Latinos

The Economy Issue Outweighing Foreign Policy And The Supreme Court: The Ultimate Tragedy For The Nation

Ronald Leave a comment

It has often been said that people vote their “pocketbook”, that is, how they are affected economically, including having employment, the inflation rate, the housing situation, and the ability to plan for their children’s college education and their own retirements.

So if the economy is in bad shape, the President or party in office loses the election, and that possibility now rears its “ugly head”, due to the downturn in the stock market this past month, and the slowing of job growth that hints at a stall, if not a reversal, in job growth.

The facts are that all economic conditions are much better than they were when Barack Obama took the oath of office, but since people tend to think of the moment, not of the previous few years, Barack Obama is seen as in danger of being defeated.

The odds are still that he will win re-election, but it is going to be a “nail biter” at best, and that is a true tragedy, considering Obama’s accomplishments in foreign policy, national security, and constitutional issues.

There is no question that, despite Republican propaganda to the contrary, that Barack Obama has accomplished a lot in these areas, but it is being overshadowed by the economic situation, which, no matter who is President, is going to take years to repair after the Great Recession that began under George W. Bush.

If Mitt Romney is elected President, we are not going to see a magical economic recovery! We are, instead, likely going to see austerity that will make things far worse! One can be assured that within six months of taking the oath, Romney’s honeymoon will have ended, and there will be “buyers’s remorse”!

And we will likely see the “necons” take back control of the White House, and decide on a new war with Iran, which will only further damage the deficit and the national debt!

And we will see up to three appointments by President Romney, turning the Supreme Court to the extreme right for a generation, the greatest tragedy of all, as it will set back gays, Hispanics and Latinos, African Americans, women, labor, the environment, and government regulation of Wall Street!

So the economy may be in bad shape, but the country will be in worst shape if Obama loses because of the economy!

The Justice Department Throws Down The Gauntlet To Florida Governor Rick Scott: Stop Illegal Purging Of Voter Rolls!

Ronald 1 Comment

The Justice Department under Attorney General Eric Holder has finally taken action, throwing down the gauntlet to Florida Governor Rick Scott to cease and desist from illegal purging of the voter rolls in the Sunshine State, including the elderly, Latinos and Hispanics, African Americans, and others, including college students.

A 91 year old man, who has voted consistently for 70 years and served in World War II, was told he could not vote. Others who have had the right are being denied it with threatening letters, putting them under unnecessary stress about a basic American right, the right to vote.

Florida is right now breaking the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which included Florida because of its past discrimination against African Americans, and their long history of racial segregation and racial violence.

Scott is lawless, reckless, defiant, abusive, and a disgrace to all law abiding Floridians! Having evaded prison for Medicare fraud, he is arrogant and aggressive in setting out to fix the 2012 Presidential Election in the same fashion of denying the right to vote, as occurred in the Presidential Election of 2000, leading to the disastrous eight years of George W. Bush!

It is good to see that the Obama Administration is not going to allow prejudice, corruption, scandal, and discrimination to interfere with the right to vote!

In many ways, this situation sadly reminds us of Alabama Governor George Wallace and Georgia Governor Lester Maddox, two racists who disgraced their states and the nation during the 1960s, with their attacks on civil rights. What Rick Scott is doing will doom his name in history, but then it must be said that it is doubtful that Scott even cares what damage and harm he is doing to his reputation, since he is such a despicable human being!

If only the recall method was allowed in Florida as it is in many other states, including Wisconsin, which will determine the fate of another “Bully” Governor, Scott Walker, next Tuesday!

Struggling Working Class Whites And The Presidential Election Of 2012

Ronald Leave a comment

Polls make it clear that President Barack Obama is having a very tough time connecting with struggling working class whites, as he also experienced in 2008 against Senator John McCain.

With the economy still in trouble, although the situation is far better than when Obama became President, the question that arises is why this classification of voters is so anti Obama.

How can these people, who were victimized by the economic policies of the George W. Bush administration, and now see that Mitt Romney wants to go back to the policy of no regulation at all, plus more tax cuts for the wealthy, and who himself is from the “one percent”, wish to vote Republican?

How can they ignore that Barack Obama, while certainly not solving the economic problems in four years since the inception of the Great Recession, has made a lot of progress, and has presided over 4.2 million jobs created over the past 26 months?

