Last Friday (11/23/12) was Black Friday!
That is the day after Thanksgiving, and the unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season.
It's also the day the stores open early for the massive amounts of people coming in for the sales.
It's that huge mass of people all in one place that has created the problems.
You can watch plenty of YouTube videos were as soon as the store opens, people just rush in, pushing, shoving, not giving a damn if they trample another person in the process.
And in the tragic case 4 years ago in New York, a security worker got crushed to death when so many people rush their way into Wal Mart all at once!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqeY7j5TuuE
Last year, someone pulled out a pepper spray to use on anyone who dares touch an Xbox she wanted.
This year, a person pulled out a gun and pointed at the person who wanted to fight him.
But in many other cases, there are pushing, shoving and other forms of fighting over stuff!
This is just a few examples of the Black Friday madness I am talking about
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEb18fkA-bU&feature=share
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkQVAb1DbjA
---------
So many thoughts on all this
1) Malls, stores, etc better start enforcing a single-file line for Black Friday openings. Otherwise, they are asking for trouble.
The Apple store does this whenever a new item is about to be on sale. A line is formed, with security enforcing the rules along the long lines.
2) On Black Friday, there needs to be police in riot gear and tear gas ready.
Dont call that overkill!
Because the madness of people pushing & shoving their way into the stores is what's really overkill!
3 ) all these people pushing and shoving their way into store need to GET A LIFE!
Seriously, you could still live a decent life without a cheap plasma TV or whatever LUXURY CRAP you are fighting over!
Plus, it's the day after Thanksgiving, you know.......... the day you celebrate what you are thankful for!
Those losers pushing, shoving and fighting over luxury crap on Black Friday are a spoiled bunch of ingrates!
If they think it's do damn important to literally fight over the latest cell phone, plasma TV, video game systems or other luxury items, then they should be sentenced to a full-year living in a refugee camp!
Maybe once they experience the hell many that many Sudanese, Somalis, Afghans, Syrians,etc have to go through, the Black Friday pushers and shovers will truly learn to be thankful for what they already have.
In other words, learn the true meaning of Thanksgiving!
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
An all-mail election is dangerous
Hawaii governor Neil Abercrombie has announced that he favors an election in which all ballots are sent in by mail.
http://www.staradvertiser.com/newspremium/20121127__Governor_wants_all_elections_conducted_via_mail.html?id=180950321
Some saying that having all-mail elections are convenient, being that people don't have to stand in long lines, plus there's less need for election workers.
However, an all-mail election system takes away THE MAIN REASON why our democratic system is great.
That is ---- You can go into a voting booth and NOBODY CAN SEE HOW YOU VOTED!
That is to protect the voter from intimidation and peer pressure.
Having a voting booth with privacy settings allows you to vote how you truly think, instead of vote for who my parents like or vote for who my friends like or vote who my spouse like.
With an all-mailing election system, you could easily have such scenarios including but not limited to
1) young adult living at home with his parents while attending college. Parents say "you better vote this way or else I'll stop paying for your college tuition!"
2) someone living with an abusive spouse! You know what can happen with that!
3) The employer tells employee "you better bring your ballots to my office and I better see you vote the right way!" Same could apply to union bosses as well.
----
These are all possible scenarios of voter intimidation that could happen with mail-in balloting systems!
Even if the government makes bans on such scenarios, it could still easily happen with an all-mail election system!
Unless politicians want voter intimidation (maybe that's why they want to do away with voting booths), they should say HELL NO to an all-mail voting system!
PS: yes, I did work as an election poll worker this year (and in 2006). Some might call that a "conflict of interest" when writing this blog post.
But I believe in having polling places, otherwise, I wouldn't have helped out as a poll worker.
http://www.staradvertiser.com/newspremium/20121127__Governor_wants_all_elections_conducted_via_mail.html?id=180950321
Some saying that having all-mail elections are convenient, being that people don't have to stand in long lines, plus there's less need for election workers.
However, an all-mail election system takes away THE MAIN REASON why our democratic system is great.
That is ---- You can go into a voting booth and NOBODY CAN SEE HOW YOU VOTED!
You can vote here without worrying about anyone looking over your shoulder.
That is to protect the voter from intimidation and peer pressure.
Having a voting booth with privacy settings allows you to vote how you truly think, instead of vote for who my parents like or vote for who my friends like or vote who my spouse like.
With an all-mailing election system, you could easily have such scenarios including but not limited to
1) young adult living at home with his parents while attending college. Parents say "you better vote this way or else I'll stop paying for your college tuition!"
2) someone living with an abusive spouse! You know what can happen with that!
3) The employer tells employee "you better bring your ballots to my office and I better see you vote the right way!" Same could apply to union bosses as well.
----
These are all possible scenarios of voter intimidation that could happen with mail-in balloting systems!
Even if the government makes bans on such scenarios, it could still easily happen with an all-mail election system!
Unless politicians want voter intimidation (maybe that's why they want to do away with voting booths), they should say HELL NO to an all-mail voting system!
PS: yes, I did work as an election poll worker this year (and in 2006). Some might call that a "conflict of interest" when writing this blog post.
But I believe in having polling places, otherwise, I wouldn't have helped out as a poll worker.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Thanksgiving blog post
It's been years since I last written a "what I'm thankful for" blog post, and now it's time to get back into the habit of grattitude
So what I shall I be thankful for these days?
1) Family
This year, I felt I had greatly improved relations with my family
In the past, I held a lot of anger some of the bad decisions my parents have made when I was growing up. However, in the past few years, I have written them letters on how their bad decisions have hurt me in a negative way.
This is something I encourage all you adults to do ASAP, before your parents pass away. Some of the false prophets of wisdom will tell you to "just let it go", but "letting go" without telling your parents how you truly feel is NOT a sign of wisdom, it's a sign of cowardice!
But now that I pretty much told them everything that has been annoying me all these years, my relations with my parents have dramatically improved!
By truly communicating how I felt, my parent got some important feedback. And I have learned that their past bad decisions was more of good intentions gone wrong instead of bad decisions on purpose.
But the main thing now is that I have been getting along with my parents great this year.
I do recognize that in many ways, my parents have done more to help me than they really needed to.
I also recognize that other people had a worse family upbringing than mine.
I was lucky to have both parents raising me, while others have been abandoned by deadbeat parents way too early in their life.
I was lucky to have parents who were employed, while others had parents who were unemployed (or under-employed) and therefore struggled to provide the life's neccessities.
I was lucky to have parents who understood the importance of education and had books in the home, whereas others had parents who were totally negligent on their kid's education.
I was lucky to have parents who valued cultural diversity, whereas others had parents who are bigots.
I was lucky to have parents who valued spirituality without forcing a religious belief on me, whereas others had parents who are religious fanatics.
I am also lucky that I had parents who learned from their mistakes, whereas others had parents who acted like they did nothing wrong!
I can now say my parents are good people who have "bailed me out" during the times I was struggling to find work.
And also, my family always have plenty of food for Thanksgiving and Christmas gatherings! :) :) :) :)
I sure can't wait :) :) :) :) :)
2) Employment
I may not be a millionaire, nor am I even anywhere close to an upper-middle-class lifestyle.
Also, I'm still disappointed that I haven't yet been picked to re-join the Ala Moana Macy's holiday seasonal team this season.
But you know what? I'm already employed anyways.
My main job is working as a substitute teacher, with both the public and private schools.
I also got a side job this Thanksgiving weekend, doing promotional sign waving for America's Matress. ( I also did so for the 4th of July and Labor Day weekends as well).
I also did a side job helping out with the elections this year. And even more lucky, my polling place (UH Lab School) didn't ran out of ballots, unlike some other polling places.
I also did a side job with Labor Ready this summer, role-playing as a "victim of a terrorist attack". I was a "guinea pig" for the National Guard training at Bellows AFB in Waimanalo.
Some people have a hard time finding a job. I know people who said they've been unemployed longer than the 99-week limit for unemployment benefits! YIKES!!!
So I'm grateful to have a sub teacher job as well as finding some side jobs.
PS: To Macy's (Ala Moana), you know my contact information, in case you need extra help next month :)
3) Having basic neccessities
Being employed as allowed me to have basic neccessities such as shelter, running water, working toilets, food, electricity and a bus pass.
Millions of people worldwide (and even some here in Hawaii) don't even have access to basic neccessities.
Even worse, some people are living in war zones, which makes it even harder for food and other supplies to be shipped and readily available.
Right now, there are wars going on in Congo, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Sudan, Gaza and Syria. It is hard for me to imagine living under such conditions.
So anytime I'm feeling stressed and annoyed, I have remind myself that those people would love to trade places with me.
4) Some luxuries
I'm definitely not living the life of mega-luxury.
However, I'm grateful for having such minor luxuries like a bike, cell phone YMCA membership, a stereo system, a matress and 2 bookshelves.
I also have access to public services like the bus and the libraries.
5) Living in the Internet Age
And with the Internet Age, I have easy access to information.
