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Republicans Shouldn’t Pander to Hispanic Voters
Townhall.com ^ | September 22, 2014 | Star Parker

Posted on 09/22/2014 4:20:14 AM PDT by Kaslin

Our national debate on immigration policy centers on a paradox. We must become aware of it and deal with it.

The United States needs an immigration policy because a lot of people want to come here. If that weren’t the case, we wouldn’t need an immigration policy.

Why do they want to come? For freedom. And because there is freedom, there is opportunity.

The immigration issue is now a political football because of the political baggage it carries. Both parties want the votes of the Hispanic population, the most rapidly growing demographic in the country. And this is the same population most sensitive to the immigration issue because most of the illegals within our borders are from Latin American countries.

And here lies the paradox. The purported strategies for “winning” Hispanic votes are not about engaging this population on preserving American freedom and opportunity, which is what makes the United States so attractive to those who want to come. The strategies are about how to pander to this population to win its votes.

Realclearpolitics.com has just run a five day series of articles on the theme “Hispanic Voters: Trends and Opportunities.”

One of the articles, under the headline “To Reach Latinos, GOP Must Alter Its Message, Tone,” offers Republicans free advice on what they must do to get the votes of the increasingly powerful Hispanic demographic.

If Republicans are going to continue to “howl at the moon about the evils of “big government”,” this column advises, they can kiss these Latino folks goodbye.

“In poll after poll, majorities of Latinos embrace the view that government has a positive role in creating more opportunities for citizens who were not born to privilege.”

America was built by hundreds of millions of immigrants coming here to be free. Yet we are now told that this latest group of immigrants, Hispanics, must be offered more government, less freedom.

True, Barack Obama succeeded with Hispanic voters where John McCain and Mitt Romney did not.

But it is also true that over the last 6 years government and national debt has exploded and our economic growth is now larded and stunted.

Latest projections from the Congressional Budget Office predict growth rates of our economy to be two thirds of what it has averaged for the last half century.

Is this the opportunity that big government can create “for citizens not born to privilege?”

Let’s recall that even the demographic category “Hispanic” is a purely political construction, devoid of any racial or ethnic reality, designed only for special interest lobbying.

Historian Paul Johnson, in his “ A History of the American People,” relates how this category was created in the 1960’s through the lobbying efforts of “the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund, a powerful interest-group in alliance with the Democratic Party…”

Immigrants from over 20 countries fall under the heading “Hispanic.” What exactly is it that people from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Spain, Cuba and Argentina have in common, other than the Spanish language?

It is the history of America that immigrants have come from around the world for the privilege of living free. All share a history of struggle, often discrimination at first for being different, but overcoming it all to become an American.

Native Americans and African Americans are the only groups that have different and unique histories. But those from Latin American countries are no different from all other American immigrants who came by choice for what this nation has to offer.

The best thing that Republicans can do for Hispanics, and for every American citizen, is to stand guard on America as a free country and land of opportunity.

The worse thing they can do is to pander to the welfare state left and put America’s most precious commodity, freedom, on the auction block to bid for Hispanic votes


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: aliens; amnesty
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1 posted on 09/22/2014 4:20:14 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

But, they need those Hispanic voters, to replace all the conservatives they’ve driven away!


2 posted on 09/22/2014 4:23:59 AM PDT by COBOL2Java (I'm a Christian, pro-life, pro-gun, Reaganite. The GOP hates me. Why should I vote for them?)
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To: Kaslin
I believe those Hispanics in America legally, i.e. those who can legally vote, are just as disgusted with the "immigration policy" as us natural born Americans, and would vote the same Conservative/Liberal mix according to their ability to succeed.

The illegals who are allowed to vote illegally using state identification given them (even though illegals) will vote Democrat for the protection from deportation they get from the 'rats.

Pandering to Hispanics is not necessary or desirable. Those true immigrants who are successful and inclined to vote Conservative in an attempt to retain the freedoms to continue to be successful, will vote that way, and those immigrants who haven't been able to succeed for whatever reason will vote Democrat for the handouts they provide.

3 posted on 09/22/2014 4:43:23 AM PDT by grobdriver (Where is Wilson Blair when you need him?)
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To: grobdriver

Well, that is not what 2008 and 2012 showed when it came to voting.


4 posted on 09/22/2014 4:46:18 AM PDT by hawkaw
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To: hawkaw
that is not what 2008 and 2012 showed

That just means the majority haven't found a path to success (or haven't worked hard enough on it) and support 'rats for the "free stuff".

Pandering to them is not going to change their support unless those doing the pandering offer more than the 'rats.

If they're legal, they don't fear deportation and most I've talked to don't support open borders, either.

5 posted on 09/22/2014 5:24:05 AM PDT by grobdriver (Where is Wilson Blair when you need him?)
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To: COBOL2Java

No, but the GOP should reach out to them. How? Run Spanish language commercials. Do Spanish language interviews. Give the conservative message in Spanish. Participate in Spanish language debates. Even if you don’t speak the language, bring a translator, learn a few words. Attend Latino functions but don’t be afraid to talk about the legal way to obtain citizenship. Talk about what it means to be an American citizen. Talk about the need to learn English, even if you have to say it in Spanish. Build Spanish language websites explaining our position.

