The 2012 Presidential Election: Whose Rights are Being Represented?

America is desperate for jobs and a measurable improvement in the economy after four hard years of continued recession. Both parties are very aware of the public’s growing impatience with being stuck in financial limbo where nothing gets much worse, but nothing gets much better either.

Another important aspect of a democratic election also involves people’s rights and grievances, and the representation of those rights in Washington, DC.  With neither party willing to give clear specifics on the issues  such as: Gay rights, Immigrants’ rights,  the rights of the rich to lower taxation, the rights of the poor to Social Services, and Minority American’s rights; we as voters have a much harder choice in November if little or no real specifics are to be given out to the public on these core American social issues.

If we start with the political issue of gay rights, President Obama has been bold enough to step up to the plate and endorse gay rights , at least personally as a family man, and a politician. Mitt Romney’s  views on the subject are a bit more vague, he states that of course he disagrees with discrimination in the work place or publicly. He stops about there on gay rights and is quick to repeat the party mantra that marriage is defined as Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve.

On the subject of Immigration, Obama is busily trying to apologize to the Hispanic vote for not fulfilling his campaign promises on immigration reform four years ago, while riding on his policy of “proprietorial discretion”, which basically promises not to deport the Mexican communities friends and family members unless they have to. Romney on the other hand is not held back by unfulfilled campaign promises that plague Presidential incumbents. Romney gave a somewhat vague and standard response to the Republican National Hispanic Assembly Convention in Tampa, Florida in 2011 when he told the Hispanic community in so many words that “Legal immigrants are wonderful, but I don’t like illegals”. Mitt Romney’s views have not changed much since then, and his main campaign solution to illegal immigration is to reinforce the fortifications of our Mexican border.

When it comes to who should pay more taxes, the rich or the poor, both candidates differ greatly on the issue. President Obama adamantly believes that the rich should be happy and willing to pay more taxes than the poor, given the blessings they receive.  Romney’s tax plan revolves around the corporate world’s needs and those Americans who make at least over a quarter million a year. His tax focus for America is more in the lines of reducing taxes for the upper class citizen by cutting corporate, investment, and estate taxes.

Welfare is a one sided issue in this campaign , Mitt Romney says there is a safety net and that’s all we as a nation owe the poor for a limited time only! Obama is practically socialist in comparison to Romney’s views on social services for the poor, and the President is always spending large sums on social based programs like AmeriCorps that help local communities, he now plans to re-enforce the program to up to 250,000 volunteers by 2017 from 75,000 presently. This issue of the social responsibilities of government also goes right down party lines, but as Mr. Romney has recently learned in his campaign with his infamous 47percent comment, you must always be careful not to seem to insensitive to America’s poor.

It is obvious to both parties that Obama has the Black vote cinched, statistically and also in how Mitt Romney comes off when he tries relating to the average American. Other minority issues besides immigration and border control seem to be nonexistent in both parties agendas, I guess when the economy is the only real issue on the political debate, concerns about the rights of citizens and racial representations in America, will always take second place to jobs until this economy finally  improves.