And not just with Google and Wikipedia.
I can use YouTube to listen to old speeches and classic songs.
I can use my social network to find some pretty cool information.
I can keep in contact with former classmates, former co-workers and distant relatives with Facebook.
And of course, I am thankful for Blogger, which has allowed me to express my thoughts to the world. With my blog, I can tell everyone my side of the story and share it with my facebook friends :)
6) A second chance
As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, I have changed my long-term goals. Whereas I started this year trying to pursue a master's elementary education at the University of Phoenix, I decided to withdraw from that program.
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2012/06/change-in-direction.html
So now, my next goal is to enroll in the master's program in the Library and Information Science (LIS) at the University of Hawaii- Manoa.
So now I'm about to get my 2nd chance to re-join the UH student community :)
I'm also about to get my 2nd chance to pursue a master's program in a professional field, but this time, for a field that would be better suited for me.
I'm currently waiting on my financial aid info to be proccessed.
But if all goes well, I will oficially be a graduate student at UH in 2 months :)
7) This Amazing Year so far
Some great things happened this year.
I got back into subbing with the private schools again, but this time with Kelly Services.
And also this......
This summer was the greatest summer I had for a very long time.
I did a few side jobs.
I applied for the LIS program at UH
And the biggest factor making this a great summer .................................. I also had to time to do an apartment makeover.
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2012/07/my-apartment-gets-make-over.html
Just thinking about the improvements to my apartment makes a very thankful for a very great summer and a very great year so far:)
----
As for the fall, I had a great time hanging out with my brother and a few friends for karaoke, hung out with another friend a week later. I also had a great Halloween with my clown wig, and my exploring UH, Ala Moana (hello Macy's.... hint, hint) and Waikiki.
8) Conclusion
I look forward to a great Thanksgiving with my family tomorrow.
I look forward to good conversations and of course, good food :)
I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving too! :)
So what I shall I be thankful for these days?
1) Family
This year, I felt I had greatly improved relations with my family
In the past, I held a lot of anger some of the bad decisions my parents have made when I was growing up. However, in the past few years, I have written them letters on how their bad decisions have hurt me in a negative way.
This is something I encourage all you adults to do ASAP, before your parents pass away. Some of the false prophets of wisdom will tell you to "just let it go", but "letting go" without telling your parents how you truly feel is NOT a sign of wisdom, it's a sign of cowardice!
But now that I pretty much told them everything that has been annoying me all these years, my relations with my parents have dramatically improved!
By truly communicating how I felt, my parent got some important feedback. And I have learned that their past bad decisions was more of good intentions gone wrong instead of bad decisions on purpose.
But the main thing now is that I have been getting along with my parents great this year.
I do recognize that in many ways, my parents have done more to help me than they really needed to.
I also recognize that other people had a worse family upbringing than mine.
I was lucky to have both parents raising me, while others have been abandoned by deadbeat parents way too early in their life.
I was lucky to have parents who were employed, while others had parents who were unemployed (or under-employed) and therefore struggled to provide the life's neccessities.
I was lucky to have parents who understood the importance of education and had books in the home, whereas others had parents who were totally negligent on their kid's education.
I was lucky to have parents who valued cultural diversity, whereas others had parents who are bigots.
I was lucky to have parents who valued spirituality without forcing a religious belief on me, whereas others had parents who are religious fanatics.
I am also lucky that I had parents who learned from their mistakes, whereas others had parents who acted like they did nothing wrong!
I can now say my parents are good people who have "bailed me out" during the times I was struggling to find work.
And also, my family always have plenty of food for Thanksgiving and Christmas gatherings! :) :) :) :)
I sure can't wait :) :) :) :) :)
2) Employment
I may not be a millionaire, nor am I even anywhere close to an upper-middle-class lifestyle.
Also, I'm still disappointed that I haven't yet been picked to re-join the Ala Moana Macy's holiday seasonal team this season.
But you know what? I'm already employed anyways.
My main job is working as a substitute teacher, with both the public and private schools.
I also got a side job this Thanksgiving weekend, doing promotional sign waving for America's Matress. ( I also did so for the 4th of July and Labor Day weekends as well).
I also did a side job helping out with the elections this year. And even more lucky, my polling place (UH Lab School) didn't ran out of ballots, unlike some other polling places.
I also did a side job with Labor Ready this summer, role-playing as a "victim of a terrorist attack". I was a "guinea pig" for the National Guard training at Bellows AFB in Waimanalo.
Some people have a hard time finding a job. I know people who said they've been unemployed longer than the 99-week limit for unemployment benefits! YIKES!!!
So I'm grateful to have a sub teacher job as well as finding some side jobs.
PS: To Macy's (Ala Moana), you know my contact information, in case you need extra help next month :)
3) Having basic neccessities
Being employed as allowed me to have basic neccessities such as shelter, running water, working toilets, food, electricity and a bus pass.
Millions of people worldwide (and even some here in Hawaii) don't even have access to basic neccessities.
Even worse, some people are living in war zones, which makes it even harder for food and other supplies to be shipped and readily available.
Right now, there are wars going on in Congo, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Sudan, Gaza and Syria. It is hard for me to imagine living under such conditions.
So anytime I'm feeling stressed and annoyed, I have remind myself that those people would love to trade places with me.
4) Some luxuries
I'm definitely not living the life of mega-luxury.
However, I'm grateful for having such minor luxuries like a bike, cell phone YMCA membership, a stereo system, a matress and 2 bookshelves.
I also have access to public services like the bus and the libraries.
5) Living in the Internet Age
And with the Internet Age, I have easy access to information.
And not just with Google and Wikipedia.
I can use YouTube to listen to old speeches and classic songs.
I can use my social network to find some pretty cool information.
I can keep in contact with former classmates, former co-workers and distant relatives with Facebook.
And of course, I am thankful for Blogger, which has allowed me to express my thoughts to the world. With my blog, I can tell everyone my side of the story and share it with my facebook friends :)
6) A second chance
As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, I have changed my long-term goals. Whereas I started this year trying to pursue a master's elementary education at the University of Phoenix, I decided to withdraw from that program.
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2012/06/change-in-direction.html
So now, my next goal is to enroll in the master's program in the Library and Information Science (LIS) at the University of Hawaii- Manoa.
So now I'm about to get my 2nd chance to re-join the UH student community :)
I'm also about to get my 2nd chance to pursue a master's program in a professional field, but this time, for a field that would be better suited for me.
I'm currently waiting on my financial aid info to be proccessed.
But if all goes well, I will oficially be a graduate student at UH in 2 months :)
7) This Amazing Year so far
Some great things happened this year.
I got back into subbing with the private schools again, but this time with Kelly Services.
And also this......
This summer was the greatest summer I had for a very long time.
I did a few side jobs.
I applied for the LIS program at UH
And the biggest factor making this a great summer .................................. I also had to time to do an apartment makeover.
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2012/07/my-apartment-gets-make-over.html
Just thinking about the improvements to my apartment makes a very thankful for a very great summer and a very great year so far:)
----
As for the fall, I had a great time hanging out with my brother and a few friends for karaoke, hung out with another friend a week later. I also had a great Halloween with my clown wig, and my exploring UH, Ala Moana (hello Macy's.... hint, hint) and Waikiki.
8) Conclusion
I look forward to a great Thanksgiving with my family tomorrow.
I look forward to good conversations and of course, good food :)
I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving too! :)
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
More national political trends
My previous blog analyzing the 2012 national elections at
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2012/11/election-analysis-national-edition.html
Here are more thoughts on the political trends of this year
1) Less patience with overseas interventions
In the recent past, there were always pressure for the US to "do something" whenever there is trouble abroad.
It some cases, it meant sending troops on a temporary basis to place like Grenada, Panama, Haiti, Somalia, Bosnia, etc.
But in other cases, when the US was reluctant to send troops (ie. Rwanda 1994), there were shrieks of horror of "how dare we not save those people".
After 9/11, we sent troops to Afghanistan to hunt for Osama bin Laden!
However, there were also cries to "do something" about Saddam Hussein, the horrible dictator who favored Sunnis over Shiites and Kurds, and showed that favoritism via massacres and poison gas. He also tried to takeover Kuwait in 1991, for which the US troops rescued.
But with all that trouble, there was concerns about Saddam Hussein wanting to violently retaliate against the US.
So we went in 2003 to get rid of Saddam Hussein. That was the easy part.
The hard time was keeping order. Whereas the US didn't have much difficulty in occupying extremely homogeneous nations like Germany and Japan after WW2, it was much different in Iraq.
The Sunnis, Shiites and the Kurds had long histories of mistrust and rivalries. Many Americans (myself included) underestimated the level of violence that would occur between such groups after Saddam Hussein was ovethrown.
Plus, even though Collin Powell warned Bush that more troops would be needed to keep order, Bush decided to go along with Donald Rumsfeld "its OK, it wont be that bad" mentality instead ................until 2006, 3 years after the invasion.
