As if the Obama administration’s gross failure in keeping
campaign promises made to Armenian Americans wasn’t enough, now the victims of
the Armenian Genocide and of illegal occupation by the perpetrator Turkey of
their homelands in Western Armenia and Cilicia must deal with the insulting
disregard by both Pres. Barack Obama’s and Governor Mitt Romney’s presidential
campaigns.
It is lamentable that Armenian Americans along with many
Americans are being disenfranchised by Republican and Democratic presidential
campaigns.
“Clearly, it is unwise for both presidential candidates
not to court the support of Armenian-American voters in crucial swing states,
at a time when the race is so tight that a handful of votes could mean the
difference between victory and defeat. … Finally, not voting for either
presidential candidate does not mean sitting out the elections. One third of
the US Senators are up for reelection as well as all 435 House Members.
Armenian-American voters should reward candidates supportive of their issues by
voting them back into office, and should punish their opponents by voting them
out of office!” wrote Harut Sassounian, Publisher of The California Courier.
In the days running up to the November 6 U.S.
presidential elections Armenian National Committee of America decided not to
endorse neither Pres. Obama nor Gov. Romney. A number of key individuals in the
Armenian American community such as Sassounian took the same decision. He
stated: “This was not a difficult decision. Both candidates have been
disappointing. The President has not kept his word on many Armenian and
non-Armenian issues, while his rival has not shown the slightest interest in
the Armenian-American community and its issues.”
Armenian Americans are not the lone segment of American
society that is shortchanged. The majority of the U.S. population in most of
the 50 U.S. states feel being taken for granted because of the outdated and
dysfunctional Electoral College system. The time has come to overhaul the
system to allow the American populace to cast its electoral votes, district by
district, as outlined in the congressional districting map in each state. Let
each presidential candidate earn his electoral college vote not through the
elite club but directly from the people of each and every congressional
district across the United States.
As many voters are aware, under the present Electoral
College system a U.S. president is not really elected by popular vote like it’s
done in many European countries such as France and Armenia.
The present formula violates the sacred principle of
one-person, one-vote. “Our Electoral College system is weird — and not in a
good way,” recently pointed out Eric Black of The Minneapolis Post.
“Winner-take-all Electoral College pushes most states to the sidelines,”
indicated Steve Rose in The Star of Kansas City.
Presently Nebraska and Maine are the two exceptions to
the winner-take-all Electoral College system. These twin states disallow that.
Instead, they split the electoral votes according to the number of votes each
candidate receives.
The time has come for Americans as a whole to reclaim
their electoral process by creating a counter-balance to the
corporate-controlled twin political parties — Republican and Democratic. The
mega corporations and their neocon (neoconservative) lackeys have hijacked for
far too long the U.S. domestic and foreign policy.
Armenian Americans should actively join forces with
thousands of reformist Americans in demanding that the “winner-take-all”
electoral college system be modified in their individual states and be
converted to district-by-district system. They should push for appropriate
propositions in each state instituting such methods of granting electoral
votes, thus giving the people the real power of choice.
I know, it’s easier said than done. But the process must
start from somewhere.
In the meantime Armenian Americans stand to gain by
positioning themselves as independent voters in all 50 and especially the swing
states of the Union.
By casting their votes in favor of a third party
candidate they can make important contributions to the establishment of a
viable third wing in presidential elections.
In the absence of any outreach by the two candidates to
Armenian Americans to address their concerns, the latter has no choice but to
deny their votes to either “corporate” candidates, and vote for a third-party
candidate even if that candidate has zero chance of winning.
In response to Sassounian’s article on
ArmenianWeekly.com, many bloggers posted pro and con remarks.
Lydia T. responded: ” Neither of the candidates deserve
even one Armenian vote. I want to send a message to the candidates and vote on
Libertarian presidential ticket. Let them know if they are not supporting the
Armenian American community, then we will not support them either. … If we were
smart, then we would make sure every Armenian in US is registered voter, so
that we can show numbers and that would make a difference, it would make our
votes count for the presidential candidate.”
Sangria Time wrote: “Plainly stated, Obama is a liar. …
USA is a one-party system, and ‘Democracy’ is an illusion. The ‘media’
masterfully exploits and coerces the unsuspecting lazy public into identifying
themselves as ‘Republican’ or ‘Democrat’ when in fact, in the end they both do
the same thing, taking slightly different approaches to accomplish the same
thing. … Also, … I completely reject the excuse that U.S. recognition of the
Armenian Genocide ‘is contrary to our security’ like these ZIONISTS claim. ”
While one blogger, Juliet, claimed that “voting for
neither candidate is the worst decision,” another — Suren 2 underlined: “You
know there are other political parties in America besides Republican and
Democrat as much as the media likes to pretend there aren’t. Go vote for them.”
A third blogger — Voskanapat pointed out that “Republicans and the Democrats
are just the two wings of one party of the ruling elite. It’s brilliant. They
are in power and selling death no matter what.”
Recent political developments have illustrated how the
Armenian American community’s political clout has its limitations under the
current status quo.
The fact that neither Obama nor Romney made any campaign
promises to Armenian Americans may eventually become presidential blessing in
disguise.
The time has come for Armenian Americans to reinvent
themselves as an influential component of reformed American democracy — and in
the process, assist America in re-inventing itself as a once again fully
functioning democratic nation.
1 yorum:
American Armenians are angry now and they have every right to be that way but the thing is if they do choose not to vote for any of the two major parties ,I think they will be totaly isolating themself from the American politics which may cuse much worse scenarios too .
As some of the blogger responders mentioned there are alternatives to vote for however what good is it going to make if the electoral system is kept as it is ,,their votes are all going to be considered as wasted ones which they don't want to happen.
The best thing to look forward is trying to change the whole election and lobbyism system which create totaly unfarness towards other candidates who does not have enough financing sources to advertise and be heard…But that's also unlikly,,therefore for the time being maybe it's the best to listen to what these Armenian organizations are daying and use their votes accordingly.
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