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
Could one not conclude, therefore, that most legal immigrants tend to support government assistance and that pandering to illegal aliens of their ethnic group is not a factor?
Some studies, however, show a large disparity between foreign and U.S. born latinos, which, when combined with the low priority given the immigration issue, indicate that this is not a wedge issue. For example from May 2013:
In assessing the support or opposition for such laws, 32.28 percent of U.S.-born Latinos responded that they “favor” or “strongly favor” tougher immigration laws, compared to 9.54 percent of foreign-born Latinos. By comparison, 41.72 percent of U.S.-born Latinos “oppose” or “strongly oppose” such laws, while 71.61 percent of foreign-born Latinos shared the attitude.
This should be the topic of its own thread. Karl Rove is being lead around by the nose.
What’s your point, Hispanics vote democrat, and are liberal on immigration, we already know that.
My observation about Mestizos stems from Latin American racism, not ours. Latin American whites think they are exporting their trash. You don't see them walking across the border. As a result, the mixed race illegals and those with recent legal status, don't fully trust white latinos, particularly if they speak with a Cuban accent. That goes to who should be delivering the message. I don't know yet who to nominate for that task.
In any event, Republicans should not be falling over themselves to offer a path to citizenship for illegals. Their current stance results from intellectual laziness in accepting Democrat propaganda spun other over five decades.
I’m against all immigration, it is the only way to save what little is left of the nation.
Given that immigrants, these days, vote left, and that the Left is destroying this nation, yes, I agree with you. However, that position is not politically viable. Making sure immigrants play by the rules, however, is a winning issue. That goes for the likely twenty millions illegals already here, so resolving that goes a long way to addressing your concerns. Not that even that is going to happen, given our muddle-headed RINOs.
When have immigrants not voted left since mass immigration was first allowed in the 1850s?
Why is ending immigration not viable, why should Americans face a future of a billion people smothering each other?
Your Pew data encouraged me to dig further. I am encouraged that opposing any form of amnesty is a position that the Republicans can take and still win an increased share of the latino vote, since other issues are more important. Advocating an end to all immigration would be political suicide. Do you have data that would indicate otherwise?
When the republicans win the Hispanic vote, then give us a call.
Or the immigrant vote for that matter, be sure and let us know when that happens.
They may win it one day, but you won't like what they do to win it.
Ha! That’s not going to happen, of course. But they may pick up a few points if they pull their heads out of the sand..
That was only because Perot partially split the Left vote. A repeat is unlikely.
That’s certainly what I conclude.
Just before reading your comment, I was reading through an international poll done by CNBC.
Question:
“Who has the primary responsibility for health care - Government? - Employers? - Individuals?”
72% of the people from nations with “emerging economies” said “Government.”
On bread and butter issues, immigrants will vote Left. I suspect, however, that if asked whether immigrants should abide by immigration rules, at least 72% of them will say yes. While you were reading that, I noticed that a poll of Mexicans revealed that 27% think it is okay to break U.S. immigration laws.
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