Mitt Romney: Hispanic

Because of religious geography former Massachusetts Governor and Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney is Hispanic.  Romney's Hispanic heritage is rooted in religious migration and revolution.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints (Salt Lake City Mormons) began establishing colonies in Mexico during the 1870s.  These colonies were to serve as a fall back point in case the United States government tried to aggressively crush polygamy.  Mormon President Brigham Young, who brought his band of Mormons to what is now Utah to escape outside forces against the faith, realized the American West was closing and Mormon de facto independence was about to end.  The Romney family, a leading family in Mormonism, were among the Mormon Mexico pioneers.  Eventually the Salt Lake City Mormon church abandoned and suppressed polygamy but the colonies continued to grow.

Mitt Romney's father, George Romney, was born in Colonia Dublan, Chihuahua, Mexico in 1907.  George's father, Gaskell Romney, was a Mormon colonizer who settled in 1885.  George's maternal grandfather, Helaman Pratt, was one of the first Mormon missionaries in Mexico and became a Mormon colonizer in 1876.  Mexico at the time did not allow dual citizenship and thus forced the Romneys to choose between Mexican and American citizenship.  They chose American citizenship.


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The American Public Land Survey System, grid system, is seen as an import by Mormon colonizers

In 1912 raiding and the threat of Mexican Revolution spillover forced most of the Romneys and many, but not all, Mormon colonial families to flee to the United States.  George was able to integrate into the United States and eventual become Governor of Michigan.  His son Mitt was born in 1947 in Michigan.

So how is Mitt Romney Hispanic?  The 2010 United States Census states

"The terms "Hispanic" or "Latino" refer to persons who trace their origin or descent to Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Spanish speaking Central and South America countries, and other Spanish cultures. Origin can be considered as the heritage, nationality group, lineage, or country of the person or the person's parents or ancestors before their arrival in the United States. People who identify their origin as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race."

Nothing in the definition says Hispanics have to speak Spanish.  This allows many Mesoamerican Indians in the remote parts of Central America to be classified as Hispanic as well as Paraguayan Mennonites.  The fact that race does not matter allows Middle and South American Indians, Mestizos, pure blood Spanish-Americans, European South Americans, and Black Dominicans all to claim to be Hispanic.  All this allows the Romney-Pratt family to be of Hispanic heritage.

Political Geography Model Points to Romney Victory

An electoral map of the 2012 election to come?

A political science-geography model of the 2012 Presidential Election between President Barack Obama and former Governor Mitt Romney states that Romney will win the electoral college 320-218.  The geography of the model depicts certain shifts from the classic Bush Red State-Blue State model as well as a partial reversal of the Obama tide.

Romney's projected victory will be, according to the model, due to what I would call a Paul Ryan-Rust Belt effect.  The campaign's emphasis on the recession as well as Ryan's Mid West appeal seems to spill over as Bush/McCain Indiana, Bush/Obama Ohio, Gore/Bush/Obama Iowa, and Gore/Kerry/Obama Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania all go for Romney.  In the model Romney is able to retake the Bush southern states of Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida which went for Obama in 2008.  Romney's New England moderatism also wins him soft libertarian New Hampshire.

Obama is projected to use his Hispanic advantage to win Nevada (Bush/Obama) and New Mexico (Gore/Bush/Obama). as well as a congressional district in Maine.  Obama's cores are the liberal Northwest, the liberal Pacific Coasts, Hispanic southwest, and Black hubs in Michigan and Illinois.

Interesting note on the model:   The model successfully predicts every Electoral College victor since 1980 but it has not been in use since 1980, it was made to accurately project the winner of earlier contests.  Geoblogger Justin Holman has the breakdown.

Reminder: Geographic Travels Geo-Literacy Outreach Award

Geographic Travels blog is hosting the Geographic Travels Geo-Literacy Outreach Awards.  This is your chance to earn $300 or $200 (U.S.) to finance your project to increase geographic literacy in the public.  Be sure to reach more about the project here and see the two entries we have so far.  The deadline for entries is October 1st, 2012.

Map of Stand Your Ground, Castle Doctrine, Retreat States

The website ReadyHolster has created a detailed map and infographic on Stand Your Ground, Castle Doctrine, and Retreat states.  Stand Your Ground is the law which allows one to shoot and kill a hostile who threatens them with bodily harm.  Castle Doctrine allows for the use of lethal force in defense of one's home.  Retreat states mandate that the threatened victim backs down from a hostile.

There is a loose geographic theme dividing Stand Your Ground and Castle Doctrine states.  Stand Your Ground states tend to be in the southern half of the country while Castle Doctrine states tend to be in the northern half.  Obviously by the looking at the map one can tell there are exceptions to this rule of thumb (South Carolina, the first state to form the Confederacy, is a Castle Doctrine state while progressive Washington is a Stand Your Ground state).  Looking at the chart of crime rates one can see that there is a correlation between a higher crime rate and the more likely the state authorizes deadly force.  This is probably due to citizens calling for extra defenses against crime.  "When the cops are minutes away second count."

Geographers Really Need to Reach Out to the Public More

Last week I did a quick survey of professions mentioned in a Google News search for the last thirty days.  Here are the results.

Historian: 31,900
Economist: 127,000
Engineer: 162,000
Geographer: 459

We need serious outreach efforts by geographers, as a group and individuals, as well as an examination on whether or not we are focusing on society's needs and wants.  Harm de Blij recommended twenty years ago that geographers write to newspapers offering analysis on the world events.  As geographers we can reach out on resources, climate, cultural, geopolitics, globalization, and so much more.

