National Defense Authorization Act could violate U.S. citizens’ rights

This article was originally published by the Viễn Đông on 6 January 2012. It was reported by Vanessa White.

http://www.viendongdaily.com/dao-luat-tham-quyen-quoc-phong-vi-pham-quyen-cong-dan-my-28n30vft.html

 

WASHINGTON D.C.—President Barack Obama has agreed to possibly take away any U.S. citizens’ constitutional rights to a fair trial.

On 31 December 2011, President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (NDAA), which-based on the interpretation of the acting president- could give the government power to militarily and indefinitely detain U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents on U.S. soil, if such people are suspected of terrorism or aiding a terrorist.

The 14 December 2011 House of Representatives vote for the NDAA was equally split among Democrats yet overwhelmingly supported by Republicans. Though, California’s Congressional District (CD) 40 Republican Representative Ed Royce opposed the legislation while the State’s CD 47 Democrat Representative Loretta Sanchez did not vote.

At the time of this article’s publication, the Viễn Đông did not receive comment from either Representative Royce or Representative Sanchez as to why they voted the way they did.

The Senate passed the NDAA, or HR 1540, on 15 December 2011, both California's U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein and U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer supporting it.

“The statute is particularly dangerous because it has no temporal or geographic limitations, and can be used by this and future presidents to militarily detain people captured far from any battlefield,” an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) blog reads. “Any military detention of American citizens or others within the United States is unconstitutional and illegal, including under the NDAA.”

Citizen fears

Ms. Sara AbiBoutros, who has been involved with the international, political and socioeconomic Occupy Movement, told the Viễn Đông that under the NDAA and according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) definition of “terrorist,” her role as an Occupy protester could lead to her being indefinitely detained.

Since November 2011, the Viễn Dông has covered the Occupy Movement, which began in New York City (NYC) and San Francisco in September 2011, culminating into international civic disobedient acts including marches, city hall and home occupations, as well as port shutdowns.

“My biggest concern is the vague language in defining what constitutes being a terrorist,” Ms. AbiBoutros told the Viễn Đông of the NDAA’s language, adding that though the NDAA does not necessarily define terrorist, as the FBI does, it gives the government permission on how to treat such people. “The FBI’s definition of a terrorist is laughable.”

Although the FBI recognizes that “there is no single, universally accepted, definition of terrorism,” it defines terrorism as “the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof in furtherance of political or social objectives.”

Anyone participating in such activities is considered a “terrorist.”

Ms. AbiBoutros added that the NDAA is also unclear about what it means for someone to “aid terrorists.”

For example, she continued, if she were to create a blog and a terrorist organization saw it and decided to use the information she displayed, she could be considered as aiding a terrorist.

Further bills

Although California's U.S. Senator Feinstein, who is also Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, supported the NDAA, she had objections with its indefinite detention provisions and offered an amendment that would clearly state that military detention is only applicable to suspected terrorists captured outside of the United States.

Her amendment was struck down by a 55-45 vote in the Senate.

On 14 December 2011, she introduced legislation to Congress that could keep U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents who are seized domestically from being detained indefinitely by the military.

Her bill, “Due Process Guarantee Act”, or S. 2003, could ensure that U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents have their right to a fair trial.

“The argument is not whether citizens such as Yaser Esam Hamdi and Jose Padilla-or others who would do us harm-should be captured, interrogated, incarcerated and severely punished. They should be,” she was quoted in a press release. “But what about an innocent American? What about someone in the wrong place at the wrong time?”

Congress has yet to vote on S. 2003.

Regarding the NDAA, the ACLU is depending on an eventual U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the authority Congress has to indefinitely detain U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, arrested in the United States.

What is democracy to the minority among the majority?

*This article was originally published by the Viễn Đông on 4 January 2012. It was reported by Vanessa White.

http://www.viendongdaily.com/dan-chu-la-gi-doi-voi-nhom-thieu-so-giua-long-da-so-57FaBCA9.html

WASHINGTON D.C.—The GOP 2012 Presidential primaries and caucuses have given “the minority” some chances at making their issues heard on the national level.

As Democrat President Barack Obama was elected in 2008, he represented the majority of Americans who voted him into office.

The Republicans represented the minority.

