Narrowing Down the *Most Likely* GOP Candidates for 2012

Now that I have a general idea of the potential GOP contenders in 2012, I want to narrow it down to a select few who I believe have a good chance of ending up on the ballot. I've done much research on the 3 politicians who are currently doing a lot to raise money and garner attention in order to start campaigning. Next to each candidate, I'll provide a limited, but comprehensive summary of his/her political views and ideologies on critical issues that will define the 2012 election (the economy, unemployment, immigration, etc.)

Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas Governor

• On the economy/jobs: Huckabee believes that infrastructure projects should be started immediately in order to promote economic stimulus... "The engineering is done. The eminent domain is already done. Environmental impact studies have been done. The only thing that we lack is funding. If we had the funding, we've got projects we're ready to pull the trigger on tomorrow."
• On taxes: Huckabee believes that the tax system (and taxes in general) unfairly punish the American people for working and for their productivity.
• On immigration: Huckabee believes that illegal immigrants should go home and start over... "The [illegal immigrants] who are here would have to go to the back of the line and start over. It's not to be cruel. It's to make that everybody living in our boundaries lives in the light, not the darkness, and doesn't run and hide every time they see a police car... We owe it to those who do want to live and work here, and create a system that is legal, that makes sense and actually protects our borders but protects the dignity and worth of every person."
• On the War on Terrorism: Huckabee believes that "Islamofascism" must disappear from the face of the earth and that America should only leave Iraq until we are certain that terrorism has significantly subsided, even if it means we use "overwhelming force".
• On energy and oil: Huckabee has been quoted as saying that "for too long, we have been constrained because our dependence on imported oil has forced us to support repressive regimes and conduct our foreign policy with one hand tied behind our back. I will free that hand from its oil-soaked rope... I want to treat Saudi Arabia the way we treat Sweden, and that will require the U.S. to be energy dependent... We will explore, we will conserve, and we will pursue all types of alternative energy: nuclear, wind, solar, ethanol, hydrogen, clean coal, biomass, and biodiesel."

Mitt Romney, former Massachusetts Governor

• On the economy/jobs: Romney believes that applying Reaganomics to the current economy will help turn back America's fiscal woes... "There are two things that I’d add to the legislation that relate to long-term growth incentives. One is to say to people who are making under $200,000 a year, they ought to be able to save their money, tax-free, no tax on interest, dividends or capital gains... Secondly, for people 65 years of age & older, my view is that they should not have to have payroll taxes taken out of their incomes."
• On taxes: Romney supports the Bush tax cuts, he says that he would prevent (further) economic recession by implementing immediate middle-income tax cuts, and he believes that "fees" are appropriate for government(s) to provide the people with essential services. (John McCain criticized Romney in 2008 for raising taxes in Mass. by more than $700M which Romney himself called "fees", he never referred to them as taxes.)
• On immigration: Romney currently believes that "comprehensive reform" for immigrants is nothing more than an "amnesty plan". He has said that illegal immigrants currently residing in the U.S. should be deported back to their home countries.
• On the War on Terrorism: Romney has been quoted as saying that "the greatest challenge facing America [is] the threat of violent, radical Jihad... Jihadists will battle any form of democracy... They find the idea of human equality to be offensive." Furthermore, Romney does not support a specific timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq. He has said that if presented with a legislative bill calling for timetables and milestones, he would not support it.
• On energy and oil: In early 2008, Romney proposed a $20 billion package to promote energy research and new car technology.

