Latino appeal
Easy to forget that the today involve Republicans as well: it seems that only Mitt Romney has been there and amassing the delegates, again a true rational business leader approach to campaigning from the man who rescued the Olympics in nearby Utah.
BUT here is the issue for the Republicans, going far beyond the question of who wins their caucus today: is the party serious or not about appealing to Latino voters, who make up about a quarter of 's population and are a huge force as well in the key 2008 battleground states of and ?
Pollsters say the evidence is that legal Latino voters are put off by all the talk of illegal immigration that comes from most of the candidates as they troop around . Is the party commiting suicide - long-term electoral suicide - by failing to appeal to Latino voters who should be in tune with it on other issues (abortion etc) but who feel excluded by the immigration issue? My friend the Republican strategist Leslie Sanchez, who wrote the book , is clearly on one side of this argument.
On the other side though is the simple fact (unpalatable as it may be to the elites, and to foreigners with a sentimental view of American immigration) that millions of Americans really are deeply worried about undocumented workers and about the future of the English language as a tie binding the nation together. There is nothing racist about appealing to them. The Democrats are not going to give them a voice, so why shouldn鈥檛 the Republicans?
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We are a British family, living and working in Oklahoma since last July. I agree with Justin鈥榮 analysis, as the approach to Latinos is one of the many cultural differences we鈥榲e observed.
In Oklahoma a new state law came into force last November that made it illegal to employ, house or even have in your car anyone without proper immigration paperwork (your car can be confiscated). The highway police have been trained to pro-actively target and stop cars (well, round here it's pick-ups mainly!) that could fit these criteria.
This legislation was passed with much popular support, as there is a considerable constituency who are fearful of the growing Hispanic influence. This is covered with a veneer of pseudo-economics ("they're stealing our jobs" etc), although the reality is most Mexicans working here do the jobs that are lowest paid and most American's won't do. We know quite a few guys in the construction industry and, unsurprisingly, this law has caused chaos there. We also know a number of churches who have strongly opposed this, because people are literally being snatched from homes and locked up, pending extradition, even though they may have lived here for many years, paid taxes and positively contributed to society. With such a minimal state provision system, and plenty of room for expansion, many of the UK immigration restriction arguments aren't very relevant here.
Having ourselves negotiated the byzantine inefficiency and plain-old incompetency of US Immigration to be legally here, I can quite see why poor, non-white and relatively uneducated people bypass it. Additionally, unbelievably it can take up to 10 years to be approved to move here from Mexico, so with the huge wealth disparity you can understand people who want a more prosperous future for themselves and their children slipping across the border.
It seems to us that the US is forgetting its heritage as a country of immigrants, and that the "Fortress America" approach is going to cause huge problems here in the 'heartland', let alone in international relations.
As far as caring about Hispanics is concerned, Republicans only care about the white Cuban vote that is centred in Miami, Florida.
Otherwise, they play the race card with the darker, rural, and mostly Mexican Hispanics, those who clean the toilets, take out the garbage, pick the fruits and vegetables, and other jobs that white Americans would rather avoid.
Whenever the USA doesn't need them, it's back to Mexico for these migrant workers.
It seems to work well for those pillars of American industry whose business exploits these beleaguered serfs.
Ironically, nobody noticed the Christian-on-Christian abuse going on here, in the land of the most holy.
The Republican attack on Latinos has been happening for decades. Pete Wilson's attack on immigrants in 1994 put my entire family in the Democratic column forever. When I was a child in California in the 1970's, I was not allowed to go out to play without my Social Security card because the Immigration and Naturalization Service would perform raids on our primarily Mexican neighborhood. Anyone caught without an ID, regardless of age, was taken to Tijuana. I notice that the English-only movement never demonstrates in Kingsburg CA, a city of primarily Swedish immigrants, where the McDonalds flies both the US flag and the Swedish flag. The anti-immigrant movement has also never demonstrated against the display of Irish flags at a St. Patrick's Day parade. Where was the English-only movement when the Bank of Italy (now Bank of America) was founded in North Beach (SF, CA) as a bank for Italians? The Republicans are pandering to the white supremacists, xenophobes, and racists in order to ride to political office on the backs of Latinos. It is quite obvious that they hate us completely. Their actions have only increased the number of Latinos that are able to vote by motivating millions to become citizens and to vote.