However, since the summer 2011, the Viễn Đông has reported on Republican-corporate alliances, like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), that are believed to support bills promoting business success at the expense of the American people-the majority.

Since fall 2011, the Viễn Đông has also consistently reported on the Occupy Movement, its protesters working toward what they feel democracy should look like: rule by the 99 percent, or the masses-the majority, as opposed to rule by the 1 percent, or the wealthy and corporations-the minority.

Yet, as the election of President Obama supposedly proved, their vision for democracy is already in effect.

Although the democratic election of President Obama represented the majority of U.S. voters, the Occupy Movement and ALEC exposure have led to insight into how much weight the minority actually holds.

The term “democracy” commonly meaning “rule by the people” comes from the ancient Greeks, who only gave one in five people the right to vote, University of California Irvine (UCI) Director for the Center of the Study of  Democracy and Sociology Professor David Meyer told the Viễn Đông.

“In contemporary discourse, democracy is supposed to allow the majority to rule,” he continued, adding that it is also supposed to protect the rights of all minorities as they try to become majorities by using their civil liberties and persuading others to join and push for their cause.

Though, he also told the Viễn Đông that it is common for democracies to “stomp on the rights and well-being of minorities.”

“Look, virtually all of the elected officials in the American South supported segregation,” he added, mentioning pre-1964 Civil Rights practices, including separating people’s meeting places by their race. “They had to if they wanted to be elected.” 

American slavery, institutionally ending in 1865, resulted in a system where Blacks were viewed as the “minority,” submissive to Whites. Especially prevalent in the American South, the rights of Whites were considered more important than the rights of Blacks and Whites representing the “majority” did not want to give up their privilege or perceived entitlement.

Civil Rights legislation only resulted from the federal government intervening and “imposing solutions over the objections of the majority,” Professor Meyer continued.

Minority-majority coalition

Mr. David Ajasin, who graduated from the State University of New York (SUNY) Plattsburgh with a Political Science degree, told the Viễn Đông that minorities have historically been represented by gaining support from the majority.

“The Civil Rights movement may not have been as successful, as it turned out, had it only included minorities,” he continued.

However, the motives for including minorities into democratic representation are not always pure, he added, like when politicians do everything they can to gain support in minority neighborhoods just so they can get elected.

He used another example of a Black woman’s, the late Ms. Rosa Parks, arrest for sitting in the front of a Montgomery, Alabama bus and refusing to give up her seat to a White person.

In 1955, the Montgomery Bus Service was legally segregated, designating the back of the bus for Blacks and the front of the bus for Whites.

Ms. Parks’ arrest spurred a mass protest called the Montgomery Bus Boycott, resulting in Blacks choosing not to ride the city busses.

After city officials realized the boycott was causing the city to lose money, as Blacks were the majority of the people riding the busses, they allowed Black people to sit anywhere they wanted on city buses.

However, Mr. Ajasin told the Viễn Đông that unlike what inspired the city of Montgomery’s decision, there have been more pure motives behind majority support of minority causes, like the mixture of White and Black supporters in the crowd at Civil Rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speeches.

“It seems like minority representation is based on uniformity between all communities,” he added.

Minority wins majority

As a Black male in the United States, Mr. Ajasin recognizes his gained opportunity for civic engagement though “it’s almost numerically impossible for a Black male to win a majority decision, especially on issues pertaining almost exclusively to Black Folks,” he told the Viễn Đông.

“It’s similar to feeling somewhat left out within an arguably ‘inclusive’ governmental system,” he added.

Though, President Obama was elected as the first Black President to the United States of America.

“People wanted change and voted him in,” Mr. Ajasin told the Viễn Đông, though, “unfortunately, he is frequently used as a reference to ‘prove’ that racism does not exist” and the minority is being sufficiently represented.

Although President Obama’s election “brings minorities a step closer, we still have a long way to go,” he added.

Mr. Ajasin shared with Viễn Đông a common phrase he remembers children yelling when he was a youngster, “majority rules!”

He laughed, “How ironic for a minority.”

Asian American community: minority or majority?

In September 2011, the Viễn Đông reported on the Republican National Convention (RNC), including comments California Board of Equalization (BOE) Vice Chair Michelle Park Steel made about the Asian American community’s seemingly natural alliance with the GOP party.