Yes, the 2006 US surge calmed things down in Iraq, but the American public was losing patience with the war in Iraq.
After the 2008 elections, Barack Obama kept his promise of withdrawing from Iraq and sending more troops to Afghanistan. However, since killing Osama bin Laden, the American public is losing patience with the US defending a corrupt government in Afghanistan.
So Obama is planning to withdraw troops from Afghanistan in 2014. As Joe Biden said "the Afghans are responsible for their own security".
Contrast that with Mitt Romney, who kept saying Obama was "apologizing for America" and promised a tougher foreign policy.
Yet, when it was getting closer to the general election, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan started to take a more moderate tone, expressing that using US force would be a last resort.
But it was too late.
People don't have a short memory as some pundits think they do!
The public knows that Romney is a flip-flopper, that he earlier promised a tougher foreign policy when running in the Republican primaries, and he (surprise, surprise) flip-flopped his position when it was getting closer to general election time.
The public wasn't fooled!
The public was getting burned out in having US troops fighting overseas.
The public supports the Obama plan to withdraw from Afghanistan.
The public doesn't want more US intervention in Libya, nor does it want the US to be involved in the Syria mess.
As for Iran, the US public (which was already tired of war in the smaller Iraq) sure as hell not going to want a fight, unless Iran attacks first.
Chances are pretty high that this is it for US troops fighting overseas for a very long time.
With our memories of the hellish fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US public will be like "we ain't getting involved" if there some civil war going out somewhere far away.
The rest of the world will have to manage their own affairs on their own. The days of the US bailing them out is over.
2) Flip-Flopping not effective in the YouTube era!
As I mentioned earlier Mitt Romney was promosing a tougher foreign policy in the Republican primaries, then struck a more moderate tone as the general election got closer.
Politicians used to have an easier time getting away with such a strategy in the past.
Republicans would sound more conservative during their primaries, then moderate their tone for the general election. Democrats would sound more progressive during their primaries, then moderate their tone for the general election.
But now, in this age of YouTube and social networks, you can't get away with such stuff.
After all, it only takes a few seconds to find a speech from a few months ago!
And it only takes a few seconds for a politically savvy person to remind his/her social network of evidence that the politician has flip-flopped.
And with John Stewart posting clips of politicians saying totally opposite things, AND with people easily re-posting those clips to their social networks, flip-floppers have been cornered.
So from now on, politicians need to be more consistent.
No more of this "sound more conservative/liberal now, be more moderate a few months later" nonsense.
Just express a belief/policy plan/etc and just stick with it already
3) Libertarians getting more votes this year
Earlier this month, I posted a blog post mentioning how Gary Johnson's campaign showed a sign that the libertarian movement is being more mature
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2012/11/libertarian-movement-gaining-maturity.html
Guess what? That maturity has good results.
.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2012/11/08/Libertarian-Party-buoyant-Greens-hopeful/UPI-46151352363400/#axzz2CpZfoW8c
So yep, Gary Johnson broke the record for most votes by a Libertarian.
Gary Johnson also got more votes than any other minor-party candidates. (usually, the Green Party usually gets 3rd place.....NOT THIS YEAR)
----------
And this occured in a year in which the election was expected to be close!
In other words, a year when the rear-kissers of the 2 big parties kept saying "you're wasting your vote, you'd get (Romney or Obama) elected"
Well, SCREW THAT!
------------------
Many of us are tired of out-of-touch religious fanatics in the Republican Party! We're sick of being made to feel that the party of Rick Santorum, Todd Akin, Joe Walsh, Jan Brewer and other sick, disgusting fanatics is the so-called "best option". And we're sick and tired of phonies who pander to those folks and flip-flop the other way come general election time (ie. Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan)
As long as the Republican refuse to LOUDLY disown the drug-war fanatics, the homophobes or the anti-immigration fanatics, they WILL NOT get the respect of the Libertarians!
--------------
As for the Democrats, they need to start taking the deficit seriously. The government can't pay for every pet project out there!
And this Democrat attitude of "if you want PBS to be 100% privatized, you're an evil guy who hates Big Bird" is very annoying ! Just because we don't want our taxes to subsidize something, that doesn't mean we're against it! We just prefer certain things to be funded by private sources.
And the Democrats need to start taking the US high corporate tax rate seriously. It is HIGHER than the supposedly "socialist" Canada as well as "socialist" European nations. Enough with this crap of "lower corporate taxes just reward the rich" crap! This anti-rich envy isn't helping our economy at all!
Democrats need to start being more realistic about economics. We can't subsidize everything, we can't tax our way to prosperity, and too much taxes and regulations makes the US a less hospitable place to invest!
Countries like India and China have learned their lesson the hard way. They reversed course, started promoting more market-friendly policies and are now rising economic powers.
-----------
I'm not sure who will be the next Libertarian running for President. We need to have someone as mature as Gary Johnson to promote the Libertarian. We need someone who picks his/her battles wisely, and continue to point the flaws of the Republican and Democrat policies.
The more we vote for the minor candidates, the more the Republicans and Democrats have to start paying attention to us! After all, if they want us to vote for them again, they have to earn it!
Now that the Republicans and Democrats have to notice the rising Libertarian vote, they have to adjust to that! Let's see how they'll adjust!
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2012/11/election-analysis-national-edition.html
Here are more thoughts on the political trends of this year
1) Less patience with overseas interventions
In the recent past, there were always pressure for the US to "do something" whenever there is trouble abroad.
It some cases, it meant sending troops on a temporary basis to place like Grenada, Panama, Haiti, Somalia, Bosnia, etc.
But in other cases, when the US was reluctant to send troops (ie. Rwanda 1994), there were shrieks of horror of "how dare we not save those people".
After 9/11, we sent troops to Afghanistan to hunt for Osama bin Laden!
However, there were also cries to "do something" about Saddam Hussein, the horrible dictator who favored Sunnis over Shiites and Kurds, and showed that favoritism via massacres and poison gas. He also tried to takeover Kuwait in 1991, for which the US troops rescued.
But with all that trouble, there was concerns about Saddam Hussein wanting to violently retaliate against the US.
So we went in 2003 to get rid of Saddam Hussein. That was the easy part.
The hard time was keeping order. Whereas the US didn't have much difficulty in occupying extremely homogeneous nations like Germany and Japan after WW2, it was much different in Iraq.
The Sunnis, Shiites and the Kurds had long histories of mistrust and rivalries. Many Americans (myself included) underestimated the level of violence that would occur between such groups after Saddam Hussein was ovethrown.
Plus, even though Collin Powell warned Bush that more troops would be needed to keep order, Bush decided to go along with Donald Rumsfeld "its OK, it wont be that bad" mentality instead ................until 2006, 3 years after the invasion.
Yes, the 2006 US surge calmed things down in Iraq, but the American public was losing patience with the war in Iraq.
After the 2008 elections, Barack Obama kept his promise of withdrawing from Iraq and sending more troops to Afghanistan. However, since killing Osama bin Laden, the American public is losing patience with the US defending a corrupt government in Afghanistan.
So Obama is planning to withdraw troops from Afghanistan in 2014. As Joe Biden said "the Afghans are responsible for their own security".
Contrast that with Mitt Romney, who kept saying Obama was "apologizing for America" and promised a tougher foreign policy.
Yet, when it was getting closer to the general election, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan started to take a more moderate tone, expressing that using US force would be a last resort.
But it was too late.
People don't have a short memory as some pundits think they do!
The public knows that Romney is a flip-flopper, that he earlier promised a tougher foreign policy when running in the Republican primaries, and he (surprise, surprise) flip-flopped his position when it was getting closer to general election time.
The public wasn't fooled!
The public was getting burned out in having US troops fighting overseas.
The public supports the Obama plan to withdraw from Afghanistan.
The public doesn't want more US intervention in Libya, nor does it want the US to be involved in the Syria mess.
As for Iran, the US public (which was already tired of war in the smaller Iraq) sure as hell not going to want a fight, unless Iran attacks first.
Chances are pretty high that this is it for US troops fighting overseas for a very long time.
With our memories of the hellish fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US public will be like "we ain't getting involved" if there some civil war going out somewhere far away.
The rest of the world will have to manage their own affairs on their own. The days of the US bailing them out is over.
2) Flip-Flopping not effective in the YouTube era!
As I mentioned earlier Mitt Romney was promosing a tougher foreign policy in the Republican primaries, then struck a more moderate tone as the general election got closer.
Politicians used to have an easier time getting away with such a strategy in the past.
Republicans would sound more conservative during their primaries, then moderate their tone for the general election. Democrats would sound more progressive during their primaries, then moderate their tone for the general election.
But now, in this age of YouTube and social networks, you can't get away with such stuff.
After all, it only takes a few seconds to find a speech from a few months ago!
And it only takes a few seconds for a politically savvy person to remind his/her social network of evidence that the politician has flip-flopped.