Congrats to Romney on his big win! Now to Florida with a little extra momentum!
(From Michigan and Wyoming, too!)
The FUNNY TRUTH is that the republicans are playing ELECTIONS SPIN WORD games.
The only person that speaks the truth like it is McCain.
The Undocumented Did not bring the Economic disaster upon USA. World Gloiblazation and automation and robotics did.
IBM, FORD, MAYTAG,and many other major corporations who closed factories in USA DID / DO "NOT" EMPLOY ANY "UNDOCUMENTED" PEOPLE.
So Stop Blaming our nations woes on these poor migrants. I am not saying don't close the borders. I am Saying You are solely responsible for your own life, Stop Blaming the Government,and others for you not havening a Profession that is required in todays workplace and economy.
Now the STOCK MARKET IS FREE FALLING, the Poor Migrants don't have investments in it, so Take out your frustrations on the person you see in the mirror, You ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR SUCCESS.
Republicans and Democrats should stop blaming others and suggest WORKABLE SOLUTIONS TO THE MAIN REAL ISSUES AND THAT AIL OUR NATION.
God Bless America AMEN.
How true are the above posts! I'm an American citizen, born and raised here. My parents are American citizens. I just recently moved to a somewhat rural part of Illinois. To the people in this town, I'm Mexican. Why do they assume this? Because of the color of my skin. Just recently, my mother and I were speaking Spanish at a food store. An older white lady, angrily, told us to speak English, that we were in America. Yes, I speak Spanish, but I also speak French and am in the process of learning Arabic. Would I have been treated this way if I had been speaking French? Absolutely not.
The illegal immigration issue is being used by our government as a scapegoat. Our economy is on the brick of a recession, and the war is getting us further into debt, so what does the government do? Let's get the focus away from this and blame somebody else for this mess. WWII was started this way.
For me and my family, there is absolutely no way that a Republican is getting our vote.
The more I hear people denying that racism has "anything" to do with it, the more it maddens me. The racism and hate spouted by people is now an open book that canNOT be denied anymore! Stop pretending that it can, since it'll only add salt to the wound.
On the other hand, those who aren't racist or hateful will have an easier and easier time to come across as such, since all the racists and haters will provide them with a contrast that sharpens the more the bigots open their mouths. Just stop denying that racism is flagrant. Stop lying! Just because you don't call it 'racism' doesn't mean it's Not!
As a Republican I take offense at the comparison of my opinion on an immigration issue to white supremacy.
At this moment in time, this issue seems to be race specific. That does not make it "racist" in the hateful sense of the word. Who can deny that the U.S. has more Latino/Hispanic/Chicano/S. American illegal immigrants than Asian or European illegal immigrants?
Whether this is due to ease of entry, lack of education/knowledge of government workings, or the American dream I don鈥檛 know. What I know is that there are thousands of people taking advantage of my country, with (apparently) absolutely no respect for it, since they are already disregarding the common courtesy of asking permission, much less bothering to pledge allegiance. Therein lies my discomfort with illegal immigration.
If this issue is really based on the fact that these particular immigrants are 鈥減oor and relatively un-educated鈥,(Alex Absalom) we can solve this by refining the application processes.
So let鈥檚 roll already! Quit bickering about who doesn鈥檛 like who and help fix the problem! 10 years is an absurd amount of time, and all we鈥檝e done so far is continue to prolong that.
To Alex Absalom:
Can I assume that you and your family immigrated to the US to escape Fortress Europe and all of the immigrants who are "destroying" European values and ways of life?
It wouldn't surprise me one bit.
To Nikaelia:
"At this moment in time, this issue seems to be race specific. That does not make it 'racist' in the hateful sense of the word." ?????
I urge you to use a dictionary and look up racist.
Nobody is dismissing that the vast majority of immigrants come from some Latin American country. But what is being felt is that being Latino is equaled to being an illegal immigrant. There is a blurred perception of being one or the other. This is where we, as Latinos, are led to believe that this issue is being pushed because the majority of us are brown.
I agree, it's time for a solution. But with politicians (in my view, mostly Republicans) using these topics to just get elected, it is highly unlikely that this will be resolved anytime soon.