Buy ad time on Mexican TV and radio (as the Democrats did). However, explain the Republican position — limited government, states rights. Talk about Democrats promoting sodomy and killing unborn children...in Spanish and in Catholic Mexico! Run ads in Mexico explaining how the Obama administration armed the narcotraficantes and put the blood on the hands of the Democrats where it belongs. My two cents.


6 posted on 09/22/2014 5:55:03 AM PDT by Ge0ffrey
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To: Kaslin

It’s amazing that the GOP wants to cultivate a relationship with non-Americans, while taking up the premise, manufactured by the left, that Americans are racist, moronic, gun-loving, bible-thumping, knuckle-dragging Christian morons.

(Absolutely amazing)

IMHO


7 posted on 09/22/2014 7:42:27 AM PDT by ripley
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To: grobdriver
I believe those Hispanics in America legally, i.e. those who can legally vote, are just as disgusted with the "immigration policy" as us natural born Americans, and would vote the same Conservative/Liberal mix according to their ability to succeed.

That is just nonsense created in your head, and has nothing to do with reality.

The facts are the opposite of your imagination.

8 posted on 09/22/2014 8:53:17 AM PDT by ansel12
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To: ansel12
My "imagination" is a result of actually talking to several people who fit the description (first and second generation) at work.

Do you have a link reference for your "facts"?

9 posted on 09/22/2014 9:04:08 AM PDT by grobdriver (Where is Wilson Blair when you need him?)
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To: hawkaw
that is not what 2008 and 2012 showed when it came to voting

If that is true, which I doubt, then it is all the more reason not to 'regularize' these Mestizos.

10 posted on 09/22/2014 9:19:10 AM PDT by Praxeologue
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To: grobdriver
Image and video hosting by TinyPic

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

11 posted on 09/22/2014 9:34:42 AM PDT by ansel12
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To: Kaslin

We offer Hispanics everything we offer everyone else.


12 posted on 09/22/2014 10:00:20 AM PDT by Mike Darancette (The first stage of cultural death is denial.)
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To: ansel12

Pew is about all we have on the subject, though they are suspect as a left-leaning organization. Who are the ‘latinos’ that they polled? How do we know that they have legal status in the U.S., other than their say so? Illegals vote illegally using drivers licenses and affidavits. What is the likelihood that they are telling the truth to Pew, which itself has a bias toward obfuscating the truth? To grobsdriver’s point, did Pew segment these ‘latinos’ by length of legal status in the U.S. or birth in the U.S.? It is easy to get the result you want when you poll samples of the entire ‘latino’ population that includes twenty million illegal aliens.


13 posted on 09/22/2014 10:10:21 AM PDT by Praxeologue
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To: Kaslin
Massive LEGAL immigration - 1.1 million EVERY year - is not inevitable.

It is a government policy.

And Republicans can change government policy, if we have the will and the passion to convince the voters.

We can decide to import just 100,000 per year.

We can choose the smartest and most energetic young people from every country in the world.

We can refuse to accept their elderly SSI dependent parents.

We can refuse to accept their less talented brothers and sisters and their welfare dependent in-laws.

We are a sovereign and democratic country, and Republicans can do whatever the Constitution and a majority of voters allow us to do.

14 posted on 09/22/2014 10:14:17 AM PDT by zeestephen
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To: Kennard

So rather than the research done to establish how groups vote, you prefer to just make it up in your head.

From Fox News:
“”Romney ran into problems with Latinos when he took a particularly hard line on immigration during the GOP primaries.””
“”The Latino Decisions polls indicate that nationwide and in battleground states Obama won Latino voter support over Romney by historic margins – 72 percent to 23 percent nationwide, including: in Colorado, Obama won Latino voters by 87 percent-10 percent margin; in New Mexico, by a 77 percent-21 percent margin; in Nevada, by an 80 percent-17 percent margin; in Ohio, by an 82 percent-17 percent margin; in Virginia, by a 66 percent-31 percent margin; and in Florida, by a 58 percent-40 percent margin.””


15 posted on 09/22/2014 10:16:22 AM PDT by ansel12
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To: Mike Darancette
We offer Hispanics everything we offer everyone else.

"Everyone else" being legal immigrants who have waited in line overseas for over a decade before gaining admission, rather than just walking over the southern border.

16 posted on 09/22/2014 10:17:19 AM PDT by Praxeologue
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To: Kennard

Everyone being other voters (citizens by definition).


17 posted on 09/22/2014 10:18:48 AM PDT by Mike Darancette (The first stage of cultural death is denial.)
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To: Kennard

Everyone else being other Americans, not foreigners.


18 posted on 09/22/2014 10:20:29 AM PDT by ansel12
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To: ansel12
Ansel,

There is actually Hispanic polling that goes all the way back to Kennedy-Nixon in 1960.

No Republican presidential candidate has EVER received more than 40% of the Hispanic vote.

Also, recent immigrants from non-Hispanic countries are moving further and further to the Left.

Bob Dole got a majority of the Asian vote in 1996.

In 2012, after massive immigration, 73% of Asians voted for Obama.

19 posted on 09/22/2014 10:26:04 AM PDT by zeestephen
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To: zeestephen

Yeo, immigration serves the left and it is why JFK was obsessed with changing the immigration laws, to give us what became the 1965 Immigration Act.


20 posted on 09/22/2014 10:28:51 AM PDT by ansel12
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