President’s Message, Dec. 2017 — Stanley P. Dillard, Sr.

WILL 2018 BE THE YEAR OF THE MILLENNIALS AND ANGRY FEMALE VOTERS?

This may seem like a stretch, but why should you attend the ongoing CDD meetings with regard to the amenities, and transfer of ownership of our community from the developer to our residents? Many people don’t seem to turnout, especially minorities who live here. By attending and participating in the hearings, we can be more informed about issues which affect us. It may seem like a small and trivial point, but taking an interest in happenings in our community has the potential of becoming habit, much like voting should be in political elections.

The consequences of not voting are immense with its potential effects on real wages, affordable higher education, accessible health care, Medicaid, Medicare, and housing affordability. However, there is one area we tend to overlook by not voting with regularity, which is not obvious at first. The party that wins elections has the potential to control not just the administrative and legislative branches, but also gains the power to restrict your rights through control of the judicial branch of our government with lifetime appointments; which could affect our children’s and grandchildren’s future for the next 40 years or more.

Donald Trump has nominated more unqualified judicial appointees than any other president so early in his first term, according to the American Bar Association. The ABA Standing Committee has been ranking prospective judicial candidates before they are officially nominated for a position since the Eisenhower administration. Presidents then nominate candidates deemed qualified by the group.

ABA President Linda Klein said that the “ABA the standing committee’s work has done much to instill public confidence and trust in the judiciary”. The committee has reviewed over 600 candidates for federal judicial posts during its existence, and all of whom were deemed qualified for the bench until now, when the ABA ranked Trump nominees Charles Goodwin, Leonard Grasz, Holly Teeter, and Brett Talley as unqualified.

In addition, 91 percent of Trump’s nominees are white, and 81 percent are male, according to an Associated Press analysis. Three of every four are white men, with few African-Americans and Hispanics in the mix, and 19% are female of any race or ethnicity (Women equal 51% of the population). Unlike President Obama, this administration feels that it has no obligation to appoint a diverse judiciary, which reflects the make-up of the U.S. population. You can continue this fiasco by staying home every election cycle, or change it by exercising your right to vote and encouraging like-minded people, your millennial children, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews to vote for Democratic candidates at every level of government, and at every opportunity.

Are we at a time when women in this country finally stand up to sexual harassment, and child molestation by those who either seek or hold high and powerful offices such as: Alabama Judge Ray Moore, and Donald Trump? Would you agree that it’s time for the “Blame the Victim” mentality to end with the women of this country finally exercising their political rights and muscle? The profile of the typical republican voter is older, white and male.

Millennials tend lean democratic/ independent, and voted for democratic leaning independent Berny Saunders. Hopefully, those women and millennials who took to the streets after the election of 2016 to the theme of “Not My President”, show up in large numbers at the polls. Will 2018 be the year of the Millennials and angry female voters? I certainly hope so.

Stanley P. Dillard, Sr.
President, Solivita Democratic Club