Padre Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla and  El Grito de Delores

Today is El Grito Day, a/k/a El Grito de Independencia (or the yelling for independence).

The Californian eloquently explains El Grito Day:

Music, food, dance and lots of pride will fill independence day celebrations in the coming week, not just for one or two Latin American countries but for eight.

Brazil celebrated its independence from Portugal on Sept. 7. Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Nicaragua will mark their emergence from Spain’s governance on Monday, Mexico will do the same on Tuesday and Chile follows suit on Thursday.  Residents of the Central Coast will commemorate these events over the weekend, whether in public or at home, as a way to enhance Latin American heritage and pride for new generations to discover. “Costa Rica’s independence from Spain was on September 15th, 1821, same day as the Guatemala’s Captaincy General participants (Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras),” said Adriana Sisfuentes, a Salinas resident from Costa Rica. “Although, the actual independence act was signed several months later.”

On Sept. 15, 1810, in the middle of the night, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a pastor for the Church of Dolores, Hidalgo México, rang the bell to gather a civilian army that started the independence movement from Spain. Other countries took the cue from Mexico and began to pursue their own independence and freedom. That event is called El Grito de Independencia (The yelling for independence).  Mexicans all over the world celebrate Mexico´s Independence with a reenactment of this episode by ringing a bell followed by yelling “Viva México, Viva Hidalgo, Vivan los héroes que nos dieron patria” and then “Viva México” three times.  FULL STORY>>>

 

As we celebrate past independence from Spain, my prayer is that my people will reject the temptation of voter apathy and believe their combined indigenous vote is a powerful one.  May Americans of Mexican heritage remember the sacrifices by Chicano movement greats such as Corky Gonzales and Dr. Hector P. Garcia.  I pray Latino Republicans will punish the Republican Party and Reince Priebus for adopting a draconian anti-immigrant policy in 2012 that was essentially handwritten and blessed by Kris Kobach -- who is the author of many anti-Mexican, anti-Latino laws.  I pray Latino Democrats will not get discouraged with how immigration and redistricting issues have been used as political futbols -- and instead vote. 

Lastly, I pray more of mi gente will join the rising independent registered voters who will ultimately force both sides to solving tough issues -- else the 2 major party system will continue to lose more of their voting bloc while independents move the 2 major party system to do what is in the best interest of our Nation because a divided Country will not stand. Like Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, we hope to ring the bell that will begin our independence and freedom of those who try to oppress us and suppress our Chicano and/or Latin indigenous history.

It's time for Cuban American Republican politicians to share the refugee love afforded to them during their time of need, as they consider sharing or offset tax payer monies over to the children who fled a violent Central America to be with their parents.  More importantly, we need to see them put constant fierce pressure on Speak Boehner to put immigration reform for vote because stalling reform is forcing more families apart as hard working parents are deported to other countries. 

Cuban Refugee Immigrants (CRI) have received generous acts from American tax payers for 40 years with regard to Cuban privileged amnesty via the Cuban Adjustment Act and/or the wet foot dry foot policy.  Cuban immigrants have received government benefits, housing allowances and more.  For the first time in its history the United States became a country of first asylum for large numbers of displaced persons as thousands of Cuban refugees have found political refuge here beginning in the 1960's.  According to the Office of Social Security, a substantial number of children, mostly between the ages of 5 and 16, have come to this country from Cuba, unaccompanied by their parents or others acting in the place of parents.  Many parents prefer this separation to the risks involved in having their children indoctrinated with an ideology hateful to them. 

But why are American tax payers still funding Cuban Refugee Immigrants with welfare and other government perks after 40 years?  Particularly when Cuba travel restrictions were lifted?  Why areCuban immigrants going back to the Nation they claim they are fleeing because it is supposed to be so corrupt?

Americans in the southwestern part of the United States of Mexican and Latin descent believe there is a solution in handling the Central American humanitarian crisis affecting minor children, and it has to do with a type of trading out the Cuban Adjustment Act for a type of modified and more reasonable Refugee Act to include more stringent time restrictions -- not the 40 years Cubans have enjoyed.  Indeed more than ever legal immigration reform ought to be addressed that will enable family members to visit their relatives in various Latin countries without fear of reprisal under the current broken immigration system. Fixing the broken immigration system will reduce the desperate family members from wanting to sneak back and forth (in order to prevent a bloated detention center costing tax payers) in order to visit family members in the United States.   

Cuban American Republican politicians have a unique opportunity to make up for their loss of street credibility with the other Latino ethnic groups (who do not benefit from Cuban amnesty).  Speaker Boehner recently appointed Rep. Diaz-Balart to the border humanitarian crisis task force, and we believe it would be a good idea for Rep. Diaz-Balart to admit to the antiquated policies under the Cuban Adjustment Act, and submit a policy that will end the 40 years of Cuban welfare in order to share refugee generous acts with regard to the humanitarian crisis Central American minor children are experiencing today.  Ending 40 years of Cuban welfare should not be very hard to do for Republicans since they believe in "limited government" anyway.  More importantly, this would be the time for both Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart to put more pressure on the Republican Speaker to move the legal immigration reform bill forward that was approved by the Senate over one year ago.  

