Guam Caucuses this Saturday

On island on Guam now. We started a (very) small meetup group over the summer with not much more than a commitment for everyone to get RP bumper stickers. I have been primarily involved in a newborn, my job and transfer out of the navy, and moving back to the states in recent months, but I have not seen any type of presence for any other national candidates either which is surprising having witnessed the fervor of the local elections.

The locals are primarily concerned with their own nepotistic politics, putting themselves in positions of power to best divvy up the federal dollars and contracts poured into the island. Ron Paul's foreign policy falls flat here, as a large portion of the economy here is entirely dependent on the military presence. Their main concern seems to be profiting from the fallout of the billion dollar buildup of Marines on the island. They criticize McCain (who won 60% in 2008) as isolationist for being somewhat critical of the $21 billion price tag of relocating a couple thousand Marines from Okinawa to Guam.

Meanwhile, the local politicians want to have their cake and eat it too by promising millions of federal dollars in pet projects ($33-million dollars going to purchase school buses, to build a mental health substance facility on Guam and a repository for cultural artifacts in addition to infrastructure upgrades) while criticizing the location of required new firing ranges and expansion of the military based that buildup would require.

Most of the active duty military here that are registered, are registered back in the states and vote absentee if at all. I have spent some time getting the word out and registering for absentee voting at http://www.fvap.gov/. There is a large Army reserve and veteran population, but their political affiliations seem to be the same as the locals.

I think our time is better spent stateside.