She told the Viễn Đông that most first generation Asian Americans do not want the government handling their money and want less government involvement in their lives, typically views also shared by GOP party members.

As Asian American community members are considered to be ethnic “minorities” in the United States, their mostly GOP membership could position them to be in the “majority” depending on the results of this year’s Presidential election.

Or, like ALEC and the Occupy Movement appear to reveal, the Asian American community might already be among the majority when it comes to U.S. democracy.

No cuts to Medi-Cal provider rates for now

*This article was originally published by the Viễn Đông on 3 January 2012. It was reported by Vanessa White.

http://viendongdaily.com/tam-thoi-van-chua-cat-giam-10-muc-chi-tra-cho-medi-cal-quPBeMTD.html

GARDEN GROVE, California—A recent court decision has helped save Pharamcist Thư-Hằng Trần's pharmacy, along with others across the state.

At least for now.

On 29 December 2011, the U.S. District Court, Central District of California, in Los Angeles (LA) granted an injunction-or stop- to plaintiffs opposing the 2011-2012 State budget trailer bill, Assembly Bill (AB) 97, which would have made 10 percent cuts to Medi-Cal provider rates statewide.

Pharmacist Trần told the Viễn Đông that providing the proper medication for her patients under AB 97, could have eventually led to her closing down her pharmacy, as she would not have received enough State funding to break even.

To keep her pharmacy open, she would have had to offer her patients less expensive, generic medications, rather than provide quality medication for them.

Since the summer 2011, the Viễn Đông has reported on proposed cuts to Medi-Cal, California’s version of the federal Medicaid program. It covers low-income families with children, seniors, foster children, pregnant women, and people with specific diseases including breast cancer and HIV/AIDS.

The State provides funding to Medi-Cal providers so they can offer less expensive, yet quality services to such individuals.

Passed in March 2011, AB 97 cuts were supposed to go into effect on 1 June 2011 as a way to help the State balance its budget, however the State had to wait for federal approval to enact them.

On 27 October 2011, the federal government approved over $623 million in cuts to Medi-Cal provider rates, spurring a lawsuit from plaintiffs, including the Medicaid Defense Fund which represented Pharmacist Trần's pharmacy, Tran Pharmacy.

AB 97 would have made cuts to more than just pharmacy services, including adult physicians and clinics, therapy, optometry, and dental. Nursing home nurses and adult sub-acute care nursing home facilities would have also experienced 10 percent reductions in provider payments, while acute care nursing facilities would have received 10 percent reductions in provider payments as well as a rate freeze.

However provider cuts would not have applied to child physician and clinic services, home health services, hospital based sub-acute care facilities, or outpatient hospital services.

“It affects everybody,” Pharmacist Trần said of AB 97, adding that many employees working at outpatient services experiencing the cuts would have lost their jobs as their employers would not have had enough money to pay them.

She continued, saying that the AB 97 injunction is similar to the 2008, 2009, and 2010 court decisions that also blocked cuts to Medi-Cal provider rates, originally passed by the California legislature for the 2007-2008 budget.

As a response to the U.S. District Court in LA block in 2008, California appealed the decision with the U.S. Supreme Court in 2009 and 2010, losing both times.

However, the AB 97 injunction case is different from those past cases because California did not have federal government support then as it does now.

Pharmacist Trần told the Viễn Đông that California will probably appeal the newest AB 97 injunction, which will only spur appeals from plaintiffs seeking to block cuts.

“It will go back and forth,” she said.

Though, the Ping-Pong-like drama could be stopped if a pending U.S. Supreme Court decision to be decided by June 2012 rules against plaintiffs.

Douglas vs. Independent Living Center of Southern California

In October 2011, the Viễn Đông reported on first U.S. Supreme Court case of its new 2011-2012 term, Douglas vs. Independent Living Center of Southern California.

The case focused on whether or not people receiving Medi-Cal, their providers, and their advocates can sue California and stop its cuts to Medi-Cal provider rates.

Pharmacist Trần was a plaintiff in the case and traveled to Washington D.C. to offer her presence as support.

“If you don’t have the right to sue, the court will not accept your case,” Pharmacist Trần told the Viễn Đông in October 2011, adding that this case will affect decisions regarding similar lawsuits in the future.