And with John Stewart posting clips of politicians saying totally opposite things, AND with people easily re-posting those clips to their social networks, flip-floppers have been cornered.
So from now on, politicians need to be more consistent.
No more of this "sound more conservative/liberal now, be more moderate a few months later" nonsense.
Just express a belief/policy plan/etc and just stick with it already
3) Libertarians getting more votes this year
Earlier this month, I posted a blog post mentioning how Gary Johnson's campaign showed a sign that the libertarian movement is being more mature
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2012/11/libertarian-movement-gaining-maturity.html
Guess what? That maturity has good results.
.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2012/11/08/Libertarian-Party-buoyant-Greens-hopeful/UPI-46151352363400/#axzz2CpZfoW8c
Cravings for less Washington gave the Libertarian presidential entrant a record vote count while a tight Obama-Romney race hurt the Green Party, officials said.
The nearly 1.2 million votes won by Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson, a former two-term Republican New Mexico governor, supported public-opinion polls showing "consistently that a majority of Americans want less government than we have today," party Executive Director Carla Howell told United Press International.
Johnson, 59, who initially sought the presidential nomination of the Republican Party, won the Libertarian nod at the party's May national convention.
His nationwide vote count -- the highest count of the minor-party candidates -- represents about 1.2 percent of the total popular presidential vote in the 48 states in which Johnson ran, a UPI analysis of Tuesday's results indicated. Johnson was denied ballot positions in Michigan and Oklahoma.
His vote count also beat the previous Libertarian Party record, set in 1980 by lawyer-politician Ed Clark, of 921,128 votes, or 1 percent of the nationwide total.
So yep, Gary Johnson broke the record for most votes by a Libertarian.
Gary Johnson also got more votes than any other minor-party candidates. (usually, the Green Party usually gets 3rd place.....NOT THIS YEAR)
----------
And this occured in a year in which the election was expected to be close!
In other words, a year when the rear-kissers of the 2 big parties kept saying "you're wasting your vote, you'd get (Romney or Obama) elected"
Well, SCREW THAT!
------------------
Many of us are tired of out-of-touch religious fanatics in the Republican Party! We're sick of being made to feel that the party of Rick Santorum, Todd Akin, Joe Walsh, Jan Brewer and other sick, disgusting fanatics is the so-called "best option". And we're sick and tired of phonies who pander to those folks and flip-flop the other way come general election time (ie. Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan)
As long as the Republican refuse to LOUDLY disown the drug-war fanatics, the homophobes or the anti-immigration fanatics, they WILL NOT get the respect of the Libertarians!
--------------
As for the Democrats, they need to start taking the deficit seriously. The government can't pay for every pet project out there!
And this Democrat attitude of "if you want PBS to be 100% privatized, you're an evil guy who hates Big Bird" is very annoying ! Just because we don't want our taxes to subsidize something, that doesn't mean we're against it! We just prefer certain things to be funded by private sources.
And the Democrats need to start taking the US high corporate tax rate seriously. It is HIGHER than the supposedly "socialist" Canada as well as "socialist" European nations. Enough with this crap of "lower corporate taxes just reward the rich" crap! This anti-rich envy isn't helping our economy at all!
Democrats need to start being more realistic about economics. We can't subsidize everything, we can't tax our way to prosperity, and too much taxes and regulations makes the US a less hospitable place to invest!
Countries like India and China have learned their lesson the hard way. They reversed course, started promoting more market-friendly policies and are now rising economic powers.
-----------
I'm not sure who will be the next Libertarian running for President. We need to have someone as mature as Gary Johnson to promote the Libertarian. We need someone who picks his/her battles wisely, and continue to point the flaws of the Republican and Democrat policies.
The more we vote for the minor candidates, the more the Republicans and Democrats have to start paying attention to us! After all, if they want us to vote for them again, they have to earn it!
Now that the Republicans and Democrats have to notice the rising Libertarian vote, they have to adjust to that! Let's see how they'll adjust!
Thursday, November 15, 2012
election analysis (Hawaii edition)
Finally, I got time to blog on last week's Hawaii election results
1) Honolulu Mayor's election
This was where I felt the most disappointment this election.
Kirk Caldwell (55%) defeated Ben Cayetano (45%)
The main issue was the proposed rail system.
For too long, pretty much every establishment politicians supported the rail project, even though we don't even have enough money to maintain our infrastructure (ie. parks, sewers, buses, water mains, roads) as it is!
And the main guy running on an anti-rail platform in the past few elections was Panos Prevedorous -- an engineering professor who was originally from Greece. Unfortunately, many voters won't vote for someone they can't relate to, and not many people in Hawaii could relate to a Greek professor that they haven't heard of.
So Ben Cayetano was the best hope to stop rail. He was local, of Filipino ancestry, and he was already a long-time legislator and a 2-term governor. If anyone could stop rail, it was Cayetano.
While Cayetano got way more votes than Prevedorous ever could (compare 45% to 18%), it still wasn't enough.
This was because most of the population growth is now in West Oahu, where the demand for rail is very high. Their votes pretty much cancel out votes from areas rail was never going to reach (ie. North Shore, Windward Oahu, East Honolulu)
However, most West Oahu rail supporters aren't likely to give up their cars, their mentality is "rail will get rid of OTHER cars off the road." With thousands with that mentality, don't expect much traffic reduction from West Oahu.
Anyways, to learn more about why I oppose the rail project, and the reductions in bus service to make way for rail, check out the following links
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2012/07/cayetano-and-rail.html
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2012/07/bus-service-cuts-hurt-disabled.html http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2012/05/bus-route-insanity.html
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2012/07/city-council-meeting.html
2) Hawaii's Democratic majority --- not going away anytime soon!
Hawaii has been pretty much pro-Democrat!
However, a decade ago, it was predicted that the Republicans will rise in Hawaii, especially since Linda Lingle won the governor's election in 2002!
But since then ................ nothing! Nothing from the Republicans.
Linda Lingle tried running for US Senate! She lost to Mazie Hirono, who she beat for governor back in 2002.
Too many people still remember Linda Lingle for "Furlough Fridays" when the school days got reduced due to budget shortages. That cost her Lt Gov Duke Aiona to lose the gubernatorial election 2 years ago, and that cost Lingle her senate campaign this year.
Lingle's time has pretty much passed her by! Even though many positives occurred early in her time as governor (ie. improved economy, better business climate), the Furlough Friday was too powerful an issue that people will never forget for a long time.
If Lingle wants a comeback, she would be best advised to wait another decade, when most people's anger of Furlough Fridays would fade.
------------
In other news...........
For US House District 1 ---- Charles Djou (45%) lost to Colleen Hanabusa (55%)
US House District 2 ---- Kawika Crowley (19%) lost to new liberal star Tulsi Gabbard (81%)
Hawaii state senate only will have 1 Republican senator (Sam Slom). Republican legend Fred Hemmings tried to come out of retirement this year, but lost.
In the state House, there will be 44 Democrats and 7 Republicans (1 less than before)
---------
Chances are the Republicans would have a hard time rising in Hawaii anytime soon.
The Republican brand is poison to many Hawaii voters.
You can tell by the way Lingle and Djou kept emphasizing being "bipartisan" instead of being "Republican"
You can tell by anti-Cayetano brochures kept posting pictures of Cayetano alongside Mitt Romney and Linda Lingle, nevermind that Ben Cayetano was a long-time Democrat and is still a Democrat! But the brochures' points were "Cayetano is no longer one of us, he's with those right-wingers now"
Yep, being merely accused of "siding with Republicans" is now considered poison to your reputation!
And with the national Republican Party being even more dependent on white, ultra-conservative Christian Southern voters than before, the Republican brand is becoming even less appealing to the Hawaii voter. Good luck getting the youth vote now!
And the tragedy is, with a Democrat monopoly on power, there will be a stagnation when it comes to coming up with new ideas to push the state forward.
But that's the problem with a 2-party system. It's "you either with the Democrats or the crazy right-wingers" NEVERMIND that there are more political viewpoints than that!
The only way we can reduce the Democrat monopoly is to make all state elections non-partisan.
[Honolulu city & county elections are non-partisan :) ]
Instead of candidates hiding behing the (D) on the ballot, make them defend their points to a wide audience. Let there more competition than just "liberal Democrats vs right-wing crazies". Let the moderates, libertarians, etc have more of a voice in our system.
That way, someone like Ben Cayetano can oppose the rail project without being smeared as a "Romney Republican"!
And in general, let ANYONE oppose any Democrat initiatives without being slandered as a "right-wing Republican!"
Making all elections non-partisan will be the only way forward!
1) Honolulu Mayor's election
This was where I felt the most disappointment this election.
Kirk Caldwell (55%) defeated Ben Cayetano (45%)
The main issue was the proposed rail system.
For too long, pretty much every establishment politicians supported the rail project, even though we don't even have enough money to maintain our infrastructure (ie. parks, sewers, buses, water mains, roads) as it is!
