[raybbr]

The ones who become citizens are the ones you would hear referring to this as their country. I don’t know how you know so much about what these people you worked with believed or how they felt about this country if they didn’t speak English. Those becoming citizens have to learn English, except in certain limited circumstances where they can get a waiver. And one of the questions they are asked when they are applying to become citizens is whether they would take up arms for the United States if they are called upon to do so. It sounds to me like you were dealing with Hispanic men who came here illegally just to make just here to make money.

I never said if they were citizens or not. I don't know.

As for learning English I would ask them how long they'd been here and some would answer in years yet could barely speak English (or, would pretend not to).

In my experience very few wanted to become Americans. They almost always talked about going back to Ecuador or Columbia AFTER they made some money.

Believe what you want believe. I’m just pointing out the fact that as long as there is all this hatred and disrespect for these people coming from Republicans, they’re going to gravitate toward the Democrats.

It has very little to do with beliefs but rather personal experience.

BTW, I like how you slip that old straw man of "hate" in. Very like a liberal.

Also, I have to remember, you make money off of these people. Of course, you'll see the better ones. Those that WANT to be here are welcome. Very few of the ones that I met WANT to be here. They are here to make some money and go back.

[merican]

The article that is the subject of this thread is about “new Americans,” people who have just sworn in as citizens. You were asking how we win the Hispanic vote. Only citizens are allowed to vote. I was talking about citizens and those becoming citizens, since that is the subject of this thread and these are the people whose votes you'd like to know how we could win.

As for the “straw man of hate,” there is nothing straw man like about. There is a lot of hatred directed toward Hispanics in this country today, and it is coming mostly from Republicans. Hispanics are very cognizant about the way they are portrayed. They pay attention to what people are saying about them and who is saying it. Hopefully not many are reading these forums here much, because you really do see a lot of anger and yes, hatred, directed towards Hispanics right here on Freerepublic. Not everybody here does it, and people have some real legitimate complaints about illegal aliens here. Legitimate complaints are one thing, but a lot of people paint all Hispanics with the same brush. They say just horrible things about the people and their cultural heritage. It's over-the-top and uncalled for and just the sort of thing driving these voters away from the Republican party. I deal a lot with Hispanic people and sometimes I talk to them about politics and I'm just pointing out concerns they've shared with me. It appears to most of them it seems that Republicans tend to be anti-Hispanic. They agree with Republicans on many issues. On average they are more socially conservative than most people. In many ways the Republican party is a better fit for them, but they go for Democrats because they think Democrats will stand up for their interests a lot more than Republicans.

This isn't all just a reaction to prejudice by large numbers of Republicans. Another problem is that these Hispanics are conditioned to vote for Democrats because Democrats are perceived as the party that cares more about the poor working class. Most Hispanics that come here are low income working class types. They vote for Democrats because they think they are supposed to vote for Democrats, not so much unlike Southerners who used to vote for Democrats but now have switched over to the Republican party.

I think we have to look at the long term. I mentioned in a previous post that in my small town more than a 100 people swear in as citizens every month and most are Hispanic. For every one that swears in there are several who were born here to immigrant parents who reach the age of majority and are now able vote. If almost all of them vote Democrat, we're in trouble in “red” areas with growing Hispanic populations. It is true that Texas could turn into a blue state, as could many other states in the South that are currently red.

I live in the South. People down here did not used to vote for Republicans, but Republicans were able to change the tide and bring in enough people who once thought they were supposed to vote for Democrats. A lot of blue states were turned into red states. I believe that we can turn the tide with Hispanic voters, and we should darned sure try to do that. It won't happen overnight, but if it doesn't happen the Republican party is in serious trouble. We can do it because these people are a better fit with the Republican party. They just haven't realized that yet. We need to help them come to that realization, but we're never going to be able to do that as long as they perceive Republicans to be the party full of people that hate them.

I won't belabor this point anymore. I hope you can understand what I am trying to say and can see that there is some merit to it.