Thursday, November 15, 2012

Ruckus at the caucus

Am I the first person to cry at a caucus meeting? Picture a very prego lady who parked illegally 1/2 mile away from the door of the school building and arrived to her caucus meeting a little flushed but determined to do her duty as a citizen. Cuz that was me on March 15, 2012 and I may have looked ready to pop, but for me, being there to vote was so right. At least until they asked for delegate nominees and I got that tap-on-the-shoulder impression that it was my turn to stand up and yes, nominate myself. 

My speech was heartfelt, I talked of PTA advocacy and being on graffiti watch in my neighborhood but I felt very strongly that I should tell the small gathering just exactly where the Republican party was heading vote-wise with the Latino college-aged kids. I related to them an article in the Salt Lake Trib's weekly Spanish paper where they interviewed youth at the University of Utah and they kids expressed that the Republican party held nothing for them. They claimed that their needs were being ignored. And I concluded, in the spirit of transparency, by telling everyone that my husband would become a citizen in April. The looks in the faces at my neighborhood caucus meeting told me that they were not prepared for this kind of a talk, I had lost them.


Long story short, the group could only vote in 3 of the delegates and out of the 4 nominees I was the one not voted in. I stood up in my chair as my already flushed face turned blotchy and tried to make my way out the door. Two men seemed to want to intervene, to say that I made some good points but whaddya know, their condolences only opened the floodgates. 

My point is this, we can all guess that the big issue for Latinos is immigration. A survey referenced in a December article of that same weekly Spanish newspaper also named the economy and jobs as factors for the presidential vote among Latinos. But the Republican party has chosen a hard line on the immigration subject and, in so doing, has cast aside the opportunity of rallying this untapped market."Republicanos en aprietos para ganar el voto hispano.", AhoraUtah 


Do I necessarily think that the Republican party is the end all, be all of our democratic system? Uh no. But I feel like the party that aimed to appeal to married, religious voters had a huge gap in foresight in ignoring the Latino demographic."Religion, marriage and the GOP's demographic challenge brought to the fore by 2012 election", Deseret News



1 comments:

Rhonda Wall

The caucus, good job getting in there!

Me in a nutshell

Under One Techo | Under One Roof
I grew up an air-force brat, on bases and off bases, statewide and on foreign soil. Having lived in both Japan and Los Angeles (Little Mexico!), I have a love for both the Latin and Asian communities. But above all that lies a commitment to God, marriage, and family as the backbone of society. And with that, let the crazy, cultural mash-up begin..