Who Are the Latino/a Voters?

By Fidel "Butch" Montoya

I wonder whether or not the Republican Party – and today’s GOP Leadership really understand the dilemma they are facing about the future and existence of their political party.  

The name calling, the real ugly and hateful name calling, the efforts to create a nasty and fearful environment that undocumented immigrants would want to “self deport,” rather face the increased pressure and wrath of ICE.  

Some Republicans simply do not understand that they have not only poisoned the policy alternatives of moderate Republicans, but also any possibility of sitting down and working together to craft the necessary legislation to finally passing in the Congress, comprehensive immigration reform.    

The extremists of the GOP have alienated a group of Latino voters who have shown in the past when given a moderate candidate such as President George Bush as an alternative, about 41% of the Latino vote went to Bush instead of voting for Senator John Kerry.

In the short period of about 4 years, the extreme conservative base pushed the GOP to the extreme right, leaving Latinos without any choice but to vote for President Barrack Obama, giving him about 71% of the Latino vote.   

As with most Americans, on November 7, you could hear a collective sigh of relief across our nation after enduring one of the most expensive and nastiest presidential campaigns in our country’s history.  The lies and counter charges left many of us wondering, “Who is telling the truth?”  

The two candidates seeking the most important powerful job in the world, spent over $6 billion dollars collectively, and unfortunately, we learned lying or purposely misstating the opposition's position is no longer morally wrong. 

The political strategists and political pundits who are trying to analyze why certain voters voted for one candidate, why other voters were not as engaged or as politically challenged or excited about the campaign to bring in the vote as they were in 2008.  

Much has been made of the fact that 71% of the Latino vote went to President Obama.  It is easy to explain the reasons why Latinos voted for President Obama, after enduring ugly acts of racism and hateful words of bigotry of the past only become more agitated, destructive, and real in every segment of our society today.  

The members the Republican Right-wing for the last ten or more years have literally bashed the Latino voter as “members of the government entitlement give away club.”  Other GOP politicians have bashed Latino voters as the cause of many of the socio-economic problems we face in our country.  

An esteemed panel of experts were invited by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars this past Monday in Washington, D.C. to try to figure out the significance of the Latino vote and the consequences in future elections.

Many political pundits have pointed out that the “Latino voter bloc” or "the demographic changes in the Latino community" has steadily increased in numbers and are now have the political clout for helping the President win vitally important states that ultimately gave the President the necessary Electoral College votes to win re-election.  

Yet, political strategists point out only about half of the eligible Latinos bothered to register or to vote on Election Day or by early voting.  There is no question the Latino vote in future elections may be the determining factor in winning elections simply by getting the Latino voter to get to the polls to vote.

Some enlighten and intelligent political experts are beginning to understand the significance of the future Latino vote.  

One national Republican pollster who acknowledged to other leaders in the Republican Party, they all must be willing to compromise and accept the new demographic reality. 

“The Republican Party is in danger of becoming the ‘Win In Off Years Only Party’ unless we make a full-throated improvement with Hispanic voters,” wrote GOP pollster Glen Bolger in a memo to Republicans. “And, we have to admit it is us, not them.”

It would be encouraging if more Republicans accepted Bolger’s assessment, “And, we have to admit it is us, not them.”  

However, some of the right-wing extremists in our country refuse to admit or even understand that the changing demographics are going to change America for the better.  

In an article, “America Nears El Tipping Pointo,” Ann Coulter once again races to the head of the class to proclaim to the Republican leadership that beware of the growing Latino presence, or what I call, growing power in American politics and policy.

Ironically, just as aside, we should demand that Ann Coulter at least know some basic Spanish words so she doesn't sound as ignorant as the title to her article - "El Tipping Pointo?"

Coulter goes on to quote other writers and researchers about the state of Hispanics in our country. I suppose it is easier to criticize Hispanics without leaving her finger prints at the crime scene.  

Coulter writes, blaming Senator Ted Kennedy for our nation's future plight.  "The youth vote is a snapshot of elections to come if nothing is done to reverse the deluge of unskilled immigrants pouring into the country as a result of Ted Kennedy's 1965 immigration act. Eighty-five percent of legal immigrants since 1968 have come from the Third World. A majority of them are in need of government assistance." 

When claiming that Hispanic babies are illegitimate, she uses research from Heather MacDonald.  "More than half of all babies born to Hispanic women today are illegitimate. As Heather MacDonald has shown, the birthrate of Hispanic women is twice that of the rest of the population, and their unwed birthrate is one and a half times that of blacks."

Coulter claims because of the number of illegitimate babies..."That's a lot of government dependents coming down the pike. No amount of "reaching out" to the Hispanic community, effective "messaging" or Reagan's "optimism" is going to turn Mexico's underclass into Republicans."

Without saying it herself, that Hispanics are immoral, lazy, hate going to church or another way of saying they are moving away from family values, Christian beliefs and values.  

"Charles Murray recently pointed out that -- contrary to stereotype -- Hispanics are less likely to be married, less likely to go to church, more supportive of gay marriage and less likely to call themselves "conservative" than other Americans." 

Nate Cohn writes in the current New Republic that in the past certain bell weather counties were more white than they are today, because Hispanics, Blacks, and Asian are changing the voting patterns.

Guess what, Coulter can now make her point that there already too many "of them moving into our safe suburban communities".  "These were the counties chosen by Cohn, not me, to show that Republicans are losing "the white vote." Except they're not so white, anymore. With blacks, Asians and Hispanics voting 93 percent, 73 percent and 71 percent for Obama, Republicans have to do more than just win the white vote. They have to run the table." 

Finally, quoting Michael Barone, whom she calls an election maven, Barone's prediction was that these Third World immigrants would go the way of other immigrants, like the Italian immigrants, and become Republicans.

