Hilbert Morales / EL OBSERVADOR
I want to remind EO’s readership that beginning with Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal (1936) which addressed unemployment issues of the Great Depression with PWA (Public Works Authority; followed by the nomination and election of J.F.Kennedy, who became the first Catholic President; followed by L.B. Johnson’s Civil Rights legislation; Bill Clinton’s Administration which resulted in a national surplus; and then the election of Barack Hussein Obama as the first African American President of the u.S.A…..the historic selection of Hillary Clinton as the first American woman as the Presidential candidate of the Democratic Party….These are all progressive public policy actions with outcomes that produced the greatest good for the greatest number.
It is essential the local Chicano-Latino-Hispanic millennial youth understand that in this nation “change you can believe in” happens without violence and bloodshed. Your personal vote is your voice and Latinos must begin to vote in order to ‘belong’ as Americans of Mexican heritage. Now understand that Mexicans have been involved in the development of this American Democracy for the past 450 years.
Now then, personal freedom and civil liberties are earned by your behavior and actions. Our American civil liberties and access to earning a good living (accompanied by wealth) is the outcome of our socio-economic democratic system which has been untracked recently by those who favor owning all the wealth and having all that power.
If local Latinos want to have more access, then they must vote to elect current Member of Congress Loretta Sanchez as their next U.S. Senator. Her legislative skills already exist with her 20 years of legislative work in the House of Representatives as CA-District 49 representative.
Go to <California Secretary of State> to validate that Loretta Sanchez received 943,002 votes (18.5%) and Kamala Harris 2,051,048 votes (40.3%) which ensures a runoff election will happen prior to the Presidential Elections, Tuesday, November 8, 2016. Imagine Loretta Sanchez being elected especially when 4,000,000 Latino citizens who have not registered to vote were to do that (per Alex Padilla, CA Secretary of State). They could elect the first Latina U.S. Senator who will provide ‘direct representation; and who is from our own CA community. All Latino citizens must vote to earn ‘direct representation’.
Go to <sccvote.org> to validate for yourself that District 27, Central Committee will have Juan Quinones, Aimee Escobar, Maya Esparza, Omar Torres, Claudia Shope, and Alberto Hernandez as its six Central Committee (DEM) members. It is at this committee, commission, and school board level that local residents may become engaged, involved, and active while learning how community public policy issues are defined and assigned to the correct jurisdiction. EO encourages millennial Latinos to begin at this level of public community service.
This Primary Election (06.07.2016) reveals that local Latino citizens who did not vote must understand their vote were missed. The U.S. Congressional District 17 contest between Ro Khanna and incumbent Mike Honda could be decided by their ‘swing votes’. Ro Khana received 26,010 votes (38.13%); Mike Honda received 26,356 (38.63%) votes. Honda has been an effective Silicon Valley advocate in the U.S. House of Representatives. He worked with Loretta Sanchez to bring millions of federal transportation dollars to BART and VTA. He has made no deals with Wall Street; nor accepted any ‘DARK MONEY’. As a Japanese-American, Mike Honda experienced living in WWII ‘protective encampments’; As a former teacher, he has supported funding education & job training programs. Ro Khana has none of that experience nor Congressional seniority.
Keep in mind that the City of San Jose is a $5.4 Billion public service enterprise in which we are all stakeholders and shareholders because our property taxes, sales taxes, and fees provide the revenues which underwrite all civic services. San Jose City Council seats 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 were on the ballot.
The tally for SJ Council, District 2 is Steve Brown: 3976 votes (32,52%) and Sergio Jimenez: 3924 votes (32.10%). Only 52 votes separated these two candidates. Absent Latino voters were missed here.
In SJ District 4, Council member Manh Nguyen received 6,247 votes (50.53%); his competitor Lan Diep got 6,115 votes (49.47%). So Manh Nguyen is re-elected since he received more than 50% of the votes cast. (Only 132 votes separated the winner from his competitor.)
Similarly, in SJ District 6 contest, Devone ‘Dev’ Joan Davis: 3238 votes (20.63%); Helen K. Chapman: 3094 votes (19.90%). A runoff election is required.
SJ District 8 Council candidate Sylvia Arenas: 3121 votes (22.29%); Jimmy Nguyen received 3464 votes (24.64%). This calls for another runoff election. Absentee Latino voters have another opportunity here to elect another ‘direct Latino community representative!
San Jose District 10 City Council incumbent Johnny Khamis received 11,211 votes (75.98%) to win his re-election outright. Congratulations.
In the CA State Senator, District 15 contest, incumbent Jim Beall: 65,437 votes (49.25%); Nora Campos: 34,950 votes (26.30%). This outcome will require a run-off election unless after Registrar of Voter’s staff tally the uncounted votes, CA Senator Jim Beall exceeds 50% plus one. In that scenario, Beall is ‘re-elected to his next term’.
At the national (federal government) level, Hillary Clinton (DEM) and Donald Trump (REP) have become their party’s presumptive Presidential candidate. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders must unify the Democratic Party so as to ensure that the White House (the Presidency) continues having Democratic Party leadership. Sanders is to be commended for his campaign strategy which was based upon the needs of the millennial youth of this nation. Establishment Democratic machine must accept the need to work out issues of income inequity; infrastructural repairs and upgrades; comprehensive immigration reform; comprehensive tax reform; Wall Street must accept monitoring and regulation;education needs to become more rigorous; etc. Sanders did the nation a service by focusing upon the domestic needs which impact the millennials and middle class the most. Income and wealth disparities must be addressed.
The Republican Party’s Presidential candidate, Donald Trump, continues to reveal how unsuited he is to the resolution of any challenges this nation faces. He continues to be the “Ugly American Bully” who demonstrates with his racism, bias, bigotry and prejudice that he is simply not suited to become the leader of this nation and the free world. He denies that his words and antics did not encourage the type of undisciplined behavior exhibited after that Trump Rally in San Jose, CA. Physical attacks on members of the opposition do not resolve anything. In this nation, “change you can believe in” occurs via our disciplined votes. Non-violent behavior is powerful when it is backed by lawful, ethical, and moral behavior which demonstrates to the ‘racist bigots’ that our community is very civilized.
Latino voters must understand that their votes do count and do elect an individual who is from your own ethnic community willing to represent your interests (as well as those of the entire community) at the negotiation/conference table. Democracy works best when we all vote.