She continued, saying that if the plaintiffs win the case, there will be similar lawsuits against states throughout the country.

However, if the plaintiffs lose, doctors and patients may never be able to sue the government again.

Treatment of women in Latin America, a process of progress

*This article was originally published by the Viễn Đông on 2 January 2012. It was reported by Bạch Vân.

http://www.viendongdaily.com/phu-nu-va-cach-doi-xu-o-chau-my-latin-tien-bo-hay-chua-7QVakdt7.html

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic— The man on the bus reached over and caressed her bare thigh, warm from the sun’s heat after a day at the beach.

Yet, she had not asked him to, at least not knowingly and certainly not verbally.

She felt violated, uncertain of her place despite her prior confidence. He smiled at her, desire seemingly in his eyes.

Staring back in shock, she focused on her peripherals, hoping someone would interfere.

No one did.

“In Latin America in general there is a sense of machismo,” Ms. Gabrielle Equale, who spent time in Chile and Mexico while studying Latin American studies, told the Viễn Đông. “It’s a very cultural habit.”

Machismo is defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as “a strong sense of masculine pride,” and an “exaggerated or exhilarating sense of power and strength.” It is considered to be a deeply rooted and acceptable attitude in countries-like the Dominican Republic-displayed by competitive actions among men, including their sexual conquests of women.

Ms. Equale told the Viễn Đông that she did not notice machismo in Chile as much as she did in Mexico, though “that doesn’t mean it wasn’t there.”

“Women in general are seen as inferior,” she told the Viễn Đông of her experience in Guadalajara, Mexico, adding that she noticed women walking behind men and men ordering for women at restaurants.

During Ms. Equale’s stay in Chile, bà Michele Bachelet was the country’s president. Women were treated better in Valparaiso, Chile than in other countries Ms. Equale had traveled to, she told the Viễn Đông.

Though, “there was a larger difference between men and women in the lower social classes,” she continued, adding that the richer people lived closer to the water while the poorer people lived in the hills.

Latin America: brief history

As of the 2010 census, there were over 590 million people living in Latin America.

Before mostly Spanish, Portuguese, and French people began colonizing the region in the 16th century, numerous Indigenous peoples inhabited the area now known as Latin America. Some of them, like the Aztecs, Mayas, and Incas, developed advanced civilizations.

As Indigenous populations began dying off from disease, slavery, and wars, the Europeans brought Africans to the region as replacements to do the slave work. The mixture of Indigenous peoples, Europeans, and Africans is still prevalent in Latin America’s racial diversity as some countries reflect the mixed genes and other countries are populated with mostly one ethnic group.

Though, still influenced by their colonial past, Latin American countries have gained independence, mostly resulting from movements and wars from the late 18th through 19th centuries.

Latin America has been considered one of the most unequal regions in the world in terms of socioeconomics, stemming largely from institutions put in place during colonial times that generally kept people of color, women, and poor people from attaining social status.

Although, there are deeply rooted ideologies-like machismo- prevalent throughout Latin America, there has been progress made in certain social areas, specifically regarding women.

Progress a process for women

In 2009, the magazine Dissident Voice published an article that called the political left shift in Latin America positive for women in the region.

For example, Venezuelan Socialist President Hugo Chavez has been self-proclaimed as a feminist, his voter base in every election since first running for presidency in 1998 being poor women.

Most people living in Venezuela are reportedly living in poverty, 65 percent of households are headed by single women, many of whom support President Chavez’s social welfare programs-including care for women who have suffered domestic abuse.

Under the 1999 Venezuelan Constitution, women are guaranteed social, political, and economic equality with men. The Constitution recognizes that housework is an activity that stimulates the economy, thus giving social security benefits to housewives.

However, not all Latin American women are supportive of left-wing ideologies and social programs, as there is also a right-wing middle class segment of women who are not necessarily struggling for the same rights as their poorer sisters.

Women’s movements that center on economic difficulty will more likely include women and men in the lower classes than women along class lines. Also, there is not always unity in organizing among women of Indigenous or African descent and women of European descent, as some movements also focus on race.

Indigenous women, for example, receive triple discrimination as they are women, non-white, and largely poor. In Bolivia, where Indigenous people are over half the population, women are struggling to preserve their country’s natural resources as their land is subject to devastation for commercial purposes.