Sadly, two factors play a major role:

Pure ignorance, lack of knowledge of what has been happening, and lack of understanding that Mitt Romney, no more than John McCain, or ANYONE, is going to have magical powers to create a quick revival of the economy. It is highly doubtful that the economy would have improved more now if John McCain had been President.

The element of racism, which rears its ugly head too often on conservative talk radio, Fox News Channel, and numerous blogs, including the idea that Obama was born in Kenya, is anti white in his policies, is a Marxist, or a Socialist, or a Communist, or a Nazi or whatever new appellation they can come up with. Demagoguery and the promotion of hate has a great role in promoting this mythology about Barack Obama, and it is very hard to overcome. If a white had been President, this element would not exist, without any doubt, no matter how much conservatives and Republicans will deny it!

It would be extremely ironic if Mitt Romney won, the economy assuredly would NOT get better quickly, and we would go into a new era of right wing conservatism, nastier and more mean spirited than under Bush, and prefaced by the “Bully Governors” in the states who are making life miserable for millions of Americans, while corporations continue their destructive policies, and the top one percent get richer at the expense of these very people, struggling working class whites, as well as people of minority status, who are even worse off!

And what would the GOP say in 2016, after four years of worsening conditions, than they are in 2012? Blame African Americans and Hispanics and Latinos for the plight of the struggling working class whites, continuing the mythology that keeps their support from this group which is being exploited, and does not realize it!

The true champion of the struggling working class whites is Barack Obama, but they do not realize it, tragic as that is!

America’s Future: A Majority “Minority” Nation! Time To Adjust To Reality!

Ronald 2 Comments

The US Census Bureau has made it official: America is on the way to becoming a majority “minority” country , which will occur by the 2040s, no matter what the white majority, which has dominated America, wishes.

This is so because, for the first time, a majority of children being born are non white by definition, as in the twelve months ending June 30, 2011, 50.4 percent of the births in America were to Hispanic and Latino, African American, and Asian American parents.

Only 49.6 percent of births were to white parents.The economy, politics, and identity of the nation is changing rapidly, and we will never be the same!

Whites are no longer the majority in four states, and in such cities as New York, Las Vegas and Memphis. About 350 counties nationwide have a majority of nonwhites, and about double that number when one considers young children.

And the baby boomer generation, now aging, was vastly white, and now sees a younger generation growing up which is going to be majority nonwhite, a cultural clash already showing up in the fact that senior citizen whites are overwhelmingly Republicans, who are fighting the future, but represent basically the past that is quickly dying out before their eyes!

While whites still represent 63 percent of all Americans, the average median age for whites is 42, past prime child bearing age, while for Hispanics and Latinos, it is 27, and more Hispanic children were born in America in the past decade than Hispanic immigration to the United States in that period.

So minorities were 92 percent of all growth in the past decade, an astounding figure!

This reality is creating tensions between white elderly and minority young, particularly in Arizona, Nevada, Texas, and California.

This is a growing crisis particularly regarding education, as only 13 percent of Hispanics and Latinos have a college degree, only 18 percent of African Americans, but 31 percent of whites.

Education is the future for the nation, or else we will have a lot of minority young who cannot make a living and sustain the elderly whites who are retired and receive Social Security and Medicare.

This is the major social crisis of the future, and the political parties need to come to grips with it, and not only think about how the situation is at present. A vision for the future is essential!

The Anti Obama States Ranked By Popular Vote In 2008 Presidential Election

Ronald Leave a comment

With the Presidential Election of 2012 just six months away, and with the increasing polarization of the nation shown by the Indiana Senatorial nomination results and West Virginia negative vote in the Democratic primary against Barack Obama, it is instructive to examine the 2008 Presidential Election results.

22 states voted against Barack Obama and for John McCain in 2008, with Obama gaining 53 percent of the vote against 46 percent for McCain nationally, and winning 28 states and the District of Columbia. Obama had a popular vote lead of 9.5 million over McCain.

But in those 22 states that voted for McCain, the McCain majority was as follows in ranked order:

Oklahoma 65.65
Wyoming 64.78
Utah 62.58
Idaho 61.53
Alabama 60.32
Alaska 59.42
Arkansas 58.72
Louisiana 58.56
Kentucky 57.40
Tennessee 56.90
Kansas 56.61
Nebraska 56.53
Mississippi 56.18
West Virginia 55.71
Texas 55.45
S. Carolina 53.87
Arizona 53.64
North Dakota 53.25
South Dakota 53.16
Georgia 52.20
Montana 49.52
Missouri 49.43

So going by the standard that 55 percent is a landslide, that means all but seven of the 22 states were landslides, and allow for Missouri, Montana, Georgia and even Arizona as possible turnovers, with growing Hispanic and Latino populations, and the relatively close vote, particularly in Missouri and Montana. South Carolina and the two Dakotas are not seen as possible turnovers, and with the two Dakotas so small in population in any case, no attention will be paid to those states by the Obama campaign.

