Something just occurred to me - from what you hear on TV and see on the internet, 'race' is supposed to be a factor in these elections. And when someone talks about race and the elections, it seems that the only races that matter are whites, blacks and hispanics. How come no one talks about the Native Americans? Don't they count? Of course, there are the Asians and East Indians (actually, they should be called East Asians, South East Asians, etc., because Indians - I mean those from India - are also Asians. People from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, etc., are 'South Asians').

When I thought about it, it seems to me that East Asians and South Asians are perhaps not that many in number - and besides, they are not exactly known to vote as a block - as seen by the politicians from both parties trying to woo them. I think the same can be said about the Native Americans? Perhaps they don't all vote as a block - perhaps their priorities are all different, depending on where they happen to live? It's easy to think of the East Asians and South Asians as 'immigrants', and somehow, whites and blacks consider themselves to be the 'native' people, and the real 'native' people don't enter the picture as much. As for the hispanics, I think there is a difference between how they view themselves and how others view them - as 'native', immigrant or 'aliens'.

In case you are wondering what my point is, really, there is no big point here - I just wondered how the Native Americans (I'm not calling them 'Indians' - that's a stupid misnomer that has somehow stuck for 500 years!) must be feeling about this whole election process and all the talk about race as an issue. I guess it's convenient to keep it simple in such matters - and not to muddy the waters any further.