Abortion is illegal in Bolivia, unless the woman is a rape victim or could have a life-threatening pregnancy. Still, the country has one of the highest abortion rates in the world, though lower than it could be since there is a fee of $150. That kind of money is often difficult for the women to come by.

In Chile, abortion is completely illegal, no exceptions. Though, former President Bachelet did expand contraception access, including a policy that distributed the morning after pill for free in public health clinics.

Though, Ms. Equale remembers women being respected relatively strongly in Chile, she does recall being treated differently herself during her stay.

“It could have been that I was seeing things or being treated differently because I was there as a foreigner,” she told the Viễn Đông, adding that people often treated her as though she understood little. “[It] Could have also been because I was a woman.”

Some Americans do not pay taxes amid talk of tax cuts, drugs affect economy

This article was originally published by the Viễn Đông on 24 December 2011. It was reported by Vanessa White.

 http://www.viendongdaily.com/chuyen-dong-thue-giam-thue-va-ma-tuy-doi-voi-nen-kinh-te-my-Ydef3TVJ.html

WASHINGTON D.C.—The U.S. Congress has come to an agreement on whether to extend a tax cut benefitting 160 million U.S. workers.

The measure will extend the payroll tax cut for at least another two months.

Lawmakers had until 31 December 2011 to extend the cut, otherwise payroll taxes would have increased by 2 percent on 1 January 2012, forcing the average U.S. family to lose out on $1,000 next year.

Although mainstream news coverage heavily focused on Congress’s difficulty to compromise on the tax cuts, there has been little coverage on where some of the tax dollars are actually going, or how they are being used to fund programs.

For instance, last week the Viễn Đông reported on how the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) aids drug cartels in laundering millions of dollars.

U.S. agents reportedly smuggle money across the United States-Mexico border, hoping to learn about how the drug cartels use the money, where it is kept, and who the ringleaders are.

To achieve this goal, the DEA might allow drug operations to go on for months or years before even one criminal is arrested.

As the DEA is funded with tax dollars, Americans are indirectly supporting the drug trade, all while DEA agents hope to catch the suspects they are funding.

The DEA funded drug operations allow the drugs to make their way up to the United States and people who sell them on the street are not taxed because selling and being in possession of narcotics is considered illegal by the U.S. federal government.

At the same time, the U.S. government funds the “War on Drugs,” which includes criminalizing drugs and incarcerating people who possess and sell them.

Prison funding, “War on Drugs”

According to the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ), of the over 2 million people incarcerated in the United States, about 500,000 of them are imprisoned due to drug related offenses.

Funding for state prisons, including prisons within the California Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections (CDRC) system comes from taxpayers.

Since former President Richard Nixon declared a “War on Drugs” in 1971, there has been an increased burden on taxpayers nationwide due to an increasing prison population while addiction has not decreased, according to retired police officer and former drug identification expert for the Torrance Police Department Mr. Kyle Kazan.

In a 2011 documentary film, The Exile Nation Project: An Oral History of the War on Drugs, Mr. Kazan said that marijuana is California’s number one cash crop and the State is making very little money on it.

California law allows for people with illnesses like cancer, chronic pain, and anxiety to possess medical marijuana to ease their symptoms.  

In some cities, including Garden Grove, there are medical marijuana dispensaries where people with such illnesses can buy marijuana from vendors.

However, as federal law makes selling or possessing marijuana of any kind illegal, these dispensaries are constantly threatened with shut down.

“It’s [marijuana] costing us money because we’re still fighting it,” Mr. Kazan said, adding that the number two cash crop in California is grapes and “California makes a fortune on grapes.”

Before the failure of Proposition 19, which was on the November 2010 ballot and would have legalized marijuana in California, the California Board of Equalizations estimated that $14 billion in marijuana transactions occurred in California every year.

If taxed, the State could have made $1.4 billion in revenue, contributing to the rising costs of healthcare, education, and transportation.

Mr. Kazan said that the State needs money and the drug policies have failed. “It [legalizing marijuana] seems like a pretty obvious solution to me.”

