Luis Ramos wants to be a presidential contender

New York — For those who are unsatisfied with the nation’s two main political parties, Luis Ramos wants you to know that President Obama and GOP candidate Mitt Romney are not the only game in town.

Ramos, who was born and raised in Queens, is running for president in the current presidential elections as the “first Puerto Rican-American president”, but if elected, he promises to be the president of all Americans.

“Sooner or later, America will know my name, and I would expect nothing less than to finish third in these elections, after Obama and the eventual Republican candidate.”

Although Ramos still hasn’t gathered the 15,000 signatures necessary to appear on the ballot in New York State, or any other state, for that matter, Ramos has registered as a candidate for president with the Federal Electoral Commission – the first step toward running for national office and a requirement for a presidential candidate.

“Since elementary school I have said I would one day run for president, and all of the students, even my teachers, only laughed at me,” Ramos recalled. “But I didn’t let that bring me down, and in this current campaign I hope to win almost 10,000 votes just in the State of New York,” a goal that if well possible, would not provide the votes sufficient to land Ramos in third place, given that candidates running on the Independence or Conservative parties – two of the six parties registered in the state of New York – regularly win hundreds of thousands of votes in a presidential election year.

Considering the vast amounts of fundraising required to run a campaign, Ramos’ hard work and ambition may not be enough to power him to a third place finish. This, he says, “is not the point.” Ramos says that the mere fact of his candidacy is contributing to a serious debate on the most important issues facing the country, such as high unemployment, health care reform, and the situation of the United States in the world.

Although the probabilities of finishing third in this election might be unrealistic, what is certain is that Mr. Ramos has put forth a series of policy proposals aimed at issues that candidates from the two main parties have been resistant to debate.

“If I was in Obama’s place I would have spent much more aggressively to combat the recession and ensure that all people in this country can find jobs,” he said. “I also would have started with a bailout for homeowners instead of banks,” he said, adding that while he voted for Obama in 2008 and says he approves of the president’s record overall, “I just think that some of these things I would have been able to do better.”

While Ramos has been a lifelong Democrat, his proposals are marked by a bipartisan ideology, especially when it comes to foreign policy.

“We have to convince the world that when were talking about fighting terrorism we mean it, and that we’re prepared to back up our words with action.”

At the same time, he explained that “I would try to make friends with other countries, even Iran.”

But what most concerns Ramos is the uneven distribution of wealth and the welfare of working families, which have been “attacked by the interests and partners of Republicans.”

“The poor and minorities, and poor whites as well, all deserve something better, and I promise that as president I would put them first.”

Other Latino candidates

Cesar Cisneros, Republican Party

This Texan of Mexican ancestry who maintains his family of seven working long hours as a truck driver is running under the slogan “Miracles still happen,” and promises to ensure that “no one, no where, will ever take away our freedoms.” A practicing Mormon, Cisneros believes that our founding fathers were “holy men” and is running to maintain God and Jesus at “the helm of this nation.”

Christina López, Candidate for Vice President, Freedom Socialist Party

The daughter of Mexican parents and current director of the organization “Radical Women” based in Seattle, this 43 year old activist is running on the Freedom Socialist Party’s platform of “feminism, anti-capitalism, and “humanism”.

Alexander Hugo Martínez, Republican Party

“In basic terms, don’t mess with the United States”. This is the message from this Vietnam veteran. Martínez, a proud owner of his own telecommunications business and native of Houston,Tx has just published his first book, “A Man’s Gotta Do What a Man’s Gotta Do,” with which he hopes to make the case for his candidacy.

Rita Nuñez Neumann, Libertarian Party

This judge, scholar, and mathematics professor of Puerto Rican and French, Irish, and Jewish heritage promises to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan, legalize and tax the consumption of marijuana, and defend same sex marriage. A libertarian grounded in her belief in the fairness of the free market, Nuñez Neumann would lower taxes and analyze the primary and secondary affects of any issue by a “flow chart [of] the situation, setting the parameters, and then focus on possible solutions.”