Mobilize for 2008
By Marisse G. Abelgas
The way things turned out last Nov.6, it was a particularly good day to be a Democrat. Sure, Arnold showed us all that if you’ve got the charisma and the machinery, you can unleash a tidal wave of votes against a competitor who’s about as stiff and pathetic as Jerry Springer on the dancefloor.
Of course I felt sorry for Phil Angelides, and I did vote for him, being a Democrat and all. Yet I still can’t help but feel Arnold deserved to win, if only for the fact that the Governator seems to have mastered the art of bipartisanship...better it seems, than the Democratic candidate did. In this day and age, perhaps bipartisanship is the one thing this country needs in order to address all the gnawing issues that have plagued the administration.
Angelides’ defeat notwithstanding, it was a good day to be an American, and the conduct and results of the elections showed the whole world what America is all about.
I cannot help but wonder though: who did Fil-Ams vote for? More importantly, how many actually exercised their right to vote?
On the days leading to the election, most Filipinos I talked to declared themselves unabashedly Democratic. Most of them mailed in their absentee ballots. But whether they were absentee voters, Democrats, Republicans or Independent, it seemed that Fil-Ams, or at least the ones I know, took this election quite seriously.
The problem however, is that even if we indeed flexed our political muscle during the Nov. 6 election, nobody’s talking about it. Politicians and mainstream media don’t seem to care whether we did or not, and with good reason, because we never really care to prove that our votes can carry as much punch as the Latino or Vietnamese blocs.
Consider this: According to the APALC, in 2004, Filipinos made up the biggest voting bloc (29 percent) among ethnic groups in Los Angeles County. In Orange County, Filipinos made up the second biggest bloc (19 percent), next only to the Vietnamese. I have no doubt these figures are easily replicated all over California, especially up north where a good number of our kababayans live.
These are significant numbers because it indicates how broad our political base is in California. It shows that if we really put our minds and hearts to it, we can easily attain political empowerment. I know that many of us often talk about how difficult it is to field Fil-Am candidates in both local and state elections. That’s because we’ve been putting the cart before the horse. Before we even think of fielding or supporting Fil-Am politicians, we need to organize ourselves into a powerful voting bloc, one that will wield the same kind of clout as the Latinos or the Vietnamese.
And we don’t really need to bicker among ourselves about being Democrat or Republican. Being Democrat or Republican simply means being different in so far as issues or principles are concerned. We don’t have to assassinate another person’s character just to win an argument, which is what usually happens when Filipinos get into heated debates about politics.
We need to start talking about our strength, mobilizing our numbers, and wielding our power as a political force. We need to start talking about how we voted, whether Democrat, Republican or Independent. We need to put ourselves and our votes out there, and we need to do it with a passion.
The 2008 presidential election is just around the corner. Are we still going to be as invisible as we are right now?
The way things turned out last Nov.6, it was a particularly good day to be a Democrat. Sure, Arnold showed us all that if you’ve got the charisma and the machinery, you can unleash a tidal wave of votes against a competitor who’s about as stiff and pathetic as Jerry Springer on the dancefloor.
Of course I felt sorry for Phil Angelides, and I did vote for him, being a Democrat and all. Yet I still can’t help but feel Arnold deserved to win, if only for the fact that the Governator seems to have mastered the art of bipartisanship...better it seems, than the Democratic candidate did. In this day and age, perhaps bipartisanship is the one thing this country needs in order to address all the gnawing issues that have plagued the administration.
Angelides’ defeat notwithstanding, it was a good day to be an American, and the conduct and results of the elections showed the whole world what America is all about.
I cannot help but wonder though: who did Fil-Ams vote for? More importantly, how many actually exercised their right to vote?
On the days leading to the election, most Filipinos I talked to declared themselves unabashedly Democratic. Most of them mailed in their absentee ballots. But whether they were absentee voters, Democrats, Republicans or Independent, it seemed that Fil-Ams, or at least the ones I know, took this election quite seriously.
The problem however, is that even if we indeed flexed our political muscle during the Nov. 6 election, nobody’s talking about it. Politicians and mainstream media don’t seem to care whether we did or not, and with good reason, because we never really care to prove that our votes can carry as much punch as the Latino or Vietnamese blocs.
Consider this: According to the APALC, in 2004, Filipinos made up the biggest voting bloc (29 percent) among ethnic groups in Los Angeles County. In Orange County, Filipinos made up the second biggest bloc (19 percent), next only to the Vietnamese. I have no doubt these figures are easily replicated all over California, especially up north where a good number of our kababayans live.
These are significant numbers because it indicates how broad our political base is in California. It shows that if we really put our minds and hearts to it, we can easily attain political empowerment. I know that many of us often talk about how difficult it is to field Fil-Am candidates in both local and state elections. That’s because we’ve been putting the cart before the horse. Before we even think of fielding or supporting Fil-Am politicians, we need to organize ourselves into a powerful voting bloc, one that will wield the same kind of clout as the Latinos or the Vietnamese.
And we don’t really need to bicker among ourselves about being Democrat or Republican. Being Democrat or Republican simply means being different in so far as issues or principles are concerned. We don’t have to assassinate another person’s character just to win an argument, which is what usually happens when Filipinos get into heated debates about politics.
We need to start talking about our strength, mobilizing our numbers, and wielding our power as a political force. We need to start talking about how we voted, whether Democrat, Republican or Independent. We need to put ourselves and our votes out there, and we need to do it with a passion.
The 2008 presidential election is just around the corner. Are we still going to be as invisible as we are right now?
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