Friday, November 09, 2012

Post-election thoughts

So the 2012 election - the most expensive presidential election in history - is over.

Some thoughts:

First, I'm very VERY happy Obama won a second term, for a lot of reasons. Not the least among these is the fact that Romney and his teabagger supporters and the god-zillionaires like the Koch brothers who tried to buy the election are just way way way too far out in right field. They want perpetual power for themselves, even though there is no concrete plan for what they would do with that power. They want smaller government. That is, they want less government regulation of corporations but interference in individuals' personal lives is okay. They want lower taxes for the wealthiest while planning higher taxes on the poor and middle classes - those hardest hit by the economic disaster their policies allowed to happen. And they do not support equal rights for ALL people - regardless of gender, sexual orientation, economic status, race, religion and place of origin. The Constitution, and especially the Bill of Rights, was created to protect right. Yet these people who insist only they know the true meaning of the Constitution propose amendment after amendment to take away rights.

I do hope Congress and it's entrenched "conservatives" - think John Boehner - are more open to dialogue this term. After all, it's too late to make sure Obama is a one-term President. Boehner failed at that "job," which he considered his most important as Speaker of the House. Let's hope he does better at his new one, representing what's best for the country.

Now on to Puerto Rico. In the interest of full disclosure, I must say I did not vote in this election. I've learned more about the parties in PR (political, not rum) in the past few days than I have in the past six years. But I still don't think I understand enough to make an informed decision.

Puerto Rico held it's fourth referendum on the question of statehood. On the ballot was a two-part question: the first asked voters if they favor the current status as a U.S. territory. Fifty-four percent said no, they are not content with the current status.  Second, should Puerto Rico become a state, independent or a "sovereign free association." The latter is not the same as the current status. This new designation would give la isla more autonomy that it currently has.

Sixty-one percent voted for statehood.

This is important. It is the first time a clear majority of Puerto Rican voters have voted for statehood. Note: this is not binding. It still takes an act of Congress to make Puerto Rico the 51st state. But it is an expression of the will of the people.

Or is it? With a body politic that is at least as divided and screwed up as that in the states, island voters turned out the sitting pro-statehood PNP (Partido Nuevo Progresista) party governor, Luis Fortuño, and elected a PPD (Partido Popular Democrático) party governor, Alejandro Garcia Padilla. The PPD is pro-status quo, that is, continuing as a "free associated state" or commonwealth of the U.S.

Much is being made of this split between voting for statehood but electing an anti-statehood governor. The pro-statehood people are afraid the new governor will try to undermine statehood. vote and with good reason. The PPD is already trying to discredit the vote, saying it is not valid. Others are using an numbers game, siting how many voters left question one blank or how many left question two blank, as proof that a majority of pueertoricañs really don't want statehood.

While the split vote definitely creates problems, my personal sense is the reason for the split vote is not that complicated. I think people just didn't like Fortuño. He did some very very unpopular things economically like laying off 22,000 government workers. It was a necessary move, long overdue, but how he did it was the problem. He just dumped people on the streets with no economic plan to put them or the other thousands of unemployed on the island to work. (Sound familiar? The PNP is aligned with the Republican Party in the states.) That's just one example. I think islanders just wanted him out. Puerto Rico has a long history of one-term governors.

So where will all this go? My personal guess is nowhere.Given the political climate in the states and the debate that is sure to rage on the island, I don't think anybody is going to do anything. It's easier to leave things alone. What we have works - sort of. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

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