Newsletter

December 2007
Letter from the Chair

Greetings,

As the political process gears up for another presidential election, we as Americans are facing some of the most crucial and most critical junctures as a community. With much of the country polarized into camps of ideologies of either side with a huge amount of people in the middle who are either apathetic or feel powerless to even pay attention or to vote. That’s the reality of today’s America. We’re more interested in voting for the next American Idol than the next American public official. True, voting for American Idol may be more fun, but voting for our elected leaders not only affects us more directly but also it is our duty as citizen’s of the United States of America to be participants in our society. That’s why 2008 may go down as a future indicator of where we are going.

We have around three handfuls of major candidates for president from the both major parties running. Millions being spent, many visiting crucial states to gather support and of course the rhetoric and campaign promises being called out. And don’t forget the mudslinging. But this is a crucial time. Since half the states including California, Texas and New York moved their respective presidential primary to February, the party nominees for both the Republicans and Democrats will be decided. It’s been great that California has come into play in the primary process. In the recent past, because our primary has been one of the last ones in the nation, we seldom receive any attention during the nominating process. Not anymore, we’ve seen the influx of many candidates drop by here to state their case. But there are many organizations, such as Unity08, that are not satisfied with the current group of folks running and that a third party or an alternative is needed. We’ve seen this before recently. Back in 1980, an independent named John Anderson received around 5 million votes. Ross Perot went further and captured nearly 20 million votes. And of course their was Ralph Nader and the Green Party in 2000 and 2004. Of course, this is academic since we elect presidents through the electoral college. Third party candidates have an even tougher road to win. But this may be the start of changes of thought. More so than at anytime in our country’s history, the politics of both parties are being more scrutinized than ever. The by-product is that polarization has increased. With the war, the economy and our own infrastructure and institutions adding fuel to the fire.

There is another important issue coming up for Californians that is important to us. It’s a term limit proposition. It’s a proposition to modify our current term limit law. I have an opinion on this proposition (elsewhere in this newsletter) that may be crucial and in my opinion detrimental to the current law.

On a lighter side, CAPA CEF will be hosting our annual intern holiday party in December as well as the internship program. We’re already gearing up for this. Our program is growing and with it, the growing pains that are associated with it. 2007 brought many issues to the table and we as an organization are handling it and trying to reform where the needs are. Of course, we need your input as supporters of the Ed Fund. This program, in which we celebrated it’s 16th Anniversary back in June, is now at a crossroads. Our sister organizations such as Vision New America in San Jose and APAPA in Sacramento have seen their programs flourish. CAPA helped out in the planting of the seeds of their respective programs when they started out. But we also have taken that for granted and see our program facing issues such as slots, outreach, and the overall mission of the program. I will repeat again that our program’s primary goal, and for the long term success, is to give opportunities to young people to become leaders in their community. This should be open to young people, especially in our Asian Pacific American community, regardless of their socio-economic status or politics. Because in the next 20 years, those who are in high school and college right now will be participating in the process. CAPA CEF wants to be there at the beginning of that journey today so that they can be effective leaders tomorrow.

Happy Holidays!

Cedric Cheng
Chair, CAPA Community Education Fund