And the main guy running on an anti-rail platform in the past few elections was Panos Prevedorous -- an engineering professor who was originally from Greece. Unfortunately, many voters won't vote for someone they can't relate to, and not many people in Hawaii could relate to a Greek professor that they haven't heard of.
So Ben Cayetano was the best hope to stop rail. He was local, of Filipino ancestry, and he was already a long-time legislator and a 2-term governor. If anyone could stop rail, it was Cayetano.
While Cayetano got way more votes than Prevedorous ever could (compare 45% to 18%), it still wasn't enough.
This was because most of the population growth is now in West Oahu, where the demand for rail is very high. Their votes pretty much cancel out votes from areas rail was never going to reach (ie. North Shore, Windward Oahu, East Honolulu)
However, most West Oahu rail supporters aren't likely to give up their cars, their mentality is "rail will get rid of OTHER cars off the road." With thousands with that mentality, don't expect much traffic reduction from West Oahu.
Anyways, to learn more about why I oppose the rail project, and the reductions in bus service to make way for rail, check out the following links
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2012/07/cayetano-and-rail.html
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2012/07/bus-service-cuts-hurt-disabled.html http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2012/05/bus-route-insanity.html
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2012/07/city-council-meeting.html
2) Hawaii's Democratic majority --- not going away anytime soon!
Hawaii has been pretty much pro-Democrat!
However, a decade ago, it was predicted that the Republicans will rise in Hawaii, especially since Linda Lingle won the governor's election in 2002!
But since then ................ nothing! Nothing from the Republicans.
Linda Lingle tried running for US Senate! She lost to Mazie Hirono, who she beat for governor back in 2002.
Too many people still remember Linda Lingle for "Furlough Fridays" when the school days got reduced due to budget shortages. That cost her Lt Gov Duke Aiona to lose the gubernatorial election 2 years ago, and that cost Lingle her senate campaign this year.
Lingle's time has pretty much passed her by! Even though many positives occurred early in her time as governor (ie. improved economy, better business climate), the Furlough Friday was too powerful an issue that people will never forget for a long time.
If Lingle wants a comeback, she would be best advised to wait another decade, when most people's anger of Furlough Fridays would fade.
------------
In other news...........
For US House District 1 ---- Charles Djou (45%) lost to Colleen Hanabusa (55%)
US House District 2 ---- Kawika Crowley (19%) lost to new liberal star Tulsi Gabbard (81%)
Hawaii state senate only will have 1 Republican senator (Sam Slom). Republican legend Fred Hemmings tried to come out of retirement this year, but lost.
In the state House, there will be 44 Democrats and 7 Republicans (1 less than before)
---------
Chances are the Republicans would have a hard time rising in Hawaii anytime soon.
The Republican brand is poison to many Hawaii voters.
You can tell by the way Lingle and Djou kept emphasizing being "bipartisan" instead of being "Republican"
You can tell by anti-Cayetano brochures kept posting pictures of Cayetano alongside Mitt Romney and Linda Lingle, nevermind that Ben Cayetano was a long-time Democrat and is still a Democrat! But the brochures' points were "Cayetano is no longer one of us, he's with those right-wingers now"
Yep, being merely accused of "siding with Republicans" is now considered poison to your reputation!
And with the national Republican Party being even more dependent on white, ultra-conservative Christian Southern voters than before, the Republican brand is becoming even less appealing to the Hawaii voter. Good luck getting the youth vote now!
And the tragedy is, with a Democrat monopoly on power, there will be a stagnation when it comes to coming up with new ideas to push the state forward.
But that's the problem with a 2-party system. It's "you either with the Democrats or the crazy right-wingers" NEVERMIND that there are more political viewpoints than that!
The only way we can reduce the Democrat monopoly is to make all state elections non-partisan.
[Honolulu city & county elections are non-partisan :) ]
Instead of candidates hiding behing the (D) on the ballot, make them defend their points to a wide audience. Let there more competition than just "liberal Democrats vs right-wing crazies". Let the moderates, libertarians, etc have more of a voice in our system.
That way, someone like Ben Cayetano can oppose the rail project without being smeared as a "Romney Republican"!
And in general, let ANYONE oppose any Democrat initiatives without being slandered as a "right-wing Republican!"
Making all elections non-partisan will be the only way forward!
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
coming soon
I already written a blog post analyzing the national election results.
I still haven't started the one analyzing Hawaii's election results.
Though it won't be as long as the national analysis, I still haven't found the time to start working on it.
I'll get it up ASAP!
I still haven't started the one analyzing Hawaii's election results.
Though it won't be as long as the national analysis, I still haven't found the time to start working on it.
I'll get it up ASAP!
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Election Analysis (national edition)
The 2012 elections came and went and the people have spoken.
Barack Obama won with 332 electoral votes and 50.5% of the popular vote
Mitt Romney got 206 electoral votes and 48% of the popular vote.
As for the lesser known candidates
Gary Johnson (Libertarian) 0.95%
Jill Stein (Green) 0.33%
Virgil Goode (Constitution) 0.09%
Roseanne Barr (Peace and Freedom) 0.04%
Rocky Anderson (Justice) 0.03%
Others 0.13%
( data from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2012 retrieved on 11/8/2012)
---------------
And it wasn't just the president being chosen this past Tuesday.
The US Senate now got a Democratic majority, the US House got a Republican majority.
One can easily saw that we got an almost evenly divided country where no one party dominates.
However, one can still make some bold, sweeping analysis of the results
#1 ) Liberal Morality Up,
Conservative Correctness Down
This isn't just based on Barack Obama winning re-election. This is also based on some voter initiatives on the state level, as well as polarizing politicians losing in swing states.
-----
One major issue was same-sex marriage.
For a while, some polls have showed that a majority of people now support same-sex marriage. But those opinion polls didn't matter. Only elections matter.
For a while, conservative activists love to flaunt the fact that everytime the issue has been voted on by the general public, same-sex marriage lost!
Until this year, that is!
Maine, Maryland and Washington state have all gotten same-sex marriage approved directly by the voting public.
The voters in Minnesota rejected a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. Getting same-sex marriage legalized requires extra steps though.
Other states have already legalized same-sex marriage but they were always done via the legislature (ie. New York) or via the courts (ie. Iowa).
But now that 3 states have voter-approved same-sex marriage, the issue WILL gain momentum.
Already, the younger generation is more approving of same-sex marriage. And more people are waking up to the reality that homophobia is wrong.
That trend has been proven by the decreasing majority of voters against same-sex marriage in California when comparing voter initiatives of 2000 and 2008.
In 2000, 61% voted against same-sex marriage!
In 2008, 53% voted against same-sex marriage.
So in 8 years , the opposition against same-sex marriage in California went from 61% to 53%.
Chances are, if California voters vote on the issue again in 8 years, the opposition to same-sex marriage will decline AGAIN, but that time to be less than 50%.
Same will likely to be true in many other states too!
For example, in Hawaii, the people voted against same-sex marriage in 1998. But since then, the people who were born between 1981 and 1994 have become eligible to vote. What will happen when those people and those born between 1995 and 2000 vote on this issue in 2018 (just picking a year to make an example)? Chances are really high that the new majority will vote to approve same-sex marriage.
A whole new generation has come up learning from a young age that homophobia is wrong! A whole new generation has come up learning from a young age that sexual orientation is an inborn trait! A whole new generation has come up looking to pop icons who are gay rights activists. In fact, even the jocks and rappers are supporting the gay rights movement.
The politicians have paid attention to this new trend. Obama/Biden knew it was time to "evolve". They got rewarded!
-------------------
Another issue that has gotten increasing support is legalizing marijuana!
For decades, marijuana has been banned by the feds.
But for the last 2 decades, several states (including but not limited to Hawaii, California, Oregon, Nevada, Michigan, New Mexico) have allowed for the medical use of marijuana, with medical permits required for use.
However, the federal government have cracked down on that. Even Barack Obama (who has broken his promise for more leniency on this issue) has allowed for more crackdowns.
But you know what?
The people's movement towards more leniency on medical marijuana has grown stronger.
This year, the voters Massachusetts have approved legalized medical marijuana.
But what's special about this year is that 2 states (Washington and Colorado) have gone a step further!
In both states, the voters have chosen to legalize marijuana for non-medical uses too!
Sure, there will still be regulations just like we still regulate alcohol and tobacco.
But the voters of Washington and Colorado have given the big middle finger towards the drug prohibitionists.
Don't expect those states to be the last ones to do so.
Whereas many in the older generation have portrayed marijuana to be as dangerous as cocaine, heroin or crystal meth, many in the younger generation have actually smoked marijuana at some point in their life, and they KNOW the scary side effects have been exaggerated by the prohibitionists.
In fact, alcohol is already legal and has WORSE side effects than marijuana.
from a doctor with experience in drug rehab
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703414504575001192775584982.html
This is obvious to many younger voters.
The movement to legalize marijuana has already gained critical mass in 2 states. It will definitely reach critical mass in other states soon.
