“Blue” States

Ted Cruz Repudiates His Canadian Citizenship In Ambition To Be President!

Ronald 7 Comments

Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, the bull in the China shop in the Republican Party, who has grand ambitions to be President of the United States, has taken quick action to trash his Canadian heritage, having been born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in December 1970.

While technically a citizen of both Canada and the US, due to his mother’s American citizenship, Cruz has now declared that he has no interest in remaining a dual citizen, because he knows that could cause him grief as he seeks to take over the Republican Party. He has already made enemies in the GOP establishment with his vicious attacks on other Republican Senators, as well as the opposition Democrats, the news media, and higher education, including his Harvard Law School background, calling the faculty there a bunch of Marxists, reminding us of Senator Joseph McCarthy, who he, ironically, greatly resembles in appearance, demeanor, and behavior!

Cruz represents the calling card of Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain and other malcontents,who wants to take the Republican Party to the extreme far Right, and will take no prisoners!

It is clear by his action on his Canadian citizenship that Cruz is running for President without announcing it this early, and that he will do anything and everything to destroy any GOP opponent, and at this point, his key rival seems to be Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, the son of former Congressman Ron Paul, who inherits the allegiance of many young people who see the father as a god like figure with his libertarian beliefs.

Both Paul and Cruz have the allegiance of the Tea Party Movement, but Cruz cannot be called a libertarian, and the holy war that will ensue between the two will, at this point, likely favor Cruz over Paul.

So at this point, it seems a good bet to believe that Cruz will overcome Paul and also, his fellow Cuban, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, and that he will be the Republican Presidential nominee in 2016, at age 45.

His candidacy will draw a lot of attention and controversy, and Cruz will not care how many enemies he makes on his road to being the opponent of Hillary Clinton, his most likely opponent, or any other Democrat who might emerge, including Joe Biden.

And when one looks at the Electoral College math, it is clear that Ted Cruz is likely to be the GOP Presidential nominee, but his chances of becoming our 45th President are next to zero, and that Clinton, Biden, or whoever the Democratic nominee in 2016 is, will win a landslide victory, greater in electoral votes than Barack Obama in 2012!

And part of that great Democratic victory in 2016 will likely include Texas, as the state is moving toward “Blue” status, and it is ironic that Cruz, easily elected in Texas in 2012, will help create the Democratic majority by his personality, confrontational attitude, and refusal to understand that if one insults Mexican Americans, woman, African Americans, labor supporters, environmentalists, and gays, there is no way that his party can ever win back the White House!

So after a smashing defeat, Cruz will be history as a loser, and the GOP will finally, if it has any common sense, return to the moderate mainstream center, or else it will finally be in the dustbins of history after 2016!

A New Push For The Equal Rights Amendment: Is It Possible?

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In 1972, the Congress passed the proposed Equal Rights Amendment for women overwhelmingly in both houses, and Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter supported it wholeheartedly over the next decade.

At the same time, Ronald Reagan opposed it, and it finally failed of passage by a shortage of three states in 1982, only gaining 35 of the 38 states required for ratification of an amendment!

90 years ago on July 21, 1923, Alice Paul first proposed the ERA, and it is time to take action on final ratification, with Democrats needing to support the end of the time limitation on the amendment.

So far, Democratic leaders Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, and also Elizabeth Warren, have not agreed to cosponsor such a change in the amendment process, but they need to.

The question is whether three more states can be convinced to ratify the ERA, if the time limitation is eliminated, since almost all of them are Southern states.

But the hope is that Illinois, Virginia and Nevada might be the states, but no certainty of course, but there is the old saying, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained”! The fact that these three states were “Blue” in 2008 and 2012 give hope, and hope springs eternal!

First Effort To Expand Gay Marriage Should Be To Promote It In Other “Blue” States!

Ronald 4 Comments

Now that gay marriage has been declared constitutional, and that gay Americans are entitled to the same benefits and privileges of straight couples, the next step should be to work to promote passage of gay marriage in the other 13 “Blue” states, states that voted for Barack Obama in 2012.

So far, the six New England states (Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island); three Middle Atlantic states (New York, Maryland, Delaware); two Midwestern states (Iowa, Minnesota); and two Pacific Coast states (Washington, California) have accepted gay marriage as legal.