Both Republican Reps. Ros-Lehtinen and Diaz-Balart have failed to put constant pressure on Speaker John Boehner thus far, and in fact both have meddled in foreign affairs beyond our borders instead of focusing and taking care of Homeland business first affecting millions living in the shadows of society.  Notably, the GOP Speaker is directly responsible for obstructing the forward movement of legal immigration reform and he compounded a gridlock atmosphere when he threatened to sue Obama.  To date we have not seen any Cuban American Republican leadership denounce Speaker Boehner's lawsuit against the President of the United States for his immigration policies like DACA helping DREAM Act students.  

The President will soon be speaking and requesting money from Congress to help with the humanitarian crisis. I'm certain, they need the money for more immigration judges, trained asylum officers, attorneys and humanitarian locations. 

 “I was no party man myself, and the first wish of my heart was, if parties did exist, to reconcile them.” -- George Washington

"I don’t think the Republican party is a party full of the almighty God nor is the Democratic party. They both have weaknesses … And I’m not inextricably bound to either party." -- Martin Luther King Jr. 

It appears Speaker Boehner and immigration policy wonk aide via Becky Tallent want to leave with a legacy that will tax immigrants without representation.  Essentially taxation without representation undoes what the Boston Tea Party Revolution stood for.  Yet, Speaker Boehner ignores the billions of dollars immigrants pay into federal and state tax coffers every year. 

 According to the Tax Lawyer, a paper published by Section of Taxation, American bar Association with the assistance of Georgetown University Law Center: 

"...each year undocumented immigrants add billions of dollars in sales, excise, property, income, and payroll taxes—including Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment taxes—to federal, state, and local coffers. Hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants file annual federal and state income tax returns..."

The Tea Party was the culmination of a resistance movement throughout British America against the Tea Act, which had been passed by the British Parliament in 1773. Colonists objected to the Tea Act because they believed that it violated their rights as Englishmen to "No taxation without representation," that is, be taxed only by their own elected representatives and not by a British parliament in which they were not represented.    

Today's modern day resistance are registered independent voters who surpass registered Republican and Democratic voter blocks on a national basis. According to the Gallup, "Forty-two percent of Americans, on average, identified as political independents in 2013, the highest Gallup has measured since it began conducting interviews by telephone 25 years ago. Meanwhile, Republican identification fell to 25%, the lowest over that time span. At 31%, Democratic identification is unchanged from the last four years but down from 36% in 2008." 

Somos Independents -- a group led by women and Mexican American / Latina(o) independent registered voters refuse to support taxation without representation ideas mentioned in Speaker Boehner's proposal.    Our group does not consist of naive politically undereducated undocumented DREAM Act students who have been splintered by the GOP, and in fact we know there are some undocumented DREAM Act student immigrants who are willing to take less not knowing the political consequences due to being in desperate situations.  Speaker Boehner knows that introducing taxation without representation ideals chip away at what sparked our American Revolution.

People who are taxed ought to be represented, and we must not support an underclass.

"The current Congress has an average 9.2 percent approval rating and 84.2 percent disapproval rating. ... These numbers point to a grave problem: the House of Representatives is utterly unrepresentative. 

Prop. 121 May Nudge the Nation

Deep discontent is driving the YES vote for Proposition 121, the Top-two Primary.  Its two-step process, long used by Arizona voters in

local non-partisan elections, lets all voters, regardless of party, vote in a single primary election. Voters narrow the list to the top

two, who competes in the general election.  Voters, not political parties, control access to the general election ballot.

A survey of 1,065 Arizona voters by 8Sages.com found that if the election were held today, Proposition 121 would win by 14 points.

Independents, independent-minded Democrats and Republicans are giving the initiative a resounding lead (by 24, 29, and 15 points,

respectively).  Even strong Republicans favor it by 3 points, and it trails by one point among committed Democrats.

Why such broad-based support?

The survey shows the dominant theme this election is unhappy voters. They are displeased with the president’s performance and may even vote

him out of office.  But before Republicans dust off their dancingshoes, they should consider that a majority also would vote Governor Jan

Brewer out of office if she were on the ballot. Hard data on discontent is evident in voter self-identification.

Without any reregistration campaign, voters are quietly abandoning all political parties. Democrats have been losing registration since the

1940s, Republicans since the mid-1980s.