Difficulty for some, ease for others in paying back student loans

*This article was originally published by the Viễn Đông on 23 December 2011. It was reported by Bạch Vân.

http://www.viendongdaily.com/tra-tien-vay-de-di-hoc-kho-voi-mot-so-nguoi-de-cho-ai-ZJNsDGdX.html

PLATTSBURGH, New York—Ms. Jeanine Mucci is like many other college students, taking out her first student loan to help with the costs surrounding college life.

However, she is in her last year of college, not her first.

Rather than take out a hefty loan to pay for her education at State University New York (SUNY) Plattsburgh, she worked at retail stores near campus and as a resident assistant (RA), as well as accepted money from her mom to cover the cost of her pending nursing degree and living expenses.

The one loan she is taking out will pay for her apartment this last semester.

As graduation is approaching, Ms. Mucci told the Viễn Đông that she is striving toward a sense of independence and sees the loan as a way to achieve this, as she can avoid asking her mother for some extra money.

She is not worried about being able to pay the small loan back because she feels she will have job security in the nursing field and will probably start paying some of it off before graduation.

“I know friends that are $72,000 in the hole and don’t have jobs,” she told the Viễn Đông, adding that those friends have to defer their loan payments which only increases their interest rates. “[They’re] looking at the degree on the wall and asking, ‘Is it worth it?’”

Student loan debt

Ms. Mucci’s friends are among the students who have contributed to the national student loan debt of over $1 trillion.

And college tuitions are only rising.

However, protesters nationwide, even internationally, are attempting to help such students.

Part of the Occupy Movement, inspired by pro-democracy protests that spread throughout the Middle East and North Africa in the spring 2011, the protesters feel that banks and corporations are profiting from global social, economic, and political systems.

Such banks and corporations include those companies that loan students money for college.

The protesters, or Occupiers, argue that the companies make loans to students at higher interest rates than the government does, forcing the students to pay back much more than they were originally lent.

More students are turning to private loans as the government is reportedly struggling economically and in less of a position to loan its students money for school.

On top of this, Occupiers note that unemployment rates worldwide are unstable, taking away from the job security students need upon graduating college.

Without jobs, students have a difficult time, if they are at all able, to pay back their loans.

As a solution, Occupiers are urging recent graduates to not pay back their student loans and are calling for companies, as well as the government, to make loans to students at zero-percent interest rates.

In October 2011, President Barack Obama announced his plan to make it easier for nearly 2 million Americans to pay back their student loans.

Among other perks, his plan would decrease the monthly payment amounts, consolidate loans, and forgive a borrower’s remaining debt after 20 years.

Still, the Occupiers feel this is not enough.

College students ready?

SUNY Plattsburgh Director for the Center for Diversity Pluralism and Inclusion (CDPI) Dr. J.W. Wiley is paying back a series of low-interest loans he took out to help him pay for his doctorate education, as well as part of his daughter’s undergraduate education, while he worked in his career as an educator and consulter.

“It’s tight, but it’s doable,” he told the Viễn Đông about how he is managing. “I still have money to play with.”

He added that he makes a nice salary and has consolidated his loans, figuring out a way to pay back hundreds of dollars every month rather than the thousands some other people have to pay back.

However, his situation is different than the situations of undergraduate students because he is already in his career rather than going to school to start one.

Dr. Wiley told the Viễn Dông that some students finding it difficult to pay back student loans were really never ready to go to a four year institution to begin with.

Some students get caught up in the partying aspect of school and fail to handle their educational responsibilities, lessening their job prospects when they do graduate.

Rather than go to a community college and gradually build the discipline needed to succeed at a four year school, the students “suffer the consequences from having bought into in the hype” of doing what society promotes and rush into a four year institution, Dr. Wiley said.

“People need to be realistic,” he continued, adding that school counselors could have more conversations with students regarding their social maturity. “A lot of these students are not aware of what they’re doing.”

2012 U.S. elections series: Voter participation, immigrants more American?

*This article was originally published by the Viễn Đông on 21 December 2011. It was reported by Vanessa White.

WESTMINSTER, California—Vietnamese Americans are more American than Americans.

Orange County (OC) Senior Deputy District Attorney and 2012 candidate for the OC Superior Court judgeship Mr. Jeff Ferguson excitedly explained such thoughts to the Viễn Đông, adding that Vietnamese Americans have taken full advantage of their civic participation opportunities available in the United States.