It is time for Barack Obama to evolve. It is time for Obama say that he'll end federal regulations on marijuana and let each state decide.
Sure, he'll get scrutiny from screaming pundits like Bill O'Reilly.! Let them scream, they're on the losing side of the issue anyways.
----
As for abortion, while there are no state voter initiatives on this issue this year, it still became a hot topic.
The issue was "what about women who have raped, can't we just allow them to get an abortion?"
Well, 2 Republicans running for US Senate had cocky answers to that.
Todd Akin (R- Missouri) said that that if the woman really got raped, her body's chemistry will stop her from getting pregnant.
I wrote on the topic at http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2012/08/rape-and-pregnancy.html
Richard Mourdock (R- Indiana) that a fetus conceived from a rape is a "gift from God". So much for him believing in a loving God.
Another abortion-related issue is cases where the mother has an abortion to save her life.
Well, 1 Republican running for US House of Representative had a cocky answer to that.
Joe Walsh (R-Illinois) said “With modern technology and science, you can’t find one instance,” he said. “… There is no such exception as life of the mother, and as far as health of the mother, same thing.”
Walsh can't find one instance? Here's two!
http://www.salon.com/2011/05/26/abortion_saved_my_life/
http://www.salon.com/2012/10/24/what_health_of_the_mother_means/
Akin, Mourdock and Walsh are all conservative correctness warriors. Conservative correctness activists love to push the stereotype of "only sluts have abortions". But as mentioned, many abortions are the result of rape and/or life-threatening illness.
Akin, Mourdock, and Walsh thought they will get away with their heartlessness! THEY WERE WRONG!
All 3 politicians got punished this election
Akin and Mourdock ran in swing states with conservative tendencies. They were supposed to be able to beat their Democrat opponents. But they lost to their Democrat opponents.
Walsh lost in a moderate Illinois suburb to his Democrat opponent.
This tells us one major thing --- even in conservative-leaning states, people are getting tired of conservative correctness when it comes to abortion.
They are tired of conservative correctness bullies who mock real life victims of rape and real life pregnant victims of life-threatening illnesses.
#2) Republicans losing the minority vote!
Sure, the whites tend to vote Republican, non-whites tend to vote Democrat!
But the gap has increased in a MAJOR WAY this election.
Mitt Romney got only 27% of the Latino vote. Yet, Republicans like Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush got 45 % of the Latino vote when they got re-elected.
That 18% gap between 27 and 45? That made a HUGE difference in swing states like Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Florida and even Virginia!
So why the decline in Latino votes for Republicans?
Reagan and Bush fought for more lenient immigration policies. They got rewarded by higher-than-average Latino vote for Republicans.
Yet, other Republicans (ie. Pete Wilson, Janet Brewer, Tom Tancredo, etc) view poor Mexicans as "invaders threatening our Anglo way of life"
Those anti-immigration activists make lots of noise and loves to scream slogans like "what part of illegal don't you understand?"
Mitt Romney, being the flip-flopper that he is, was intimidated by those noise-makers, and started to advocate for more stricter immigration policies when running in the Republican primaries.
However, when it came closer to general election time, Romney spoken a more moderate tone on immigration.
It was too late!
People know Romney is a flip-flopper, and that he is likely to flip-flop on the issue again.
So more Latinos voted for Obama this year than in 2008.
----
Traditionally, the Asian-American vote is a swing vote.
Sure, in Hawaii, they tend to be Democrats, being that it is part of the labor tradition from the sugar plantation days.
But on the continent, Asians once were more sympathetic to Republicans on law-and-order, business policy, and (in the case of many refugees) anti-communism issues.
But the Cold War ended 2 decades ago, so anti-communism lost its relevance in national politics.
Also, whereas the older generation of Asian-Americans tend to be more conservative, the younger generation is much more liberal.
And this anti-immigration stuff (and Romney's flip-flopping on the issue) irritated many Asian-Americans to the point where 73% of Asian-Americans voted for Obama!
(compare that with Bill Clinton who only got 31% of the Asian-American vote in 1992) http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/obama-overwhelmingly-won-asian-american-vote-20121108
This made major impact in swing states with fast growing Asian-American populations like Nevada and Virginia.
----
What does mean for the Republican Party?
The Republican Party BETTER WAKE UP because the Latino and Asian population in the US is growing! And they're spreading to states in which they were once rare!
The American-born offspring of Latin/Asian immigrants are either of voting-age or about to become voting age. They WILL PUNISH any politician who wants more stricter immigration laws.
And you know what? Even many European-American youngsters have classmates of non-white heritage. So yeah, you're not going to tell a white kid to "fear the immigrant" if his school buddies are immigrant (or child of immigrants).
The Republican politicians who want to win need to start ignoring the anti-immigration fanatics already.
Start getting rid of the red-tape that makes legal immigration inconvenient! Stop the quota limitations!
And stop punishing young adults who were brought here illegally by their parents. (After all, 6-yr olds don't chose to change homes. So why punish them at 18, if their parents decided to move illegally 12 years earlier).
#3 ) Obama-Hatred doesn't work
If you spend all your time listening to right-wing talk radio and only reading right-wing websites, you would hear all this stuff like ........................ "Obama apologizes for America", "Obama is making our nation weak on purpose", "Obama is a Muslim", "Obama is not born in the US", "Obama is an elitist snob"..........blah, blah, blah.
If that's all you hear, you'd think America just can't wait to get rid of Obama.
That is why right-wing pundits like Dick Morris was sooooooooooooooooooo confident that Mitt Romney would easily defeat Barack Obama!
WAKE UP TO REALITY!
Obama maybe a flawed leader, but he is an icon to millions who are happy to finally have a minority president, after centuries of slavery, segregation, and racial profiling.
People were willing to give him another chance, even though the economy didn't improve nor did our deficits get reduced.
Plus, it's hard to believe this nonsense of "Obama apologizes for America" if the real Barack Obama sent more troops to fight Al Quaida in Afghanistan, sent special forces to kill Osama bin Laden, used US military jets to bomb targets in Libya, and increased drone warfare in Pakistan and Yemen.
While think some of Obama's economic policies are flawed (and I really believed Obama mishandled the health care issue with a 2,000+ page law), a lot of people believed that Obama inherited a recession from Bush, and therefore not willing to blame Obama for anything.
So yeah, so much for "Romney's landslide victory!
#5) Demonizing the 47% doesn't help
At a speech in Florida, Mitt Romney expressed the challenges he faced in this election with this
The stuff I highlighted in red is where Romney lost a lot of people's respect, especially since he grew up in a wealthy family and already have a hard-time relating to those who are struggling to climb the economic ladder.
Look, I do understand that there are people out there who take advantage of our welfare system, people who are irresponsible and make stupid decisions. I spent the 1st 14 years of my life in a public housing complex, I grew up around such people in the hood. I grew up with kids who don't respect the available educational opportunities. Some of my high school classmates have done time behind bars, and some are still there. And some of the students I've taught as a substitute teacher came from dysfunctional homes with irresponsible parents
But to say "the 47% who pay no income tax" all fit those stereotypes is just wrong!
Even worse, when Romney, when defending himself against accusations of taking too much advantage of tax loopholes, emphasized that he follows the law and pays all the taxes that he legally owes.
So did many of "the 47%" that he was talking about!
And like Jade Moon said, many of "the 47%" are taking responsibility for their life so that they can eventually join the 53% who make enough money to owe income taxes.
http://www.midweek.com/the-hard-days-as-a-47-percenter/
In that article, Jade Moon mentions about the time she fled an abusive relationship and tried to balance school and work without much money. She emphasized that she needed government assistance while attending college.
Afterwards, she become a well-known news reporter, and became well-off enough to owe money in income tax.
She emphasized this about her time as a so-called "47%"
What Jade Moon experienced has been experienced by millions of us, even those who have since joined "the 53% club".
To say that millions of us trying to work hard, balance school/family/work, and still don't make enough to officially owe income taxes are "victims", "who don't believe they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives" is insulting. Many of us are trying our best.
Ronald Reagan and the 2 Bushes showed the lower/middle income voters more respect. They won presidential elections. Romney didn't. Draw your own conclusions
-----
You can argue all day about how much social services should be provided by the government and how much should just be handled by private charities.
After all, government can't solve all our problems.
And some things can be handled better by private agencies rather than government bureaucracies.
Some government agencies might be better off being totally privatized (Especially stuff like PBS, NPR, National Endowment for the Arts)
But "the 47%" stuff is insulting, and only alienates voters from ides promoting smaller government.
#6) So what next?
Even with such stinging indictment of this election against the conservative correctness cause, some right-wing pundits think that the GOP will win with a more right-wing candidate.
LIVE IN REALITY PEOPLE!
There isn't much more right-wing conservative white votes to mine!
People are more likely to vote for more same-sex marriage, more legalized marijuana. People voted against those insensitive towards those who got an abortion.
The minorities have voted even more Democrat than before!