Sarah Palin, former Alaska Governor

• On the economy/jobs: Palin firmly opposes Obama's stimulus package. She has called for the remaining money from the "failed" stimulus package to be rolled back so as to prevent recklessly spending it where we don't need to. (However, Palin has been criticized because her home state of Alaska is highly dependent on federal stimulus money.)
• On taxes: In general, Palin believes that "everybody does benefit when government takes less... because our businesses and our families are able to keep more of what they're earning, reinvest in what they have as priorities... That's how jobs are created. And that's how we're going to grow our economy."
• On immigration: Palin's philosophy is somewhat ambiguous in regards to immigration, amnesty policies, and paths to citizenship for illegal immigrants. She doesn't believe that all undocumented aliens in the U.S. should be deported, citing that "there are about 12 million of the illegal immigrants, not only economically is that just an impossibility but that's not a humane way anyway to deal with the issue." Subsequently, when asked if she supports amnesty for illegal immigrants, she goes on to say "No... not total amnesty... people have got to follow the rules." Furthermore, she does support a path to citizenship for the undocumented immigrants already in the U.S., saying that she "understand[s] why people would want to be in America."
• On the War on Terrorism: Palin opposes an exit strategy in the Middle East. Similar to Romney and Huckabee, who oppose congruent "timetables" and "milestones".
• On energy and oil: Palin believes that it is critical that America becomes energy dependent. She also firmly supports offshore drilling; just recently, Palin criticized President Obama saying that White House energy policies will undeniably increase gasoline prices by slowing offshore drilling and relying on "vague promises" about alternative energy.

*Personally, I'm a bit torn between Huckabee and Romney. However, if it came down to it, my vote would undoubtedly go to Huckabee, only because I feel that Romney wasn't straightforward enough in his policies as Massachusetts Governor; I mean come on, calling a huge raise on taxes "fees", that's straight up pathetic. Plus, he's Mormon, and I come from a long line of stalwart Catholics (wouldn't work out too well in my book.) When it comes to Palin, she's too much of a celebrity and she needs to be clearer when it comes to expressing her stance on certain issues. Popularity won't ensure her a place on the ballot come 2012... at least I hope it doesn't.

Potential GOP Contenders for the 2012 Presidential Election

Many say it's a bit too soon to be scoping out potential candidates for the 2012 election, but I personally believe that it's never too early, especially for a critical election such as this upcoming one.

So here they are, in order of most to least popular amongst Republicans and Republican-leaning Independents (according to the most recent Gallup poll):

Mike Huckabee, former Governor of Arkansas

"Pray a little more, work a little harder, save, wait, be patient, and most of all, live within our means. That's the American way. It's not spending ourselves into prosperity or taxing ourselves into prosperity."

Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House

Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts

"America cannot continue to lead the family of nations around the world if we suffer the collapse of the family here at home."

Sarah Palin, former Governor of Alaska

Mike Pence, Rep. for Indiana's 6th congressional district

"I'm a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order."

Jon Huntsman, Jr., Ambassador to China

Ron Paul, Rep. for Texas's 14th congressional district

"The best formula for giving us peace and preserving the American way of life is freedom, limited government, and minding our own business overseas."

Rick Santorum, former Senator from Penn.

John Thune, Senator from South Dakota

"We must work together to save and strengthen Social Security not just for my father's generation but also for my daughters' generation."

Haley Barbour, Governor of Mississippi

Tim Pawlenty, former Governor of Minnesota

"Our country has been asleep at the switch on these things. The basic economics are that the supply of fossil fuels is limited and the demand is outstripping the supply. It's a recipe for continued crisis if we don't start changing our ways."

Mitch Daniels, Governor of Indiana

Gary Johnson, former Governor of New Mexico

"The issue of marijuana legalization is obviously an attention-getter and you can't shy away from it. I have to defend it. I have to defend the position." (Johnson supports the legalization of the drug.)










