Structural Patterns

This morning I was up with my family at 6am to vote. We got to the Brooklyn Museum and the lines were already getting long. People were excited, looking forward to the end to this much too long presidential campaign and surprisingly, people appeared to be in good moods, even at 6am facing growing lines!

So as the work day gets started, I’d like to briefly consider the accomplishments of the last two presidents…

Last time this country elected a Republican President:

We entered in to continual war on false pretenses as there were no weapons of mass destruction.

We entered in to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression resulting in evictions, foreclosures and prolonged unemployment.

Since electing a Democratic President:

The world has a more positive image of the United States of America.

Obama ordered U.S. military forces out of Iraq.

Signed $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009 to spur economic growth that has lead to the current unemployment rate of 4.9%, consistent with pre-crisis unemployment rate.

Established universal health insurance, signed the Affordable Care Act (2010) giving millions of uninsured Americans health care, a quality of life right in wealthy countries.

Signed 2009 Children’s Health Insurance Authorization Act, which allows the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to cover health care for 4 million more children, paid for by a tax increase on tobacco products.

Signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (2010) to re-regulate the financial sector after its practices caused the Great Recession.

Eliminated Osama bin laden, something that President Bush was incapable of executing while helping send an entire region of the globe into prolonged war.

Reversed President Bush pointless Torture Policies.

Increased Support for Veterans.

Released new fuel efficiency standards in 2011 that will nearly double the fuel economy for cars and trucks by 2025.

Signed Omnibus Public Lands Management Act (2009), which designated more than 2 million acres as wilderness, created thousands of miles of recreational and historic trails, and protected more than 1,000 miles of rivers.

VOTEMOS.US the site that questions what the 2008 U.S. presidential elections would look like if all residents in the U.S. could vote will now feature weekly video interviews with U.S. immigrants and Mexico City residents concerning the presidential elections and general relations between the United States and Latin America.

Although VOTEMOS.US is a Spanish-language site, the videos have English language subtitles so that U.S. citizens may have an insight into the views of their Spanish speaking neighbors within the country as well as those south of the border. The weekly video interviews are available on the site, as a podcast or rss feed:

This week Argentine Jose Antonio Lazzari relaxing in the park Alameda Central located in the historical center of Mexico City states that he would not vote for Obama, Hillary or McCain and he questions who the leftist candidates are in the U.S… Jose Antonio goes on to point out that the United States is controlled by the transnational companies that are making a fortune in Iraq.

We had a lengthy conversation with Jose Antonio Lazzari, a theater actor and educator who runs a free school in Argentina. Sections of this conversation will be published over the next few weeks. Past interviews with NYC undocumented resident Raymundo are also available and all videos will be archived on the site.