As a Democrat living in California, I too am surprised by the direction the immigration debate has gone. In the past, the Democratic party has been the party of workers and unions, which stood up for the American worker by demanding tough immigration laws. By contrast, the Republicans, who are and were friends of big business, favored lax immigration laws to give cheap labor to corporations. The way I see it, this is still how it should be, which is why I see no hypocrisy in saying that I am a Democrat who is for enhanced border enforcement and strict laws for illegal immigrants already in the US.
It seems Justin and the 大象传媒 have missed the fact that Ron Paul finished second once again in Louisiana yesterday. Or does that not count for anything?
Future of Democratic Party is now hobbling.
Following is a reasonably high probability of things to come.
Obama & his supporters (Dean, Kerry & Kennedy et. al) have now concretised their base to be: 60% of democrats who are college graduates; 80% of African American men, 50% of African American women.
Hillary & her supporters (Bill, Spitzer, Rangel, Carter et al) have now concretised their base to be: 65% of registered women democrats; 50% of African American women, 30% of democrats who are college graduates, 60% of registered democrats who are non-college graduates.
Result: Splintering of Democratic Party in Mar-Apr of this year and with the following Presidential Race make up:
New Democratic Party: Obama as Pres & Bloomberg as VP
Republican Party: Romney as Pres & Giuliani as VP
Old Democratic Party: Clinton as Pres & Rangel as VP or and outside chance that Edwards might also be considered for VP.
I have to agree with many posters that Whites don't want here people who are of different races and strange cultural backgrounds.
It's just a natural instinct for self-preservation and it's well justified but doesn't have anything to do with racism.
We just don't like other people among us and it comes down that the Spanish-speaking people are the object of our discussions because of their way of life, their conduct, their behavior which doesn't conform to our European morals and personal responsibility.
Mexicans and other spanish-speaking people are perceived and indeed are anti-Whites,anti-America and anti-everything which this Country stands for.
Contrary to what has been said and non-Whites continue to say,this Country, has never been a Country of "immigrants".
The only people ever allowed to enter and be counted were the Europeans and they were explorers and builders and they build a Country and all its institutions, based on our European Civilization, during the past centuries and all this out of a Desert and a Jungle.
No one in the third world has any rights over this Country. Anyone,non-European, who is here,is here because of the misplaced generosity of White-Americans.
The fake Latinos (the Spanics) and all the others have no mandatory rights to the American Dream.
This is our Civilization and want to keep it unchanged.
Dear Ana (Post 6),
The Czechs say the number of languages you speak is the number of people you are, meant to reflect greatness of soul.
I have witnessed the scene you experienced a thousand times growing up in Colorado. "English Only" is racist.
There are Spanish/Mexican-American ranch and farm families in the southwest who have worked their land -- continuously -- for over 400 years.
I've an extraordinary film to recommend to you, happily in the Public Domain, titled "The Salt of the Earth," a factual account of the miner's strike in Silver City, New Mexico in the '50s; an hilarious and moving account of the women who manned the picket lines when red-scare federal legislation and local judicial injunctions prohibited industrial action by company employees. The men soon grouse about "domestic slavery," child-minding and water-carrying ... and finally agree to add "community" demands to the strike agenda ... including that most precious and basic of resources, clean, running water ... which, of course, the Anglo mining camp over the way had had for years. The townspeople played themselves, and the film was banned in the US.
Racism is systemic and systematic; the casual racism toward Latinos is no longer tolerated toward Blacks.
The Southwest is riven with dual-townships; a white town with paved streets and running water next to a Mexican-American settlement with no plumbing and no sidewalks. I grew up in such a town in Colorado. Our Mexican-American township was not-so-subtly called "The Colony." A town just north calls their township "Ragtown." You get the idea.
And this nonsense about the Latino community not supporting a Black ... ridiculous, except in the case of ex-Batista Cubans. The media is grooving on the gang imagery, ghetto vs. barrio.
Of all the Clinton triangulating, pitting Blacks against Latinos is the most despicable. Will "Little Black Billbo" now morph into "Wild Bill Batista?" Oh, wait, he already has.
The Clintons need those Florida delegates ... and their Florida philosophy.
Ana: Keep writing, my dear. Your voice is very, very important.