What Can We Expect of Cuban-Americans in the Midterm Elections?

To be clear, I happen to despise Hispanic T.V. in this area. Ever listened to Jorge Ramos, [the] most well-known news anchor from Spanish T.V. network Univision? As far as I am concerned this is a despicable man – enough for me to stay away from Spanish news broadcasts. However, my narrative today is not about Hispanic T.V., I shall leave that for another day as I think there is plenty to talk about on this topic. The only reason I make mention of Hispanic T.V. is due the fact that my eighty-eight-year-old mother-in-law, vis-à-vis, loves Spanish T.V. broadcasting networks. Understandable, she and many others like her, do not speak the English language, so American T.V., doesn’t make much sense, for her and others like her, does it?

Anyways, lots of the time, I find the T.V., in my living room, tuned-on by the old lady to one of these many Spanish broadcasting stations and, while passing-by the other day, I could not help peeking at the T.V. and watching a pack of old septuagenarian Cuban ladies, literally kissing Andrew Gillum’s ass right after a Friday rally in Overtown where he [Gillum] and Obama went to promote the former’s midterm election chances.

You know what, when I saw these old ladies, again, kissing-ass of someone that represents all of what the Castro brother’s advocate, I said to myself: we do deserve the Castro revolution. What was I supposed to do? Feel sorry, maybe, for all these parrot-heads only because they are old? Hell no – no way. As I shared this story with some of my family and friends, some said, hey Obie, they are old, and they probably have been intimidated into thinking this Gillum guy is good for them. To them, I said: Really? Am I supposed to believe that, I said? Am I supposed to just feel sorry because they are old? What about the harm that these bunch can ensue from their murky brownnosing?

As a diehard Cuban of the old school, my only follow-up thought on what I was watching was, guess what? I think, many of us Cubans, have short memories. That, or simply, these pack of old rats belong to that new breed of Cubans, who, first, have lived in Cuba for the most part of their lives and second, they only came to the U.S., as part of a unique migration seeking only to take advantage of the U.S. economy and nothing but. This breed is in a class of their own – many of them come, get their Medicare and Medicaid and back they go – great!

I can only assume that many of these air-heads, are uneducated and illiterate, not to mention, led like any flock of sheep. They are so stupid, they don’t realize that Andrew Gillum is the worse that can happen for the elderly people in Florida; a curse – a kiss of death. But who the hell knows what they were promised. This is the kind of people that will sell their soul to the devil for crumbs – give them a good breakfast maybe and you get back a vote. Give them a good promise, you will get 2 votes. On and on.

Anyways, just like that, my mind started wondering and I came upon the realization that, the infamous supposition that the Cuban-American vote would always help turn the tie in favor of Republicans – this “cliché” may have very well been suitable for the 80’s, a time when many of the previous generation of Cubans, were still alive, albeit, these were [the] Cubans whose pain for the loss of their legacy and heritage, pushed them hard towards Republicanism and Republican presidents, moreover after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion who many characterized as democratic treachery led by John F. Kennedy.

But, guess what? This is 2018 and, like I said before, most in that generation have passed away. With their passing, so did many of the political legacies, only to be followed by new generations, to wit, mine and that of my children and their children – all of whom are readily splitting from their parents’ and grandparents’ politics; to many of them the word “Cuba” is as foreign as some nation which used to be mentioned by their parents and grandparents. Sad but true. Even in my own family I see some of these children and grandchildren growing up as diehard democrats, liberals, and so-called left-wingers. Wow! Can you believe that? You bet. Take the blindfolds off or you will be in for a great surprise.

There are, mind you, a few who still believe in father’s, mother’s, grandpa’s and grandma’s heritage and, they do show respect and loyalty to their predecessors’ ideologies – these, however, are the exception rather than the rule – I am sorry to say. In my books, I see our Cuban-American migration today as the Arch of Noah – with many different animals in the ship. I have even seen some in my own generation, the baby-boomers, who have withered away into a heritage limbo where there is really no patrimony anymore. The newfound economic abundance in my generation was such that, they just opted to follow the money and, soon, Cuba was: a-thing-of-the past. To many, Cuba became our ancestors’ obsession.

Anyways, I am going to let you in a little secret, but don’t tell anyone I told you. Did you know that Andrew Gillum is counting on the votes of the younger Cuban-Americans to win his election? Now, think about it, Andrew Gillum is considered by many political experts in the nation as one of [the] most socialist / communist candidates in these Mid-term elections, bar none, and he is counting on us [Cuban- Americans] to win the goddammed elections. Sad isn’t it?

There are approximately 1.2 million eligible Cuban-American voters in Florida. In 2016, approximately 42% of these Cuban-Americans voted for Hillary Clinton. Can you imagine? That is, almost half of the vote went democrat in 2016 – that’s a big chunk, wouldn’t you agree? Now figure this out, all things considered, it’s all right I guess for many Anglos and Blacks to be democrats, even the younger Cuban-Americans, they know no better, but, for God’s sake, for any so-called Cuban-American of my generation, us baby-boomers, to be a democrat in this day and age, I personally think, it is outright treacherous; it is like saying, I really don’t give a dam about what happened to my parents – screw them. To all of you I say: shame on you. You really deserve a Gillum – you really deserve the Castro revolution.

In closing, up to now, it was well to believe we Cuban-Americans were going to have Florida always leaning to the right. That notion in 2018 is just a fallacy. About time we realize that 60 years after-the-fact, after Castro took over power in Cuba, there have been major socio-political permutations that have changed the order of things, haven’t they?

Most patriarchs of the sixty’s exodus are no longer with us and what’s left is a Cuban-American concoction composed of a new generation that doesn’t even know what the word Cuba means or where it rests on the map. That coupled with a new wave of communist infiltrates who are very much, still, a part of the revolution – they carry it in their DNA – many of them were the ones I saw kissing Gillum’s butt – the same they have kissed Castro’s butt for the last 60 years. For God’s sake, again, let’s take the blindfolds off and realize that, many in this new Cuban-Americans cadre are but a bunch of low-life partisan democratic socialists. They are Marxist left-wingers – a far cry from what we are expected to be in political statistics. I truly hope the expert political analysts do take our change into consideration when making all the predictions. We are no longer the Cuban-American voters of the 1980’s. May God save us, and may God save Florida come tomorrow.