Once again, Coulter can use Barone to say, "They're hardworking! They have family values! Maybe at first, but not after coming here, having illegitimate children and going on welfare." 

Coulter writes all on her own, words we can attribute to her. It is a nice way of saying that the demographic changes and trends in voting are not good for white people in the future.  She says, "Romney got a larger percentage of the white vote than Reagan did in 1980. That's just not enough anymore."

Coulter as usual, takes the low road, using political hate speech to discourage any steps by Republican leaders to get down and dirty trying to recruit more Hispanic Republicans.  It is a shame that Coulter actually believes that Hispanics will "lower the greatness of America."  

Yet, it was the grand ole conservative icon President Ronald Reagan who said it first.  "Latinos are Republicans, they just don't know it."  

In spite of this hate and fear spewed by Coulter to encourage and enlist other Republicans to build a new wall, a wall to keep Latinos out of the GOP, one has to wonder with such hate continuing to come from the Right, who would want to be a Republican anyway? 

The mystery remains, who are the Latinos and what do they want? 

For a an excellent attempt to answer that question and bring more clarity for the political strategists in the GOP, Dr. Miguel De La Torre writes an article, “Political strategists need to understand there is no single Hispanic vote.”  

It probably would not hurt if some of the Democrat leadership who in the past have taken the Latino vote for granted, realize the demographic changes in the growing Latino community will affect the Democrats as well.

The coming seismic political changes will make both political parties accountable and finally, will have to listen to our policy changes in the Party Platforms and in Chambers of Congress...and White House.

Pastor Fidel “Butch” Montoya

H. S. Power & Light Ministries – Latino Faith Initiative

Monday, December 10, 2012 Commentaries

Binders of Hispanics

Political strategists need to understand there is no single Hispanic vote.

By Miguel De La Torre

In meetings at GOP headquarters across the country, one can almost hear the party bosses ordering the delivery of binders of Hispanics.

This is not all bad. The Latina/o community, and by extension the United States, does well when Hispanics are found in both the Democratic and Republican Party -- as well as the Libertarian and Socialist Party.

The thoughts, ideas and voices of the large and fastest-growing group in the U.S. need to be at all tables, participating in and influencing the entire conversation. The last thing the Latino/a community wants is to be co-opted by any political party as a special-interest group used to deliver votes.

That said, I am a bit concerned with some of the attempts to woo us. It is great for our self-esteem to suddenly become the center of attention for both political parties. Nevertheless, the courting process needs to be conducted in a respectful and dignified manner.

To that end, here is some unsolicited advice.

1.) We are a people, not an interest group.

The reason many women were turned off by the GOP this past election season was because Republicans identified their concerns for them instead letting them speak for themselves. (The virtues of rape were not high on their list, and they cared about more than just jobs). So on Nov. 6, women spoke very loudly.

It is paternalistic to tell people – whether they be women in 2012 or Hispanics in 2016 -- what their issues are and therefore how they should vote. Don’t treat us as consumers to whom you can sell a used car.

A more successful path is to ask us. What are our issues and concerns? How do we envision the America of tomorrow? You may not like what you hear, but if you want us to walk with you, then you need to change your tune (i.e., immigration).

2.) We are not a race.

There is no such thing as a stereotypical Hispanic. They are white with blond hair and blue eyes, they are black with curly hair, and they are everything in between.

They have Native American features and/or Asian features. They are Catholics, Protestants, worshipers of the Orishas (African quasi-deities), Jewish, atheists, spiritualists and followers of Amerindian religious traditions. 

Some speak “pure” Spanish. Others speak Spanglish and others only English. Still others converse in Cholo, Mayan, Náhuatl, or Pocho. Some have recently arrived in this country, while the ancestors of others were here centuries before the Europeans.

They live in the blank despair of the barrio and in the comfortable illusions of the suburbs. Some pick apples and grapes, others pick stocks and bonds. Do not treat us as some monolithic group where we all agree on the issues.

3.) We are not window dressing.

Finding an assimilated Hispanic who speaks with a Euroamerican voice and placing that person on a pedestal to be our spokesperson doesn't mean that the rest of us will follow, let alone listen. There is a slang word that is used to disparage those people – coconuts. It means that they are brown on the outside but white within.

Ask yourselves: Are there more Latina/os on the stage than in the audience? If the answer is yes, we call that tokenism and find it offensive.

4.) Even if you recognize that we come from multiple nations of origins, there are major differences among us -- even within our own ethnic group.

This is why you will never find a spokesperson for our entire community. There are major political differences between light-skinned Cubans in Miami and darker-skinned Cubans in New Jersey. Chicanos in California have different priorities than Tejanos in Texas.

You do yourself a great disservice when you attempt to lump us all together. We are not unified, and that is not necessarily bad.

5.) Despite our differences, anti-Hispanic rhetoric tends to unite us.

You cannot expect our votes after telling us to self-deport. Even though most of us are documented, demonizing the undocumented by portraying them as freeloaders, criminals, diseased and subhuman is an insult to all of us.

As Aretha Franklin sang, all we are asking for is a little respect.

6.) If you plan to hang on to philosophies that are detrimental to the Hispanic community, don’t come a courting.

Most Latino/as subscribe to a world view that sees the government as a vehicle that can protect the marginalized from the abuses of the plutocrats. So don’t tell us the government is the problem.

If you want to dance, then you too must change to enter into a relationship. It is not only we who must assimilate and conform. So must you.

I look forward to the day when a Hispanic Republican runs against a Latina Democrat for the presidency of the United States. But until then, both parties need to learn how to make us true partners in creating the future of this country. We cannot settle for less.

Miguel De La Torre is professor of social ethics and Latino/a studies at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver and an ordained Baptist minister.