Showing posts with label minorities. Show all posts
Showing posts with label minorities. Show all posts

Thursday, August 23, 2012

I was for voter ID before I was against it

OK, someone has already said that but I just found out it can actually happen.  It didn’t seem wrong to me to simply ask an individual if they were actually the person whose name was on the voting rolls.  If I have to prove who I am to get on an airplane, and I do, then why not when I vote?  But then I started checking into the demographics of those that would be affected most, plus reading a recent report of just how rare voter fraud is in the U.S.  Now I’m not sure either way.

Those most likely to be affected are the poor, minorities and elderly.  Is it a coincidence that much of this group would be most likely to vote for Democrats?  No it definitely is not just fate since the major force behind voter ID laws is Republican led.  As an example, according to Open Channel on NBC, the ultra conservative organization American Legislative Exchange Counsil (ALEC) has launched a “flurry” of voter ID bills.  So much for GOP credibility.

Let’s talk demographics starting with Hispanics.  The Latinos population represents 16.3%, based on the latest Census figures.  For a family of four, the poverty level is considered to be around $22,350 and that represents 13% of U.S. population.  The elderly defined as being age 65 plus number 13%.  This comes in at a grand total of 42.3% of the U.S. population.  Let’s assume the majority of these three groups would lean to voting for Democrats.

According to 2008 election figures, there were 213,313,508 eligible voters representing 70.2% of the U.S population.  But only 132,653,958 voted in 2008 or just 43.6% of the population and 62.6% of eligible voters.  The question, of course, is just how much of the 42.3% above is represented in the 132,653,958 that voted in 2008, or better yet, not represented. 

The turnout rate for the voting age population in 2008 was 56.9% and we might wonder if some or all of the above profile are included.  In either case, voter ID laws could certainly only further discourage whatever number that was.

The hardest hit will be the minorities, particularly Hispanics in certain states.  Arrests through Arizona’s Maricopa County sweeps by Sheriff Joe Arpaio have put the fear of potential jail, at least harassment into even the legals in the state and nationwide, even though they have proof of legality.  USA Today reports, “Every year, 600,000 more Latinos become eligible voters, making them a potentially potent voting force.”  The problem is getting them to the polls.

And this will certainly change with the younger Latino generation that is on the way.  I say that by witnessing first-hand here in Arizona how these young undocumenteds are applying for President Obama’s Deferred Action Plan in large numbers.  Although they are illegal according to Arizona’s Gov. Jan Brewer, they are openly defying her executive order against giving them state benefits, including obtaining driver’s licenses to get to work.

Young Turks expose GOP support of voter ID is to win elections:

The stupid antics of Brewer and disgraced former State Senator Russell Pearce, including some in the state legislature, will come back to haunt the Arizona GOP in future years.  A Hispanic voting bloc large enough to vote these fanatics out of office can’t come soon enough for most progressives in the state.  Pew Research reported 6.6 million Latinos voted in 2010, adding that they expect a turnout of a record 12.2 million in November, which would be a 26% increase over 2008.

But when it comes to voter fraud, one of the primary reasons Republicans are pushing voter ID, a study has found that it is almost non-existent.  2,068 cases of alleged voter fraud were analyzed and only 10 cases of alleged in-person voter impersonation were found since 2000.  That’s less than one per year.  Based on 146 million U.S. registered voters, that comes out to one in every 15 million registered voters.  It would appear the GOP has no grounds for suspicion there.

Raging prejudice but it happens
Republican Mississippi state representative, Bill Denny, who sponsored his state’s voter ID law, said, “Whether you have proof of it or not, what in the heavens is wrong with showing an ID at polls?"  Here’s why.  The state has a black population of 37%, Hispanics 2.7%.  Total population is 2,983,922 so that means a full compliment eligible to vote would equal a total number of 1,184,617 that could throw Denny and other bigots like him out of office in November.