A Tale of Two Afghanistan Blogs

Deployment blogs are worldviews into what only a few know, feel, and experience (according to the United States Census, only 7% of all Americans are veterans; the number collapsed to only 1.2% who are under 35 and maybe 2% when you consider all active duty).  Even when not done by a solider but by a civilian augmentee or journalist who focuses on soldiers' lives, these blogs give a voice to a life unimaginable by many.  The surreal war stories, the sights and sounds, and even daily life can be transmitted to the reader in beautiful ways by those who are "over there".

The first blog I want to direct your intention to is Kandahar Journal by Richard Johnson, an internet acquaintance of mine, of the National Post (Canada).  Richard is deployed out to Afghanistan again writing about the 1,000 or so Canadian soldiers who are still deployed in Afghanistan.  While he has just recently arrived, he also has been interacting with soldiers and press relations officials.  I greatly appreciated his post on writing "the letter".  The pain and drain of everyone who has deployed can be felt in his words.  I have had the luxury of shredding mine.

His main claim to uniqueness is his artistic skills.  Just looking at his drawing of the Apache helicopter in the repair bay brought back to me the feelings of heat even in the shade of the tent and the sounds and smells of the mechanics bay.

Illustration by Richard Johnson

The pure boredom of the flight line waiting room is captured as well.

I waited a good deal of my life at flight lines.  Illustration by Richard Johnson

The other blog brings out a part of me which some have accused as being over cynical.  Just because one deploys out to Afghanistan or Iraq does not mean one was in the war.  For every soldier who has seen the true horrors of war there are several fobbits (those who never leave the base, mostly Forward Operating Bases).  These soldiers and civilians take long coffee breaks at the Green Bean, a Starbucks-style coffee house, have movie nights at the theater, and complain when the omelet station runs out of egg whites.  Yet when they come back home they get the same praise as combat soldiers and even more than combat civilians (who are not allowed to join groups like Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Veterans of Foreign Wars, or the American Legion unlike their fobbit kin). 

There was a blog on xoJane that captured the spirit of these fobbitts.  The blog post was entitled Deployment Beauty: Make-Do Tips From the Green Zone.  The blog was infuriating as the civilian woman complained about how smelly the bathrooms were and how she was too busy to take showers for days-on-end.  She goes on to complain about "the worst" chow hall in all of Afghanistan and how YouTube is blocked on her wifi.  Reading this tested my patience as a person who was on a camp which frequently ran out of water due to Taliban and even allied forces interfering with supply routes  (one starts to eye water bottles a whole new way when deliveries stop), had to join groups that would provide cover each other when we needed to relieve ourselves outside in Taliban territory, and was shot and shelled at.  And there are many out there who had it a lot worse than me.

(Rebuttal from a respected reader:  at least she was offering solutions to overcome some personal difficulty of her's rather than just a blog posts of complaints)

The blog focused primarily on the woman's beauty tips for her being deployed.  A fellow blogger contacted xoJane and they stated the blog post was taken down because of the outcry the writer received.  However, the magic of the internet allows one to read and download the post below.



Deployments can be hell, surreal, fascinating, troublesome, rewarding, or shamefully spoiled with the good life and vain complaints.

Geopolitical Primer for East China Sea and South China Sea Island Disputes

On the fringes of East Asia in the East and South China's Seas a great geopolitical battle is on-going.  Chinese activists raise the flags of both the Republic (Taiwan) and the People's Republic.  Japan sends military patrols to plant flags on small rocks that could not support any permanent population.  Meanwhile, street protesters range Malaysia to the Philippines are denouncing Chinese claims throughout the China Seas.


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The geopolitical match is being fought over several island groups.  The primary chains are:

The Spratly Islands in the South China Sea:  Vietnam, People's Republic of China (PRC), the Republic of China (ROC), Malaysia, Philippines, and Brunei.
The Paracel Islands in the South China Sea: PRC, ROC, and Vietnam (the PRC defeated South Vietnam in a 1974 sea battle over the islands).
The Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea: Japan, PRC, and ROC.

Here are three points which are constants in both China Seas arguments

1) China is the driver of the recent debate.  The PRC feels bound in by the chain of land and islands stretching from Far East Russia, down Japan and the Philippines, through Indonesia and Malaysia, and up Vietnam.  If the PRC can control the range of islands then the PRC can lean on its neighbors rather than feel pressed in.

2)  It is also about resources.  There are several major natural gas fields near these islands.  Anyone who controls these islands gets easily exploited wealth and energy.

3)  The Republic and People's Republic of China are one in this .  While there is some argument over just who would get to control what, at the end of the day Taiwan does not view itself as independent but instead as the legitimate government of all of China.  Taipei and Beijing would rather have one of them control the islands vice any foreign power because both these two governments view reunion as only a matter of when, not if.

Below are some maps to help one better visualize the conflicts

Competing claims in the South China Sea.  Note how China and Vietnam's claims extend.  From Wikipedia.

Actual control of islands.  Note how some points in the same atoll are controlled by different countries.  Click to enlarge Image from M4.CN

Dark grey areas represent natural gas and oil fields in the disputed zones.  Click to enlarge.  Image from the Atlantic.

Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.  Note the gas fields.  From Guambat Stew

So why does all this matter?  The East and South China Seas have major shipping ways.  Think about everything that comes from China.  That goes through the disputed zones.  Any real conflict could shut down or limit trade immensely.  Prices would sky rocket.  For those Downunder, The Australian made an excellent graphic showing that 65.7% of all Australian and 43.8% of all Australian imports go through the disputed South China Sea.

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