On Tuesday, March 15, 2016 Primary Elections were conducted in Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, and Texas by both the Democratic and Republican Parties. The purpose was to allow registered voters make their choices known with regard to supporting Presidential candidates.
Despite uncivil language and behavior on the part of four Republican campaigners, the registered voters made their choices known at the ballot boxes. It was their votes which caused Florida’s Senator Marco Rubio to announce his campaign’s suspension after losing to billiionaire Donald Trump. His well-funded campaign flooded Florida’s media with negative attack advertisements directed at Marco Rubio.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz managed to garner enough votes to stay in contention. Former Ohio Governor John Kasich was chosen by enough Ohio voters so he will have 66 delegates at the Republican Convention in Cleveland, Ohio. He is the only Republican Presidential candidate who has consistently displayed an acceptable public persona.
Billionaire Donald Trump has funded a campaign with personal wealth derived from the Trump Enterprises containing several hotels. Trump’s campaign rhetoric has been rude, abusive and in several cases inflammatory and vulgar. He began his life’s journey with a ‘golden spoon’ in his mouth and the arrogance which accompanies wealth, which buys whatever is wanted. Latinos would be wise not to choose Trump because “I am going to build a wall at the Mexican-American border which Mexico will pay for”, is simply a misuse of resources. Historically, the Great Wall of China; Adrian’s Wall built by the Roman legions in northern England, France’s Ziegfried defense wall and the Berlin Wall all failed. A Mexican-American stated “Doesn’t Donald Trump know that Mexican sappers will construct tunnels under that wall if it is ever built? Our top drug czars have used tunnels several times to escape from high security prisons. Besides, I will never vote for Trump because of his insulting statements that Mexicans who migrate to America “are all criminals and rapists which Mexico sends here.” I wonder if Donald Trump pays those Mexican service workers who labor in his hotels a ‘living wage’. He comes across like an ‘Ugly American Bully’…the image I do not want to see in this nation’s White House.”
I note that Trump, along with the other 16 Republican candidates, have not said much about the public policies they favor. Republican ideologues favor ‘less government’, lower taxes, the privatization of Social Security Administration programs (into which working class folks contribute their share of contributions).
In addition, Tea Party Republicans have been obstructionists who oppose any legislation needed to fund proposals by President Obama. Republican Congressional leaders blame Obama for everything while not crafting any legislation which allocates funding to maintain our nation’s aged infrastructure. National security and lower taxes for the ultra-wealthy always seem to be favored. Challenging public policy issues regarding education, tax reform, comprehensive immigration reform, food stamps and the impact of green house gases on the global climate are ignored or neglected. Would registered voters really want to choose another ‘do-nothing U.S. Congress dominated by Republican ideologues? I think not. It would be good to elect Democratic Senators and Representatives so as to give the next President a U.S. Congress whose leaders are Democrats.
These primaries have resulted in Hillary Clinton becoming the presumptive choice of Democratic voters. Bernie Sanders and Hillary have had civil debates where substantive public policy matters have been debated. Sanders has forced Hillary to begin presenting her public policy approaches to the many matters our domestic economy faces. It would be good if Bernie were the next Vice President who looked after American domestic affairs while Hillary Clinton continues to address foreign policy issues which impact our society, its economy, and its national sovereignty.
This Presidents Election year 2016 has presented “We, The People” with explicit reasons to make choices which will result in the election of a new U.S. Congress and its President who will be the successor of President Obama, our first ‘Black’ President whose legacy will be fairly defined by future historians, but certainly not by current Republican ideologues who represent former Confederacy states, which finally took down their Confederate flag 150 years after suffering Civil War defeats.
California’s citizens, especially those 4.2 million unregistered Latino citizens, must make a personal choice to register to vote, learn about the many inter-related public policy issues, and then make their informed choices known by actually voting. Voting makes us all constituent stakeholders who can hold their local elected official accountable and responsible. I hope Latinos will decide to vote in the great numbers possible because their personal values will be reflected through the voice of their votes. There are many choices to be made by informed voters.