Proposition 121 sends a constructive, positive message. It strengthens the consent of the governed.  It increases the pool of voices that hold

politicians accountable. Americans are good at this.  Since our founding, we have expanded the franchise – from landed white men, to

landless white men, black men, women, Native Americans, and then young people who were eligible to serve, but not vote for their country.

Proposition 121 might be the tipping point to change the national picture. Its critics know it.  Undisclosed California sources have

pumped almost half a million dollars into Arizona to oppose Proposition 121. The money was funneled into the Americans for Responsible

Leadership, chaired by Robert Graham a candidate for the Republican State Party Chair.  Once more Arizona is on the cusp of nudging the

nation.

Open primary elections is changing the marketplace, increasing competition between candidates, even if they are in the same party.

Washington State and California have embraced Proposition 121-like voting systems.  Ballotpedia.com ranks California’s 2012 legislative

elections the most competitive in the country.  This year, for the first time in US history, 66 US Senators and

Representatives  - 12% of the Congress – must answer to all the people who elected them in California andWashington State.

Add Arizona’s 2 Senators and 9 Representatives to California and Washington State in 2014, then 77 members of Congress will be voter,

not party, nominated.   When my friend and legislative colleague Bill Konopnicki and I wrote the first draft of this initiative, we called it

the “Sweet Seventy-seven.”  We imagined our Western Congressmen who must appeal to all the voters in their states to get on the general

ballot and be elected.  They might less focused on partisan loyalty and more on our shared regional interests.  Proposition 121 offers a better

way to express the consent of the governed.

Ted Downing, former two-term state legislator who leads the Arizona

Independent Voting Project

VOTE YES Prop 121 – Voto SI en Proposicion 121.

More from Brenda Sperduti:  

Anti Prop 121 Propaganda No Tiene Merito Dicen Expertos

By Brenda Sperduti on 11/01/2012 in arizona, Primarias Abiertas  

For the first time in Arizona history, independent voters have become 2nd largest voting bloc surpassing the Democrats.[/caption] It is a mistake for people to ignore the independent vote in Arizona that is now the 2nd largest voting bloc regarding Maricopa County Sheriff race. Several people are forgetting the John McCain "maverick" factor and also forgot how approximately 200,000 independent votes carried the Senator. Ever wonder why the corrupt Sheriff Joe Arpaio is not attacking independent candidate Mike Stauffer for Sheriff and independent voters of Maricopa County? Indeed Mike Stauffer for sheriff is looking better and better as both the Republican and Democratic candidates go negative against each other. Arpaio NEEDS the independent conservative vote in order to survive. More importantly, if Arpaio attacks independent candidate Mike Stauffer for sheriff -- then he will have legitimatized him, and he is too cunning and wise to do that. The only folks attacking Mike Stauffer are Paul Penzone supporters and they are shooting themselves in the foot.

Additionally, it was not smart for Ann Wallack (supports Penzone) to call independent voters "ignorant" either.

Unfortunately the political novices have no idea that independent voters now make up the 2nd largest voting bloc in Arizona and in Maricopa County surpassing Democratic voter registrations for the first time in Arizona history. More importantly, independent voters become independent voters because we are sick and tired of partisanship gridlock. Period. Libertarians, Libertarian-Republicans, and Independent voters who support Mike Stauffer for Maricopa County Sheriff believe that the Sheriff Office should NOT be partisan. In fact, professionalism needs to be restored at the MCSO. Who in their right mind would attack key independent voters when they are a surging voter bloc of people sick of negative ads from both the Republican and Democratic Party? According to ABC News:

Independent voters are an increasingly important voting bloc. They have outnumbered both Democrats and Republicans continuously for the past two and a half years, by far the longest period in which they’ve done so in ABC News-Washington Post polls dating back to 1981. Gallup’s recent poll bears mixed news for the two parties. While the gap between those who identified as Democrats and those who said they were Republicans widened to 4 percent, more independents appeared to lean toward the Republican Party than to the Democratic Party and the split between the two was equal. “Increased independent identification is not uncommon in the year before a presidential election year, but the sluggish economy, record levels of distrust in government and unfavorable views of both parties helped to create an environment that fostered political independence more than in any other pre-election year,” Gallup stated.

Here is a breakdown of the demographics in Maricopa County, and it also supports why I believe Mike Stauffer is going to hurt Sheriff Joe Arpaio in the Maricopa County Sheriff race.   [caption id="attachment_2151" align="aligncenter" width="813"] Maricopa County Sheriff Office Demographics between 2008 and 2012 in key Arpaio race.[/caption]  

Somos Independents is a national group of key swing independent registered Independent voters led by Mexican-American / Latina women voters who support bipartisanship in our government that will help solve tough issues. .  We are organizing the growing independent registered voter group by getting out the vote with millenial voters, and we realize college-aged students prefer registering themselves as independents rather than choosing a major political party.  We believe in putting people before Party politics.  Co-founders include a former Republican and a former Democratic voter.