In alphabetical order, other prospective candidates not included in the poll are:

Joe Arpaio, Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona
Michele Bachmann, Rep. for Minnesota's 6th congressional district
John Bolton, former Ambassador to the U.N. from Maryland
Scott Brown, Senator from Massachusetts
John Cornyn, Senator from Texas
Jim DeMint, Senator from South Carolina
Rudy Giuliani, former Mayor of New York City
Judd Gregg, former Senator from New Hampshire
George Pataki, former Governor of New York
Buddy Roemer, former Governor of Louisiana
Marco Rubio, Senator from Florida
Paul Ryan, Rep. for Wisconsin's 1st congressional district
Donald Trump, Businessman from New York

Obama Worries About China and India in SOTU Address Calling Them "Highly Competitive", But Bigger Threats Loom

With his approval rating steadily rising within the last couple of days, a cocky Barack Obama addressed the 112th Congress on Tuesday night with talk of uniting as a nation in order to revitalize our downtrodden economy. Job growth was undeniably one of his main talking points, intertwined with competing with other countries that are growing rapidly, namely China and India. But nations in Asia aren't the only ones that are quickly catching up in the race toward becoming the next global superpower.

The Brazilian economy has also significantly risen in the past few years, thanks to former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a social democrat. "Lula" was just recently succeeded by his former Chief of Staff Dilma Rousseff, the first woman president of Brazil. I didn't think too much of Rousseff when I heard of her election to the presidency, I simply thought to myself, "Congrats to Brazil on its first female president, I hope for the Brazilian people's sake that she proliferates the economy as well as her predecessor did." My mindset completely changed when I learned of her former involvement in a far-left, Marxist political organization called the "National Liberation Command", which became infamous in the late 1960s for its use of guerrilla warfare. According to reports and fellow members, Rousseff was an expert in weaponry and guerrilla warfare. Other reports claim that Rousseff shot at numerous military personnel, officials, and others during her time in the organization, but she denies such claims.

SMFH

Although I always knew of the Brazilian government's predilection for socialist-leaning politics, I would have never in my life imagined that the country would one day be led by an individual who so ardently supported Marxism at one point in her life. Just the thought of it is frightening, especially because of Brazil's unexpected and active rise to power (it is expected to be the world's 5th largest economy by or before 2016, ahead of both France and the U.K.) Rousseff has recently made claims that her political ideology has significantly altered with time, saying that she is now a firm believer in capitalism, but she also says that she remains proud of her radical roots. To me... that's a little bit too ambiguous.

It all may not seem so threatening, but it is critical that the big picture be studied carefully, and the "big picture" is synonymous with "BRIC".

BRIC is an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, and China; it is a newly founded coalition of those four countries which have all been recognized as having economies that just recently began to experience advanced and accelerated development. It has been estimated that by the year 2050, the combined economies of the four nations will easily surpass the combined economies of the world's current richest nations. Many economists, politicians, and governments in general have speculated that the BRIC nations could very easily form their own "political club" to take advantage of their recently elevated economies in order to form a "geopolitical clout" that could dramatically affect the direction in which the world's nations head in in terms of both economics and politics.

L to R: Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Incumbent Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Incumbent Chinese President Hu Jintao, and Incumbent Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the 1st BRIC summit in 2009

To me, the most distressing thing about the situation isn't the fact that those four countries are growing rapidly, it's not a thing of envy or hatred, but the plain fact that 3 out of the 4 BRIC nations have extremely close ties to socialism and communism is startling to say the least.


*Initial (2003) Goldman Sachs report of BRIC economic statistics in the coming decades:

• The Chinese economy will eclipse Germany's in the next few years, Japan's by 2015, and the United States' by 2041
• India's growth rate will be the highest of the four nations
• Together, the four nations could surpass the U.S. as well as the European countries in as little as 4 decades

The most recent report proves to be as dismal as the first.

**Most recent (2010) and approximate Goldman Sachs report of BRIC economic statistics in the coming decades:

• The Chinese economy has the capacity to eclipse the United States' economy as early as 2027 (nearly a decade and a half earlier than expected)
• The four BRIC nations could be as big as the G7 nations (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, U.K., U.S.) as early as 2032

The Stereotypical Illegal, Freeloading, "Liberal" Mexican Has Scarred the Reputation of the Hard-Working, Educated Mexican in America

When the average American hears the word "Mexican", the image of a dark-skinned, dark-haired fella sitting in the back of a rusty Ford pickup outside the local Home Depot in some hot southern state automatically pops into their head.