So 13 states have moved to adopt gay marriage, leaving 13 other states which voted Democratic in 2012. The list includes the following:

Middle Atlantic states–New Jersey, Pennsylvania
Southern states–Virginia, Florida
Midwestern states–Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Illinois
Mountain States–Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado
Pacific Coast states–Oregon, Hawaii

Some of these states should be fairly easy to prod in the direction of gay marriage, including New Jersey, Illinois, Colorado, Oregon, and Hawaii.

Other states will be more difficult, but are possible, including Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, and New Mexico.

The toughest states to accomplish this goal are Virginia and Florida.

Republican Governors will fight to prevent gay marriage in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin, but if they can be defeated for reelection, if their horrible, anti women, anti labor, anti immigrant policies are made the issue.

Chris Christie is a greater barrier, but do not be surprised if after reelection in New Jersey, he moves in the direction of acceptance of gay marriage!

Northern Virginia and South Florida give a long range hope for those states to accept gay marriage down the road, but not anytime soon.

The struggle for acceptance of gay marriage in more states is a battle worth fighting! Already, about one third of the American people, more than 100 million, live in states that accept gay marriage. It is essential to make that percentage more than two thirds of all Americans, over the next decade!

Of course, there is always the possibility that the Supreme Court might move in the direction of a Loving V. Virginia wide scope decision, as with interracial marriage in 1967. But the state by state battle must, meanwhile, go on!

Two Gay Marriage Decisions Of Supreme Court Are Landmark Path Breaking Decisions, Among Greatest In American History!

Ronald 9 Comments

The two gay marriage decisions of the Supreme Court today will be seen as landmark, path breaking decisions, among the greatest in all of American history!

It has been a long time coming for gay and lesbian Americans, to achieve legal equality under the law and Constitution of the United States. It is a fantastic victory for civil rights and human rights, and will make it a lot easier for young Americans, and really all Americans, who recognize they have a different sexual orientation, which should not be discriminated against by others who refuse to accept change!

The decisions declare the key provision of the Defense Of Marriage Act unconstitutional, and also allow California to follow the circuit court decision, negating Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in the state, after it has already been allowed.

So California will join twelve other states over the next few months that allow gay marriage—Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island in New England; New York, Maryland and Delaware in the Middle Atlantic; Iowa and Minnesota in the Midwest; and Washington State on the Pacific Coast.

It seems likely that other states, mostly “Blue” Democratic states in the last Presidential election, will soon join those 13 states, while the likelihood of “Red” or Republican states legalizing it seems far off, if not impossible to imagine.

But the fight to have the Supreme Court overturn the entire Defense of Marriage Act, allowing the Court to declare gay marriage legal in all states, following the tradition of Loving V. Virginia on interracial marriage in 1967, is the next battle, as the right to marry should be national in scope, not based on the states denying equal protection under the law!

It will take some time, but the day is not far off before gay marriage is legal everywhere in America, and if the right wing and the religious bigots have a problem, so be it, as they will have to accept it, as much as they opposed interracial marriage fifty years ago, but ultimately had to accept, at least publicly, although one can be certain there are many such people as these, who still are opposed to interracial marriage!

The point is that the right to marry is a civil right, and no public opinion poll, referendum, or utterance of a talk show host or some preacher should stand in the way of this basic human right, and the right to pursuit of happiness!

Republicans And Food Stamps: “Red” States Are The Major Beneficiaries, And Their Supporters Seem Unaware What Republicans Are Doing To Them!

Ronald 12 Comments

The Republicans have declared war on “Food Stamps”, and have called Barack Obama the “Food Stamp” President!

While promoting all kinds of support for the corporate world, Republicans are out to promote massive cuts to people who are expected to feed themselves in a way no civilized person in America would want to be faced with! To hell with a balanced diet and nutrition, and therefore the promotion of bad health habits, which lead to medical problems, for which many will not have health coverage if one leaves it up to the Republicans and conservatives!

So people should starve, because they are “bad” people for being poor, and their children should do without adequate nutrition, which is impossible on the present Food Stamp benefit, before any further cuts!

