnon the western boundary of Texas inrnorder to be able to hold hands with thernstate of Arizona. I was reminded of thernstory last summer when a service representativernfor US West Communicationsrntold me that her company does not extendrntelephone service to New Mexico,rnwhere I have subsequently made twornpayments to US West. Apparently NewrnMexico is the Lost State, overlooked byrncountry-western singers and employeesrnof great corporations, as well as by highschoolrngeography students. When arnfriend in Albuquerque suggested thatrnthe telephone woman had simply confusedrnNew Mexico with Old Mexico—arncommon error, he insisted—I was politelyrnunbelieving, but that was before I hadrnactually moved down here and experiencedrnother misunderstandings of thernsort. What Jim Rauen calls the People’srnRepublic of New Mexico is no longerrnOld Mexico, but it is a foreign extensionrnof it. Owing to its history, which is substantiallyrnthat of the Rio Grande corridorrnand the Camino Real, rising from CiudadrnChihuahua to Santa Fe and Taos,rnNew Mexico —unlike Texas, Arizona,rnand California —is a border state fromrntop to bottom, not an administrative subdivisionrnof America with a strip of borderlandrnacross the base of it.rnNew Mexico is a very poor state. Thernmedian income lies around $13,000rnand nearly 50 percent of the inhabitantsrncall a trailer-house home. When a LasrnCruces welfare mother hitchhiked 282rnmiles north to Santa Fe last October torntestify against PROGRESS before arncommittee of the state legislature, thernLas Cruces Sun-News front-paged a storyrnsympathetically recounting her missionrnand her message. PROGRESS is NewrnMexico’s answer to the federal mandaternrequiring that each state devise and implementrnits own welfare program, subjectrnto federal approval. Installed by thernRepublican Governor Gary Johnson andrnhis Human Services Secretary Duke Rodriguezrnin the face of Democratic oppositionrnfrom the legislature and followingrnan order by the state Supreme Court torncease and desist, the program was broadlyrnattacked by critics for its allegedly overstringentrnwork requirements and thernrestrictions it imposes on recipients. Rodriguezrnresigned and was succeeded inrnoffice by Lou Gallegos, the governor’srnchief of staff, who has vowed not to givernup on PROGRESS. But he has a hardrnfight to look forward to in a heavilyrnDemocratic state, many of whose citizensrnseem to regard a Republican governorrnas an electoral fluke at best, a usurperrnat worst.rnChatting with parishioners after SundayrnMass at the Cathedral of the ImmaculaternHeart of Mary in Las Cruces, I wasrnasked by someone what I do for a living.rnI explained that I work for one of the twornor three top journals of conservative politicalrnopinion in the United States, arnpiece of information that brought a politelyrnreproachful silence. It was brokenrnafter several seconds by a woman whornhad a story to tell me. “A Kirby salesmanrncame to my house the other day,” she began,rn”and he said to me, Tou know. LasrnCruces is the worst place I ever visited inrnmy entire life.'” “Well!” another of thernwomen exclaimed, “I hope you told himrnhow to get back on the road goingrnhome!” “I asked him why,” the firstrnwoman continued, “and he said to me,rn’Why, ma’am,’ he said, ‘it’s because everyonernliving here in this city is too poorrnto buy a vacuum cleaner!'” So there Irnhad the parable of the Kirby VacuumrnSalesman, intended for political conservativesrnand others with neither eyes tornsee nor ears to hear.rnGranted that a minority of Americansrnare unaware that New Mexico has notrnbeen governed from Mexico City for thernlast 160 years, it sometimes seems that ofrnthis minority fully 100 percent wish tornmove to the Land of Enchantment. Thernresult is an influx of immigrants, differingrnfrom the natives in two importantrnways. One, they have money. Two, theyrnare mostly Northerners —meaningrn”Anglos.” They bring a new and differentrnculture to the historic Rio Grandernone, directly reversing the cultural flowrnproduced by Mexican immigration andrnusing the power of the almighty dollar tornmake their innovations stick. TTie resultrnis a second role reversal: a surge in multiculturalistrnsentiment throughout what isrnstill, numerically and otherwise, therndominant Spanish-Mexican culture. Itrnoffers displays of cultural and ethnicrnpride good-naturedly for the most part,rnand the Anglo population, includingrnthose who trace their familial historiesrnto territorial days, good-naturedly acceptsrnit. Outwardly at least the majority of newrnNew Mexicans accommodate themselvesrnto old New Mexico, or at least theyrntry to. Among those who do not are thernenvironmentalists, whose agendum includesrnthe anglocization, or Americanization,rnof the Hispanic society they payrnlip service to. Environmental activistsrnwould protest, of course, that they arerntrying to do no such thing; they wantrna progressivized New Mexico, not anrnAmericanized one. Either way, itrnamounts to the same thing.rnExcepting only the military-industrialscientificrnpresence (Los Alamos, Intel,rnKirtland Air Force Base, the WhiternSands Missile Range), environmentalismrnis the greatest revolutionary forcernNew Mexico has experienced sincernGoronado. By their astutely cynical usernof the federal court system environmentalistsrnhave enjoyed greater success in thernAmerican Southwest than in any otherrnpart of the country, including thernGreater Yellowstone. Defending thernMexican Spotted Owl they virtually shutrndown the logging industry in Arizonarnand southwestern New Mexico; upholdingrnthe Southwestern willow flycatcherrnthey are attempting to bring the samernfate to ranching in New Mexico. Nothingrnmore goads an urban or suburbanrnenvironmentalist-protectionist to furyrnthan to reflect that the West of his imaginationrnis not subject to his control, butrnJANUARY 1998/49rnrnrn