Politics and Culture

The left "Latino Strategy:" Build-up resentment. Have Republicans ever talked so openly about courting any racial group (article below)?

Hispanics (You can substitute "Latino" if you wish.) may vote Democratic, but they'd mostly do so (I hope they wouldn't vote based on racial solidarity as The Nation wants them to do.) for the same reason most die-hard Democrats do: Dependence on the government. You can divide the electorate one hundred different ways, but one way is between the competitive and the non-competitive. People who don't work at all or work for the government, where unions negotiate with the state for wages, for tax-dependent "helping" jobs (or lawyers), or simply want to maintain their current status, are more likely to vote for bigger government. People who start businesses, want to "get ahead" in some way, or work for one that wants to expand are more likely to vote Republican.**

Hispanic crossroads:

Hispanics are at a crossroads: Of course, in America, most life decisions are made individually- one ultimately chooses one's fate (And, I'd never advocate "group" remedies.)- but certain social attitudes may predominate in an ethnic group. As of now, Hispanics, as a group, occupy the space between the black underclass and the non-black/non-Hispanic mainstream.

Hispanics can take the path of, say, the Italians and Irish who started out in the United States as a below-average (in assimilation statistics like income, language, crime) ethnic group considered by many established Americans as undesirable, but who are now indistinguishable from the mainstream; or Hispanics can wallow in victimhood, grievance, and government programs. No doubt if enough make the later choice, the Democrats will do much better.

Most Cubans, including the entire Guirado family, have chosen the former and the attitude that comes with such a decision has worked well for us, I think.

**The competitive/ non-competitive issue may be one reason why athletes are more likely to be conservative than actors, who rely mostly on natural ability, connections, and luck.

The left's Texas strategy:

What in the name of Sam Houston is going on down here? Pretty much the same partisan upheaval that's roiling several of the Southern and Western states that became staunch Republican turf in the Reagan '80s--and are now surprisingly tempting targets for Obama '08. Even more powerfully than in Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, North Carolina, Georgia and Virginia, a demographic tide is washing away the political dominance of older white conservatives in Texas, which in 2005 officially became the nation's fourth "minority white" state (after California, New Mexico and Hawaii). At the same time, anti-immigration, ideologically rigid, starve-the-government Republican leaders are giving the GOP an ugly reputation with the rising generation of younger Hispanics--the swing voters who are displacing the old Reagan Democrats--and simultaneously alienating independent-minded, middle-aged "office populists" massing around booming metropolises like Dallas.

While Texas' swelling Hispanic population still registers and votes in smaller percentages than blacks or whites, turnout soared in this year's primaries, and Hispanics--once courted lovingly and successfully by Bush--are leaning increasingly Democratic. While GOP leaders spout anti-immigration tag lines, Texas Democrats are brimming with ambitious young Hispanic leaders like this year's US Senate nominee, Afghanistan veteran and progressive populist Rick Noriega, who until recently trailed by single digits in his long-shot race to unseat Republican John Cornyn; State Senator Leticia Van de Putte of San Antonio, a firebrand who delivered the party's Spanish-language response to this year's State of the Union address; and smooth-talking State Representative Rafael Anchía of Dallas, whom Texas Monthly recently predicted would be "El Gobernador."