But this is all veiled by the belief of conservatives that MOST of the recipients of food stamps are African American, Hispanic and Native American, and are located in “Blue” Democratic states in the major urban areas of the nation.

The facts are otherwise, as the vast majority of people on Food Stamps are white, are single females and their minor children, and live in Republican “Red” states in the South, Great Plains and Rocky Mountain areas of the nation!

So it is the “Red” states that are the real “welfare” states on Food Stamps and other benefits for the poor, and it is in these states that ignorant, uneducated, and clueless people vote Republican, without awareness of what the GOP is trying to do—make the lives of poor women and children, as well as elderly and disabled, heavily white populations ever more difficult!

This is all mind boggling, and one wonders when these poor whites will get the message as to what the party they vote for is doing to them and their children’s future!

The Hopelessness Of The GOP In The 2016 Presidential Election Is Clear Cut!

Ronald 15 Comments

Republicans and conservatives live in illusion and fantasy, and their horrible Congressional performance—working against women’s rights, college students, minorities, the middle class, the poor, young people, the elderly, gays and lesbians, the environment, labor—will insure that they will never become the majority in a Presidential election for the long haul!

One would think that after having lost the popular vote for President five of the past six Presidential elections, that they would have realized the wrong of their ways, but instead, they are doubling down, appealing to the Religious Right, the Neoconservatives, the Social Conservatives, and to the top two percent, as if that is a winning strategy. Somehow, they think the dwindling white older population will sustain them in the long term, and in that belief, they are truly delusional!

If they had any common sense or brains, they would realize that the Democrats have won 18 states and the District of Columbia over the past six national elections since 1992, and a total electoral vote of 242 electoral votes, and NONE of these states are likely to be lost in the future to the right wing GOP! So the “Blue” states are:

Maine
Vermont
Massachusetts
Connecticut
Rhode Island
New York
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
Delaware
Maryland
District Of Columbia
Illinois
Michigan
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Washington
Oregon
California
Hawaii

Plus, three other states voted Democratic five of the six national elections, a total of 15 electoral votes, bringing the total up to 257, 13 short of the 270 needed to win the White House, including:

New Hampshire (except in 2000)
New Mexico (except in 2004)
Iowa (except in 2004)

So the GOP, if it does not radically change its tune and quickly, will NOT win the Presidency any time in the next few generations, with the growing Hispanic-Latino vote, and the dying off of the white conservative senior citizens who wish to prevent the future, and are failing at that long term, in Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, Colorado, Nevada, Ohio, and in the near future in Texas, Georgia, Arizona and Montana! The “Red” States are dwindling rapidly!

College Graduates Now One Third Of Those Ages 25-29: The Highest Percentage Ever

Ronald 37 Comments

Higher education has reached more and more Americans over time, and now among those 25-29, one third have at least a four year undergraduate degree.

More Americans have started and graduated college in recent years, spurred on by the Great Recession, and the recognition that unemployment levels among college graduates is 3.3 percent for those ages 25-34, compared to 11.8 percent for high school graduates.

Still, too many students fail to finish a four year, or even a two year degree, and in many states, the graduation rate is much lower than in others, with the trend being that the “Blue” states have higher graduation rates than the “Red” states, another indication of two Americas in our midst, one in the 21st century, and the other moving back socially to the 19th century in many ways, sadly!

And low income American families still see only about one out of ten of their children going on to college and graduating in a six year period, while high income families see seven out of ten children gaining a college degree.

And women are graduating at higher rates than men, another disturbing issue regarding the emotional maturity of young men, many seeing just having any job as enough, making more women more highly educated than men, and in many cases, choosing not to marry someone of lesser educational attainment.

And Asian Americans continue to have higher percentages of college degrees, followed by whites, blacks and Hispanics, respectively.

The road to the future in a technology based and digital economy is higher education, so those not attaining that goal are at a long range disadvantage in the American economy of the future.

2016 Presidential Election Could Be Decided By Texas And/Or Florida

Ronald 2 Comments

At this time, in February 2013, it seems very likely that Texas and Florida, the second and fourth largest states in population and electoral votes, will decide which party will win the White House in 2016.