The Cinco De Mayo Holiday, And Recognition Of Role Of Mexican Americans In American Politics

Ronald 1 Comment

Today is the 150th anniversary of a Mexican uprising against a French army taking over Mexico during the rule of Emperor Napoleon III in France. Although the Mexican people did not overthrow French influence and control until five years later, this is seen as a celebratory Mexican national holiday.

This celebration of Mexico’s history should remind us that Mexican Americans are part of the largest minority group in America, with over ten percent of the nation being from Mexican heritage, and almost two thirds of all Hispanics-Latinos being of Mexican heritage, and all Hispanics and Latinos being 16 percent of the nation, more than the 12.5 percent of the country which is African American.

Mexican Americans who vote have always voted overwhelmingly Democratic, although about 40 percent did vote for George W. Bush when he was Governor of Texas in the 1990s, and in his two terms as President.

The growth in the Mexican population, and the fact that they are very young as a group, makes them prime factors in the future of American politics, as with the growth of Mexican American population, states that have been Republicans and anti immigrant in their politics are starting to move toward a situation where the Republicans will lose those states over time.

With over 60 percent of Mexican Americans already residing in California and Texas, California is already lost to Republicans in the Presidential race, and it is believed that Texas will turn Democratic in the next decade.

The same is likely in Arizona, the ground zero of nativism toward Latinos, and it is already so in Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico,

Additionally, the Hispanic and Latino population is affecting the politics of Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia, as well as Florida, with much of the transition being because of Mexican Americans.

So while there is a lot of anger about an estimated 7 million illegal immigrants from Mexico, the actual Mexican American population which is legal is growing and coming of age, and will have a dramatic effect on the future of Congress and the Presidency over the coming decade, including having a great influence on the upcoming election in November.

Virginia And Florida: Two “Swing” States With Strong “Blue Areas”: Will It Be Enough For Barack Obama?

Ronald 1 Comment

Two “swing” states, crucial to the Presidential Election of 2012, are also Southern states, which have usually been fertile Republican territory, but not necessarily this time, as they were not in the Presidential Election of 2008.

Those two states are Virginia and Florida, where much of the battle for the Presidency will be centered over the next six months.

Virginia had voted Republican since after 1964, until Barack Obama won it in 2008. The key area that helped bring the Obama victory was northern Virginia, near Washington DC. This area has seen a continuous growth of federal government employees, many of them for the Pentagon in northern Virginia, but also other government workers who have settled in that area of the state. Additionally, many young people, African Americans, and Hispanics and Latinos have settled in Northern Virginia in recent years, and women have been alienated from the Republicans, due to the vaginal probe bill introduced by Governor Bob McDonnell, a leading candidate for the Vice Presidential nomination to run with Mitt Romney.

Virginia is really two states, and in that regard, not all that different than many other states, but the Northern Virginia vote was enough to give Obama the win in 2008, and right now, it seems likely that scenario will happen again in 2012.

Florida is another such case, with South Florida the “blue” area of the state, and helping Barack Obama to win the state in 2008, only the third time since the late 1960s to go to the Democrats (the other times being 1976 and 1996 when Southerners Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton carried the state).

The margin of victory in Florida was gained by South Florida support, just as was so in Northern Virginia, and the growth of non Hispanic Cubans, plus the northeastern and Jewish influence in South Florida, seem likely to give Barack Obama another opportunity to gain the state in a close vote finish in November!

Mitt Romney: The “Gutless Wonder” With No Principles!

Ronald 3 Comments

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has been described as colorless, dull, boring, plastic, stiff, and as a chameleon who changes his views to fit the audience or the pressure group. With a reputation as a “flip flopper”, Romney has managed to change his views on every subject imaginable, making one wonder who is the REAL Romney, as one book is entitled!

But now that he is the presumptive nominee, he is rewriting history, claiming he had been supportive of the idea of going into a foreign nation to hunt down Osama Bin Laden, as Barack Obama, and interestingly, former New York City Mayor Rudy Guiliani, had endorsed as far back as 2007.