THOSE ARE NOT OPINIONS, THOSE ARE FACTS!
People don't want someone more right-wing than Mitt Romney! Those who did could have voted for the Constitutional Party (Virgil Goode), but they were outnumbered by those who voted Green (Jill Stein) and Libertarian (Gary Johnson)
THOSE ARE NOT OPINIONS, THOSE ARE FACTS!
Even more crazy, conservative correctness pundit Joe Farrah (of World Net Daily) was angry that Republican campaign veteran Karl Rove should have stood behind Todd Akin after his rape/abortion comment.
What Farrah doesn't understand was that Karl Rove was trying to Protect the Republican Brand!
After all, Micheal Vick lost endorsements when he got in trouble, right? His former sponsors were trying to Protect Their Brand when they cut ties with Vick!
Well, people like Todd Akin are poison! Anti-immigration fanatics are poison. Aggressive homophobes are poison! Those who look down on the poor are poison!
That's a lot of poison that the Republican candidate for 2016 will have to get away.
As for the Democrats, they shouldn't act as if a one-party monopoly is inevitable!
If the economy doesn't improve enough in 2016, the Democrats are in trouble!
If the deficits don't turn into surplus by 2016, the Democrats are in trouble!
If too many business feel that they are faced with too much bureaucratic headaches in 2016, the Democrats are in trouble!
And if the Republicans finally find someone sane to run for 2016, the Democrats are in trouble!
Barack Obama won with 332 electoral votes and 50.5% of the popular vote
Mitt Romney got 206 electoral votes and 48% of the popular vote.
As for the lesser known candidates
Gary Johnson (Libertarian) 0.95%
Jill Stein (Green) 0.33%
Virgil Goode (Constitution) 0.09%
Roseanne Barr (Peace and Freedom) 0.04%
Rocky Anderson (Justice) 0.03%
Others 0.13%
( data from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2012 retrieved on 11/8/2012)
---------------
And it wasn't just the president being chosen this past Tuesday.
The US Senate now got a Democratic majority, the US House got a Republican majority.
One can easily saw that we got an almost evenly divided country where no one party dominates.
However, one can still make some bold, sweeping analysis of the results
#1 ) Liberal Morality Up,
Conservative Correctness Down
This isn't just based on Barack Obama winning re-election. This is also based on some voter initiatives on the state level, as well as polarizing politicians losing in swing states.
-----
One major issue was same-sex marriage.
For a while, some polls have showed that a majority of people now support same-sex marriage. But those opinion polls didn't matter. Only elections matter.
For a while, conservative activists love to flaunt the fact that everytime the issue has been voted on by the general public, same-sex marriage lost!
Until this year, that is!
Maine, Maryland and Washington state have all gotten same-sex marriage approved directly by the voting public.
The voters in Minnesota rejected a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. Getting same-sex marriage legalized requires extra steps though.
Other states have already legalized same-sex marriage but they were always done via the legislature (ie. New York) or via the courts (ie. Iowa).
But now that 3 states have voter-approved same-sex marriage, the issue WILL gain momentum.
Already, the younger generation is more approving of same-sex marriage. And more people are waking up to the reality that homophobia is wrong.
That trend has been proven by the decreasing majority of voters against same-sex marriage in California when comparing voter initiatives of 2000 and 2008.
In 2000, 61% voted against same-sex marriage!
In 2008, 53% voted against same-sex marriage.
So in 8 years , the opposition against same-sex marriage in California went from 61% to 53%.
Chances are, if California voters vote on the issue again in 8 years, the opposition to same-sex marriage will decline AGAIN, but that time to be less than 50%.
Same will likely to be true in many other states too!
For example, in Hawaii, the people voted against same-sex marriage in 1998. But since then, the people who were born between 1981 and 1994 have become eligible to vote. What will happen when those people and those born between 1995 and 2000 vote on this issue in 2018 (just picking a year to make an example)? Chances are really high that the new majority will vote to approve same-sex marriage.
A whole new generation has come up learning from a young age that homophobia is wrong! A whole new generation has come up learning from a young age that sexual orientation is an inborn trait! A whole new generation has come up looking to pop icons who are gay rights activists. In fact, even the jocks and rappers are supporting the gay rights movement.
The politicians have paid attention to this new trend. Obama/Biden knew it was time to "evolve". They got rewarded!
-------------------
Another issue that has gotten increasing support is legalizing marijuana!
For decades, marijuana has been banned by the feds.
But for the last 2 decades, several states (including but not limited to Hawaii, California, Oregon, Nevada, Michigan, New Mexico) have allowed for the medical use of marijuana, with medical permits required for use.
However, the federal government have cracked down on that. Even Barack Obama (who has broken his promise for more leniency on this issue) has allowed for more crackdowns.
But you know what?
The people's movement towards more leniency on medical marijuana has grown stronger.
This year, the voters Massachusetts have approved legalized medical marijuana.
But what's special about this year is that 2 states (Washington and Colorado) have gone a step further!
In both states, the voters have chosen to legalize marijuana for non-medical uses too!
Sure, there will still be regulations just like we still regulate alcohol and tobacco.
But the voters of Washington and Colorado have given the big middle finger towards the drug prohibitionists.
Don't expect those states to be the last ones to do so.
Whereas many in the older generation have portrayed marijuana to be as dangerous as cocaine, heroin or crystal meth, many in the younger generation have actually smoked marijuana at some point in their life, and they KNOW the scary side effects have been exaggerated by the prohibitionists.
In fact, alcohol is already legal and has WORSE side effects than marijuana.
from a doctor with experience in drug rehab
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703414504575001192775584982.html
In most of my substance-abuse patients, I am far more concerned about their consumption of booze than pot. Alcohol frequently induces violent or dangerous behavior and often-irreversible physiological dependence; marijuana does neither. Chronic use of cannabis raises the risk of lung cancer, weight gain, and lingering cognitive changes—but chronic use of alcohol can cause pancreatitis, cirrhosis and permanent dementia. In healthy but reckless teens and young adults, it is frighteningly easy to consume a lethal dose of alcohol, but it is almost impossible to do so with marijuana. Further, compared with cannabis, alcohol can cause severe impairment of judgment, which results in greater concurrent use of hard drugs.
This is obvious to many younger voters.
The movement to legalize marijuana has already gained critical mass in 2 states. It will definitely reach critical mass in other states soon.
It is time for Barack Obama to evolve. It is time for Obama say that he'll end federal regulations on marijuana and let each state decide.
Sure, he'll get scrutiny from screaming pundits like Bill O'Reilly.! Let them scream, they're on the losing side of the issue anyways.
----
As for abortion, while there are no state voter initiatives on this issue this year, it still became a hot topic.
The issue was "what about women who have raped, can't we just allow them to get an abortion?"
Well, 2 Republicans running for US Senate had cocky answers to that.
Todd Akin (R- Missouri) said that that if the woman really got raped, her body's chemistry will stop her from getting pregnant.
I wrote on the topic at http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2012/08/rape-and-pregnancy.html
Richard Mourdock (R- Indiana) that a fetus conceived from a rape is a "gift from God". So much for him believing in a loving God.
Another abortion-related issue is cases where the mother has an abortion to save her life.
Well, 1 Republican running for US House of Representative had a cocky answer to that.
Joe Walsh (R-Illinois) said “With modern technology and science, you can’t find one instance,” he said. “… There is no such exception as life of the mother, and as far as health of the mother, same thing.”
Walsh can't find one instance? Here's two!
http://www.salon.com/2011/05/26/abortion_saved_my_life/
http://www.salon.com/2012/10/24/what_health_of_the_mother_means/
Akin, Mourdock and Walsh are all conservative correctness warriors. Conservative correctness activists love to push the stereotype of "only sluts have abortions". But as mentioned, many abortions are the result of rape and/or life-threatening illness.
Akin, Mourdock, and Walsh thought they will get away with their heartlessness! THEY WERE WRONG!
All 3 politicians got punished this election
Akin and Mourdock ran in swing states with conservative tendencies. They were supposed to be able to beat their Democrat opponents. But they lost to their Democrat opponents.
Walsh lost in a moderate Illinois suburb to his Democrat opponent.
This tells us one major thing --- even in conservative-leaning states, people are getting tired of conservative correctness when it comes to abortion.
They are tired of conservative correctness bullies who mock real life victims of rape and real life pregnant victims of life-threatening illnesses.
#2) Republicans losing the minority vote!
Sure, the whites tend to vote Republican, non-whites tend to vote Democrat!
But the gap has increased in a MAJOR WAY this election.
Mitt Romney got only 27% of the Latino vote. Yet, Republicans like Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush got 45 % of the Latino vote when they got re-elected.
That 18% gap between 27 and 45? That made a HUGE difference in swing states like Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Florida and even Virginia!
So why the decline in Latino votes for Republicans?
Reagan and Bush fought for more lenient immigration policies. They got rewarded by higher-than-average Latino vote for Republicans.