First and foremost, let me assure you that not all Mexicans are dark-haired and mustached with tan complexions, clad in ponchos and sombreros. In case you have forgotten what you learned in high school world history class, the term "Mexican" is nothing more than a nationality, NOT an ethnicity. Mexico is a multi-ethnic nation of peoples with diversified lineage. Of course, most Mexicans are descendants of European Spaniards and Natives who copulated, but there are also tens of thousands of individuals with pure European blood such as Spanish, French, Italian, British, Irish, Greek, Russian and German. In fact, when my mother first brought me to her parents hometown in Guanajuato, Mexico, a tiny ranch with a population not exceeding 500, I was extremely shocked to see children and adults alike with skin paler than my own, blonde hair, and blue eyes. I was even more shocked when I met some of my relatives, who have light to fair complexions and hair (mainly light brown and dirty blonde), and a few of them dark green eyes. It turns out that my great-grandparents were Spaniards from Galicia, Spain. My great-grandfather was a tall, thin man with blonde hair and green eyes, while his wife was half Jewish and half Spanish, with brown eyes and a darker complexion.

Damn Dirty Mexicans!!!!!

(Believe it or not, all of the people in the above collage are Mexican.)

Alright, now that that's off my chest, I can move on to what I love talking about the most: politics.

While it is true that the majority of Mexicans entering the United States illegally are very likely to lean toward the left of the American political spectrum, this is only due to two facts: 1. American liberals and progressives support policies of "amnesty" for illegal immigrants, and 2. Liberals overwhelmingly support welfare programs which many Mexicans take advantage of, but at heart and in spirit, most Mexicans are robust conservatives.

Think about it, for more than 7 decades, Mexico was governed by one single party led by staunch social conservatives, (despite the fact that they promoted "centre-left" policies when it came to the economy). It wasn't until the year 2000 that Mexico elected an individual from a different party to the presidency. That party, titled the National Action Party or PAN (Partido Accion Nacional), is a conservative party itself. Described as a centre-right, conservative party with principles stemming from Christian democracy, PAN advocates free enterprise, privatization, and a limited government as well as opposition to abortion, gay marriage, and similar social issues.

In a country where more than 88% of the population self-identifies as Roman Catholic and nearly half of the population attends church on a weekly basis, does it really come as a surprise that Mexicans as a people are what we call in America, Republicans?

Now onto a more obscure topic: Republican Mexicans in American government. What is the first name that pops into mind? Can't think of any? That's because most of Mexican-Americans in our government are  self-indulgent, egocentric liberal Democrats with avaricious intentions. Ever notice how the limited number of Mexican-Americans and Hispanic-Americans in Congress are only elected to office in blatantly gerrymandered congressional districts where *GASP*, the majority of the population if Hispanic? That's because those politicos very easily convince their constituents that they will do their best to try to pass legislation that will help put them on the path to citizenship. In reality, they rarely ever even bring up the idea when inside the Capitol.

Really?! Come on now.

(Illinois's 4th Congressional District, currently represented by Democrat Luis Gutierrez.)

Despite a dismal reality, we can't forget the few Republican Mexican-Americans who did indeed get elected to public offices. For instance, Romana Acosta Banuelos, appointed as Treasurer of the United States by President Richard Nixon in the early '70s, or Anna Escobedo Cabral, appointed to the same position as Banuelos by George W. Bush a few decades later. Others include: Manuel Lujan, Jr., Rep. from New Mexico; Alberto R. Gonzalez, former U.S. Attorney General; Romualdo Pacheco, the 12th Governor of California; Abel Maldonado, former Lieutenant Governor of California; Rosario Marin, former Treasurer of the United States; Devin Nunes, Rep. from California; Tony Garza, former county judge in Texas, former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, and former Secretary of State of Texas.