Now his aide tells us that Romney was the one to support saving General Motors and the auto industry, and that Obama picked up his idea, another total falsehood!

Mitt Romney also had the nerve to say yesterday that he wishes to help the poor and the middle class, when he said just the exact opposite a few months ago. But now he claims that Barack Obama wants to take from the poor to give to the wealthy! What in the world does he mean by that assertion, which makes absolutely no sense in reality? This is a man who exudes wealth and privilege, and total lack of concern about the poor and the middle class, and seems to think just by making a statement, that it wipes out his past statements and actions, what his own aide called an “etch a sketch”!

Mitt Romney has no scruples, ethics, or morals apparently, as for a man who claims to be a “good Mormon”, one would think he would not lie as regularly as Mitt Romney does!

And he has now also shown cowardice, that he is a “gutless wonder”, in forcing the resignation of a gay conservative foreign policy spokesman to please the religious right bigots. Does that mean he will have a test for all administration employees that no one who is gay will be part of his government? It is well known that many Republicans speak anti gay rhetoric but have gay employees or aides. Why cannot Romney promote diversity and tolerance, a crucial test of his character and principles, which obviously he lacks in massive amounts!

Mitt Romney proves more than ever by his actions and words that he is unfit to be our President, as his record now shows that he is all of the following, in no special order:

Anti Women
Anti Hispanic-Latinos
Anti Labor
Anti Gay
Anti Science
Anti Environment
Anti Poor
Anti Health Care Reform
Anti Social Safety Net
Anti Education Opportunity

Mitt Romney should be ashamed for demonstrating he is a man with no principles, a “gutless wonder”!

The Seven “Swing States” And Four “Red” States Which Will Decide The Presidential Election Of 2012

Ronald 2 Comments

Many ill informed people might think that the Presidential Election of 2012 is nearly even, based on some public opinion polls that show the popular vote close or tied, particularly the case with Fox News Polls, which tend to distort reality, but are believed by those who see that so called “news channel”, and the “poison and hate” it disposes, as being absolute Gospel!

But in reality, the election is NOT close at this point, with the decision based on seven “swing” states, all of which Barack Obama won last time, and all seven in which he has a clear lead at this point.

Of course, no one can live on polls at any moment of time, and it will be essential for Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and others who speak for the Administration to get out there and be actively campaigning and spreading the word over the next six months, but the fact that Mitt Romney has major problems with Independents, women, Hispanics and Latinos, Young people, and Evangelical Christians, make it clear that he has a massive set of challenges to overcome Barack Obama, and this is not the time to put betting money on the former Massachusetts Governor.

The seven states that will be most paid attention to, and visited by both campaigns over the next six months are Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Colorado and Nevada.

Additionally, four “red” states have a shot at switching to Obama, with those states in order of likelihood to switch including Missouri, Arizona, Montana and Georgia.

So instead of listening to propaganda, realize that it is these seven “swing” states and four “red” states that are the crux of the election!

Republican Run State Governments, Their Social Agenda, And The Effect On 2012 Elections

Ronald Leave a comment

Many states witnessed Republican takeover or consolidation in the Midterm Elections of 2010, but now, 18 months later, the record of those states run by Republicans could come back to haunt them and lead to Democratic victories across America.

Of course, many states have Republican Governors whose voters have “buyers remorse” over, including Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who faces a recall vote on June 5. But also, there is a lot of discontent with other “Bully” Governors, including Rick Snyder of Michigan, John Kasich of Ohio, Rick Scott of Florida, Paul LePage of Maine, Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania, and in some polls, Chris Christie of New Jersey. Meanwhile, Andrew Cuomo of New York, Martin O’Malley of Maryland, and Dannel Malloy of Connecticut are among the Democratic Governors looking great in the polls.

The Republican controlled state legislatures proceeded to pass laws on social issues, including gay rights, abortion, gun rights, laws against teaching of evolution, and laws allowing invasion of privacy of women’s bodies.

States including Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arizona, Wisconsin, Florida, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Maine have passed all kinds of laws that will cause a revulsion among Independents, women, Hispanics and Latinos, and young voters

Even the American Legislative Exchange Council, a business backed group which promotes conservative laws at the state level, has recognized how there could be a reaction against the right wing extremism in many states, and is now focusing on economic issues.

It will be interesting to see how this all works out in November, regarding state legislatures.