Episode 5: Miss Elle on Blocking the Vote!
Think you have the right to vote? Think again! There’s been a lot of talk about voters suppression bills on Tumblr, so I’m here to help you through them. Know your states’ laws & get yourself registered!
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The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation has provided a helpful flow chart to guide you through it!
Notable points: if you are an undocumented immigrant, incarcerated, member of a Native America tribe or a religion group opposed to health insurance policy, you don’t have to accept the mandate or pay the penalty! Read up on it!
Source: healthreform.kff.org
Is anyone else really bothered in the aftermaths of votes like this?
One thing that really makes me pause is when either side tries to lay claim to something. It happened with the SB 1070 (Arizona immigration law) ruling and it’s happening here—hundreds of media sites going back in forth about whether or not this is a win for Obama or a loss for Romney, as opposed to a win for everyone who doesn’t have affordable health care. While I totally understand how individual issues play out in campaigns and in the forthcoming election, I’m starting to get really annoyed with the “war rhetoric” that’s been flying about.
I think simplifying often complex votes in a manner of win-lose is kind of easier to explain on a talk show but kind of harmful to the larger groups of who this affects. In the case of SB 1070, I was upset with how people easily regulated immigration issues as “Hispanic/Latino issues” and assumed that entire group as a whole could be swayed to either side depending on the results of the ruling. I mean, the Latino community is heavily affected by immigration policy in this country, but that doesn’t mean that other groups are not affected; I follow some African and South Asian immigrants on Tumblr and it’s annoying to watch their issues get wiped out.
I think what bothers me here is the way the media relates to POC when it comes to politics—in that there’s a persuasive idea that one issue is the mainstay of each community so that’s all you have to ever market to them. It makes me queasy to think of the Latino community as pawns under the grip of immigration, that either side can expect this or that for themifand onlyifthey discuss or care about immigration.
At least in the realm of the ACA ruling, this is something that can (and will) be easily marketed to everyone, but I don’t know. There’s just something about the rhetoric here I don’t like.
Although these aren’t so much clapbacks as they are thoughts I have, here are some stories I ran across today that are crusin’ for a bruisin’:
(Or, How to Stop Worrying and Accept the Inevitable)
Bloomberg Businessweek posted an interesting article on (yet again) why young voters might not vote as much for President Obama in the 2012 election and I have to wonder why we keep wondering. I’m sure part of this phenomenon has to do with concern for Obama’s admittedly dwindled base, but I’m also starting to suspect that there’s been an underlying idea that young people are always ripe for the picking when it comes to politics. Surprise, they’re not!
Look, the downgrade in enthusiasm was bound to happen. Reelection campaigns are kind of like action-thriller-horror movie sequels: never as good as the first movie (but probably a lot more gory) and not everyone’s rushing out to theaters to see it. If it seems like a lot of young people are waiting for the Blu-ray special of the 2012 election campaign, it’s because they are. What occurred in 2008 was a masterpiece of an election, but it’s definitely not something that can or will be repeated.
And why should it be? So many issues being debated (or filibustered) in Congress today affect plenty of young people, and it is possible that Obama hasn’t lived up to everyone’s expectations constantly. Not to say that his lack of commitment in some areas should equal his 2012 downfall, but that people have a right to be frustrated with him. Young people have a right to be disaffected. They have a right to not care.
If President Obama or Mitt Romney plan to dredge up any kind of young people enthusiasm this year, they’ll need to start taking our worries and cares a lot more seriously. No more playing around with health care or abortion rights or yes, even immigration policy. Stop searching for another 2008, and start focusing on the right now.
-Miss Elle
What do you guys think? Should the media be so heavily concerned with a 2008 part 2? Do you feel disaffected or unenthusiastic about the 2012 elections? Why?
- promise Mitt Romney’s finally laid out concrete immigration reform: Promising green cards to immigrants receiving advanced degrees in math or science, and the parents of permanent citizens.
- problem It’s unclear whether Mitt could actually reform who receives green cards, even if he was president, without the Congress’s backing, as they set the year visa limits for foreigners each year. source
» He still has options, though: He could always do what Obama did and issue an executive order, despite Republicans slamming Obama for using his executive powers to enact immigration reform. A little surprising Romney wants to help the families of the oft-decried “anchor babies” of immigrant parents. Unsurprising? Mitt still wants to build a “high-tech fence” across the Mexican-American border.
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Contrary to popular belief, President Obama Obama did not issue an executive order for his new immigration policy; what you’re thinking of is the Napolitano Memo!
And while Romney’s proposal does seem kind of bold, it could enact plenty of problems along with the one listed above. What happens to the children of immigrants who do not attend college or do not receive degrees in the required fields? It’s good that both Romney and President Obama are considering long term plans, but they’ll both have to be level-headed (and aware of Congress) if they want any of their proposals to last longer than a year.
Hi, I'm Miss Elle! I'm all about politics and pop culture.
Miss Elle is a weekly politics/pop culture talk show hosted on YouTube. The main focus is to make politics accessible, interesting and understandable! Let's talk politics!
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