The Democrats have a good chance to win Texas, as it is starting to turn “Blue”, with the growing Hispanic and Latino vote in that state with 38 electoral votes. Hillary Clinton, in particular, would have an excellent chance to win the Lone Star State if she ends up as the Democratic Presidential nominee, but even other Democrats would have a chance to win .

At the same time, with Florida (29 electoral votes) having gone to Barack Obama twice, the Democrats would have a good opportunity to win it next time as well, particularly with Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden as their nominee.

With the other large populated states in the hands of the Democrats for sure (California, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan), it is these two states that will decide the election, although if the Democrats can win everything they won under Obama, they do not need Texas. But if they also win Texas, then they would have a literal landslide in the Electoral College, with 370 electoral votes!

So that is why Marco Rubio or Jeb Bush are the best nominees the GOP can run, with a good shot at winning the Sunshine State, and keeping control of Texas, with its Hispanic-Latino vote and the Bush family connection with the Lone Star State.

But again, IF the Democrats just win all the 26 states they won in 2012, or even if they lose some, they will still win the White House. But these two large states are where much of the action will likely be in 2016!

Total Poverty, Deprivation, Lack Of Safety Net For Substantial Numbers Of Americans The Reality: The “American Dream” Denied!

Ronald 12 Comments

Despite the denial and lack of concern of many conservatives and Republicans about the tremendous maldistribution of wealth which has developed in the thirty two years since Ronald Reagan came to the Presidency, new statistics indicate just how desperate many Americans are, and how that desperation is particularly obvious in the South and in the Southwest parts of the United States.

Nearly half of US households, containing about 132 million Americans are in a dire situation, where they do not have any emergency funds for as little as three months, if a natural disaster, medical emergency or sudden unemployment occurred.

Think of the mental anguish these people go through if any of the above emergencies suddenly arise, with a feeling of no hope, and the possibility of homelessness, total destruction of personal credit, and the likelihood of becoming sick from stress itself!

Thirty percent of Americans do not have a savings account, and eight percent do not have any bank account at all.

In ten states, the poverty and hopelessness of a substantial part of the population is most evident, including in order:

Nevada
Georgia
Mississippi
Florida
Arkansas
North Carolina
Tennessee
New Mexico
Arizona
Louisiana

Notice also that only three states of these ten listed are “Blue” or Democratic (Nevada, Florida, New Mexico), while the other seven are “Red” or Republican.

With so many people in these states and others having little or no health insurance coverage, and low wage jobs predominating, and high credit card debt levels, one wonders how these unfortunate citizens cope with waking up daily, with such gloom and doom on the horizon! The “American Dream” is being denied!

A Potential Unbeatable Democratic Ticket For 2016—Hillary Clinton And Joe Biden!

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It has recently been suggested by some political observers that a truly unbeatable Presidential ticket for 2016 would be Hillary Clinton for President and Joe Biden for Vice President.

Upon first thought, the idea sounds unbelievable, and many wonder if either or both will even run, but assuming they both are interested, the question arises whether they would be willing to fight each other, come into combat with each other, when both are great friends.

Both Clinton and Biden are competitive and ambitious, but to imagine the knock down, drag out fight between them, is hard to imagine.

Yes, Joe Biden wants to be President, but being already 74 in 2016, and knowing that Hillary Clinton would break a “glass ceiling”, as the first woman President finally and belatedly, it is hard to imagine him unwilling to sacrifice his ambitions to give her the chance, and to be a willing “soldier” willing to help her, and be by her side for another eight years as Vice President!

Were anything untoward to happen to Hillary, Joe would be there to take over, but even if he did not ever become President, he would have served a theoretical 16 years as Vice President, an amazing record, and be in on all the important decisions, treasured for his wisdom and counsel by both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, and giving the nation his talents and abilities, with the recognition that he would become regarded as the most powerful, influential Vice President in American history!

And there is no ticket that the Republican Party could run, which would match the experience, the breadth of knowledge, and the talents and abilities of these two public servants, who have already had a massive effect on our country!

With the Electoral College situation as it presently is, is there anyone who can come up with a scenario where any Republican ticket could possibly gain a majority, in a nation with growing Latino-Hispanic participation, and Arizona, Texas and Georgia likely to tip “Blue” in the future?