Yet, other Republicans (ie. Pete Wilson, Janet Brewer, Tom Tancredo, etc) view poor Mexicans as "invaders threatening our Anglo way of life"
Those anti-immigration activists make lots of noise and loves to scream slogans like "what part of illegal don't you understand?"
Mitt Romney, being the flip-flopper that he is, was intimidated by those noise-makers, and started to advocate for more stricter immigration policies when running in the Republican primaries.
However, when it came closer to general election time, Romney spoken a more moderate tone on immigration.
It was too late!
People know Romney is a flip-flopper, and that he is likely to flip-flop on the issue again.
So more Latinos voted for Obama this year than in 2008.
----
Traditionally, the Asian-American vote is a swing vote.
Sure, in Hawaii, they tend to be Democrats, being that it is part of the labor tradition from the sugar plantation days.
But on the continent, Asians once were more sympathetic to Republicans on law-and-order, business policy, and (in the case of many refugees) anti-communism issues.
But the Cold War ended 2 decades ago, so anti-communism lost its relevance in national politics.
Also, whereas the older generation of Asian-Americans tend to be more conservative, the younger generation is much more liberal.
And this anti-immigration stuff (and Romney's flip-flopping on the issue) irritated many Asian-Americans to the point where 73% of Asian-Americans voted for Obama!
(compare that with Bill Clinton who only got 31% of the Asian-American vote in 1992) http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/obama-overwhelmingly-won-asian-american-vote-20121108
This made major impact in swing states with fast growing Asian-American populations like Nevada and Virginia.
----
What does mean for the Republican Party?
The Republican Party BETTER WAKE UP because the Latino and Asian population in the US is growing! And they're spreading to states in which they were once rare!
The American-born offspring of Latin/Asian immigrants are either of voting-age or about to become voting age. They WILL PUNISH any politician who wants more stricter immigration laws.
And you know what? Even many European-American youngsters have classmates of non-white heritage. So yeah, you're not going to tell a white kid to "fear the immigrant" if his school buddies are immigrant (or child of immigrants).
The Republican politicians who want to win need to start ignoring the anti-immigration fanatics already.
Start getting rid of the red-tape that makes legal immigration inconvenient! Stop the quota limitations!
And stop punishing young adults who were brought here illegally by their parents. (After all, 6-yr olds don't chose to change homes. So why punish them at 18, if their parents decided to move illegally 12 years earlier).
#3 ) Obama-Hatred doesn't work
If you spend all your time listening to right-wing talk radio and only reading right-wing websites, you would hear all this stuff like ........................ "Obama apologizes for America", "Obama is making our nation weak on purpose", "Obama is a Muslim", "Obama is not born in the US", "Obama is an elitist snob"..........blah, blah, blah.
If that's all you hear, you'd think America just can't wait to get rid of Obama.
That is why right-wing pundits like Dick Morris was sooooooooooooooooooo confident that Mitt Romney would easily defeat Barack Obama!
WAKE UP TO REALITY!
Obama maybe a flawed leader, but he is an icon to millions who are happy to finally have a minority president, after centuries of slavery, segregation, and racial profiling.
People were willing to give him another chance, even though the economy didn't improve nor did our deficits get reduced.
Plus, it's hard to believe this nonsense of "Obama apologizes for America" if the real Barack Obama sent more troops to fight Al Quaida in Afghanistan, sent special forces to kill Osama bin Laden, used US military jets to bomb targets in Libya, and increased drone warfare in Pakistan and Yemen.
While think some of Obama's economic policies are flawed (and I really believed Obama mishandled the health care issue with a 2,000+ page law), a lot of people believed that Obama inherited a recession from Bush, and therefore not willing to blame Obama for anything.
So yeah, so much for "Romney's landslide victory!
#5) Demonizing the 47% doesn't help
At a speech in Florida, Mitt Romney expressed the challenges he faced in this election with this
There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That's an entitlement. The government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what. And I mean the president starts off with 48, 49...he starts off with a huge number. These are people who pay no income tax. Forty-seven percent of Americans pay no income tax. So our message of low taxes doesn't connect. So he'll be out there talking about tax cuts for the rich. ... [M]y job is is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives. What I have to do is convince the 5–10% in the center that are independents, that are thoughtful, that look at voting one way or the other depending upon in some cases emotion, whether they like the guy or not.
The stuff I highlighted in red is where Romney lost a lot of people's respect, especially since he grew up in a wealthy family and already have a hard-time relating to those who are struggling to climb the economic ladder.
Look, I do understand that there are people out there who take advantage of our welfare system, people who are irresponsible and make stupid decisions. I spent the 1st 14 years of my life in a public housing complex, I grew up around such people in the hood. I grew up with kids who don't respect the available educational opportunities. Some of my high school classmates have done time behind bars, and some are still there. And some of the students I've taught as a substitute teacher came from dysfunctional homes with irresponsible parents
But to say "the 47% who pay no income tax" all fit those stereotypes is just wrong!
Even worse, when Romney, when defending himself against accusations of taking too much advantage of tax loopholes, emphasized that he follows the law and pays all the taxes that he legally owes.
So did many of "the 47%" that he was talking about!
And like Jade Moon said, many of "the 47%" are taking responsibility for their life so that they can eventually join the 53% who make enough money to owe income taxes.
http://www.midweek.com/the-hard-days-as-a-47-percenter/
In that article, Jade Moon mentions about the time she fled an abusive relationship and tried to balance school and work without much money. She emphasized that she needed government assistance while attending college.
Afterwards, she become a well-known news reporter, and became well-off enough to owe money in income tax.
She emphasized this about her time as a so-called "47%"
Did I enjoy being poor? Did I squeal with glee at having evaded the taxman and taking free tuition money from the government.
Hell no. Not for one bleeping second
And did I consider myself a victim? And not just a victim, but one who refused to take personal responsibility for my life?
What do you think? The truth is I hated being poor. I was ashamed. I wanted out of what I saw was a potentially hopeless life path. I took responsibility in all the ways I could, and that included government assistance.
When people say the poor should pull them selves up by their bootstraps, where do they think those bootstraps come from? The help I received – from both the government and from people who cared about me – were my bootstraps. I grabbed them and hung on and used them to climb up, and I have never, ever stopped being grateful.
And after I graduated and finally found work that paid enough so that I could file federal income tax … well, I celebrated.
Hallelujah! Bring on the forms – I was officially not poor anymore!
What Jade Moon experienced has been experienced by millions of us, even those who have since joined "the 53% club".
To say that millions of us trying to work hard, balance school/family/work, and still don't make enough to officially owe income taxes are "victims", "who don't believe they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives" is insulting. Many of us are trying our best.
Ronald Reagan and the 2 Bushes showed the lower/middle income voters more respect. They won presidential elections. Romney didn't. Draw your own conclusions
-----
You can argue all day about how much social services should be provided by the government and how much should just be handled by private charities.
After all, government can't solve all our problems.
And some things can be handled better by private agencies rather than government bureaucracies.
Some government agencies might be better off being totally privatized (Especially stuff like PBS, NPR, National Endowment for the Arts)
But "the 47%" stuff is insulting, and only alienates voters from ides promoting smaller government.
#6) So what next?
Even with such stinging indictment of this election against the conservative correctness cause, some right-wing pundits think that the GOP will win with a more right-wing candidate.
LIVE IN REALITY PEOPLE!
There isn't much more right-wing conservative white votes to mine!
People are more likely to vote for more same-sex marriage, more legalized marijuana. People voted against those insensitive towards those who got an abortion.
The minorities have voted even more Democrat than before!
THOSE ARE NOT OPINIONS, THOSE ARE FACTS!
People don't want someone more right-wing than Mitt Romney! Those who did could have voted for the Constitutional Party (Virgil Goode), but they were outnumbered by those who voted Green (Jill Stein) and Libertarian (Gary Johnson)
THOSE ARE NOT OPINIONS, THOSE ARE FACTS!
Even more crazy, conservative correctness pundit Joe Farrah (of World Net Daily) was angry that Republican campaign veteran Karl Rove should have stood behind Todd Akin after his rape/abortion comment.
What Farrah doesn't understand was that Karl Rove was trying to Protect the Republican Brand!
After all, Micheal Vick lost endorsements when he got in trouble, right? His former sponsors were trying to Protect Their Brand when they cut ties with Vick!
Well, people like Todd Akin are poison! Anti-immigration fanatics are poison. Aggressive homophobes are poison! Those who look down on the poor are poison!
That's a lot of poison that the Republican candidate for 2016 will have to get away.
As for the Democrats, they shouldn't act as if a one-party monopoly is inevitable!
If the economy doesn't improve enough in 2016, the Democrats are in trouble!
If the deficits don't turn into surplus by 2016, the Democrats are in trouble!
If too many business feel that they are faced with too much bureaucratic headaches in 2016, the Democrats are in trouble!
And if the Republicans finally find someone sane to run for 2016, the Democrats are in trouble!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)