The answer is education before enacting voter ID laws.  We must educate the population on just how important is to register and vote in all elections.  Using activists reaching the poor and elderly, and in the black and Latino communities, to get the word out that to expect representation of their needs, they must go to the polls and elect those who believe what they believe.  And most of all, we must take the fear out of voting for minorities.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Occupy Movement must dump camps for mission and strategy

If you look at the latest stamina of President Obama’s rhetoric on issues you would have to agree that it is far more forceful than a year ago.  And it was just a little more than a year ago that the Occupy Movement started; Occupy Wall Street held its first demonstration on September 17, 2011.  At that time the Tea Party was going full blast and deciding much of what was going on in Congress. 

TPers still have their influence but it is waning, evidenced by recent GOP conciliations on the payroll tax cut.

Arlen Grossman, writing in OpEdNews, talks of how the President was willing to make all kinds of deals with the GOP on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the taxing of the rich back in early to mid-2011.  And then the Occupy Movement began to do their number in September and the American public suddenly realized there were several inequities in the system that needed to be fixed. 

It all centered around the 1% that controlled all the wealth, leaving the other 99% to fend for itself in an arena that was clearly weighted toward the 1%.

“Issues of class and economic fairness that had been swept under the rug for years suddenly became issues for discussion. Middle class Americans began to understand that corporations and the wealthy were paying a lower tax rate than they were,” says Grossman.  And Barack Obama became “bolder,” more resolute in where he stood on the issues he had had to appease Republicans on just a year ago.

Grossman adds: “I can't help but think that the Occupy movement has played a major role in reversing the focus of politics from last fall until now. If Occupy disappeared right now, they could get credit for accomplishing quite a bit in a short time.”

The New York Times says that although the Occupy camps are dismantling, it is “far from dissipating.”  They are only regrouping for the next thrust which will include larger marches and strikes coming up in the spring, designed to rebuild momentum, returning to the issues of inequality and corporate greed.  New York City is still the center of the movement but expansion nationwide, even worldwide, has proved the dedication of those involved.

William A. Galston, a senior fellow and an expert on political strategy at the Brookings Institution in Washington said, “They’ve gotten the people’s attention, and now they have to say something more specific.  Average Americans want solutions, not demonstrations, and their patience for the latter won’t last indefinitely.”  Demonstrators have been hearing this for months, but like any new movement, they had to wear through the emotionalism first.

An editorial from USA Today says the Occupy Movement is “…fading out in a whimper.”  The paper also says the movement hit a rich vein of dissent with Wall Street, “But after successfully tapping into this vein, the Occupiers chose a course best described as doing nothing.”  They may have a point that the demonstrators put too much stock in their physical presence in an encampment, but others might counter that they were simply taking time to reorganize.


Pew Research Report

One thing is very clear.  “Occupy must include minorities.” is an article from the Pasadena Sun that comments on the economic regression of the middle-class in America.  It goes on to say, “According to a 2011 Pew Center report, the median wealth of Hispanic households dropped by 66% between 2005 and 2009. That is a larger drop than experienced by black households, 53%, and far worse than the 16% experienced by whites.” 

In other words, who is more likely to be affected by the Occupy Movement that blacks and Hispanics?

The piece made another excellent point that in good times the U.S. favors immigration because of the work force available to do a number of jobs.  But in bad times immigrants are “scapegoats,” evidenced by the anti-immigration law SB-1070 enacted by Arizona.  With the surge in the Latino population, and in particular their recent enterprise toward activism, this should be one of Occupy’s top priorities.

The unemployment rate for black Americans is at 15 percent, compared to around 8 percent for whites.  But the majority of the movement is white as reported by A Fast Company survey recently that found that African Americans, who are 12.6 percent of the U.S. population, make up only 1.6 percent of
Occupy Wall Street
.  The Washington Post also said, “We can’t expect our civil rights organizations and political leaders to help blacks rage against the corporate machine when they are part of it.”

There is no other group of Americans more entrenched in activism for their rights than blacks and it will be a tragedy if they are not encouraged to fight for them alongside the Occupy Movement.

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