More so than most Americans whose families have been in the country for a longer period of time, especially such American youths.

“They get out and vote,” Mr. Ferguson said of Vietnamese Americans.

In OC, 63 percent of the registered voting age population (VAP) turned out to vote in the 2008 general election, while 62 percent of that VAP was Vietnamese American.

“That’s something this community has learned-how important it is to vote,” Ms. Trần Tammy, District Representative for California 34^th Senate District (SD) Senator Lou Correa, told the Viễn Đông, adding that the Vietnamese American community is like other immigrant communities from countries worldwide that came to the United States in search of democracy. “They appreciate it.”

The community began immigrating to the United States in large numbers, following the Fall of Saigon in 1975.

Fleeing social, economic, and political oppression, the first Vietnamese immigrants who would establish the Vietnamese American community in the United States desired to be actively involved in their new country, participating in the social, economic, and political arenas they were denied in Vietnam.

Senator Correa told the Viễn Đông that most Americans-including the first Europeans who set up colonies- were actually descendants of immigrants who were fleeing their countries due to oppression.

“America is considered a place of freedom,” he said. “That’s why we have to watch it very carefully.”

 Taking advantage of freedom

The United States is among other democracies worldwide that hold multi-party elections, allowing its citizens to rotate the ideologies in power and vote for representatives who express opposite or differing views from their neighbors.

Senator Correa told the Viễn Đông that a lot of places around the world require a candidate willing to take on the “status quo” to be sure of winning. Otherwise, if that candidate loses there is still a threat to the opposition and the candidate could be exiled or even killed.

Then, some countries do not even entertain the thought of allowing a second party to compete for public office.

“This country has a wonderful system,” he said, adding that the United States has had time to develop democracy. “We have really avoided civil war.”

He added that the crisis surrounding the 2000 U.S. Supreme Court selection of former President George W. Bush could have turned out to be disastrous.

Former President Bush had lost the popular vote to candidate Mr. Al Gore, which was contested, and the Supreme Court voted for him 5-4, thus giving him the election and making him President.

“We as Americans accepted it,” Senator Correa said of the decision. “We accepted the process and we moved forward.”

However, the Supreme Court decision that year is possibly among reasons why there are Americans who do not vote, feeling as though their vote will not matter anyway.

In October 2011, the Viễn Đông reported on youth voting and found that among the reasons for a lacking youth vote was the feeling that their voices did not really matter.

Justification for such feeling included the lack of education surrounding voting and voter registration.

“They [teachers] said it was important for us to register, but didn’t say exactly where or how to,” Ms. Jasmine Roberts, who graduated from Fontana’s Henry J. Kaiser High Class of 2010 and took her U.S. government and civics course in summer school, told the Viễn Đông .“I have not registered myself, nor have I voted on anything.”

Such lack of desire for inclusion into the political system is further fueled by voting law changes and special interests involved in politics that the Viễn Đông also reported about in October 2011.

The Brennan Center for Justice found that over 5 million voters nationwide-especially ethnic minority voters- could be disadvantaged in the 2012 elections, as over a dozen states have passed voting law changes, such as requiring photo ID’s for registration.

These voting law changes have been found to be largely backed by Republicans and funded by special interest groups.

The highly publicized Occupy Movement has opposed such special interest group involvement in the political process, as well as called for changes to the social, economic, and political process within the United States and such processes abroad.

Influenced by the spring 2011 pro-democracy protests that spread throughout the Middle East and North Africa, the Occupy Movement began in September 2011 in New York City (NYC) and San Francisco. It soon became popular in cities throughout the United States and even internationally, resulting in marches, port shutdowns, and encampments on public property.

Occupy-OC Irvine’s civic liaison between the group and the City of Irvine Mr. Greg Diamond told the Viễn Đông that the main point of the movement was to get people talking about issues that go untouched, like government corruption.

Though, that term is possibly relative to specific communities.

Mr. Ferguson told the Viễn Đông that most Americans, have been used to a certain, high standard of freedom, allowing them to take advantage of it and not fully appreciate their rights.

Vietnamese Americans who were born in Vietnam have felt their rights suppressed, he said, leading to their thankfulness for such rights in the United States.