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Feature
Hispanic Conservatives
Yes, Senator Reid, there are many of them, and the right will be a fool if it fails to take advantage of their availability.
Sí, es un problema — y una oportunidad muy grande. Muy, may I affirm?
That’s provided you’re conservative and hopeful of swinging America’s fast-multiplying Hispanic population your way. Not for the cynical, self-serving purpose of stroking Hispanic sensibilities vigorously enough to capitalize on Hispanic votes — the preferred Democratic approach, as we know, regarding black voters. The main idea here for conservatives, I think, is to integrate as many Hispanic Americans as possible into the conspiracy to keep America free of suffocating government regulations and disintegrating cultural norms.
As Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor whose sensitivities proceed partly from his relationships with the state’s large Hispanic population, has put it: “If you believe in the conservative philosophy as I do, it would be incredibly stupid over the long haul to ignore the burgeoning Hispanic vote. They will be the swing voters in the swing states.”
The job as described by Bush, speaking in January at a conference for Hispanic conservatives, should be doable: hardly a piece of Mexican pastry but doable, not to mention logical as all get-out.
We recall, do we not, Sen. Harry Reid’s immortal words to a gathering of Nevada Hispanics in August 2010. Getting right in the audience’s face, El Señor Reid shared what he took to be a common understanding. “I don’t know,” he confided, “how anyone of Hispanic heritage could be a Republican, okay? Do I need to say more?” It is not reported whether the senator winked or not. He might as well have.
We likewise remember President Obama’s contribution to the dispiriting debate concerning Hispanic political participation. In a Univision interview last October 25, he enjoined viewers to remember that “If Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, ‘We’re going to punish our enemies,’… then I think it’s going to be harder.” What a droll way of according conservatives a pedestal in the Hall of Ill Fame! Republicans jumped on the slur, and Obama had to back off slightly, but as we all know, the breeding of racial rivalry is a well-vetted Democratic campaign tactic.
The myth that Reid and Obama both seek consciously to perpetrate and perpetuate is of the poor, downtrodden Hispanic, his hands wrinkled with care and toil, his shoulders bent to the ground, awaiting the upward tug of a Democratic hand. In the end, Senator Reid procured 63 percent of the Nevada Hispanic vote — enough to dispose narrowly of an erratic Republican opponent, Sharron Angle. Yet, irony of ironies, Reid’s son Rory, running for governor, lost to Brian Sandoval, who, with nearly two-thirds white support, became one of three conservative Republican Hispanics elected in high-profile races last year. The other two: Marco Rubio in Florida and Susana Martinez in New Mexico. Meantime, Idaho, Texas, Florida, and Washington sent to the U.S. House a total of five new Hispanics who also happen to be conservative.
The outlook for Hispanic embrace of conservative ideas and candidates seems brighter than ever before — in part because relatively few Anglos have troubled to look behind the stereotype of the smoldering-eyed Latino labor agitator; partly because there once seemed better payoff in strategies to lure evangelical Christians than in plans for the political seduction of foreigners or first-generation Americans.
NO MORE, ONE HOPES. Some 47 million Hispanics now live in the United States — almost 15 percent of the total population. Of these, a survey by the Pew Hispanic Forum in October 2010 estimates 38 percent to be immigrants. Of this latter category, an estimated 19 percent (something over 11 million) are what we once called illegal aliens but now generally refer to as undocumented workers — accent perhaps on the word “workers.”
Work they do — in factories, on construction sites, in homes and hotels and offices, on lawn-cutting crews, on hog and poultry farms. They work because America has more work to be done than is available in Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua, or Ecuador, with native-born Americans more indisposed than formerly to low-paying trades and occupations. The work ethic, in other words, informs the Hispanic voter, actual or potential. A building contractor with whom my wife and I were recently discussing the integrity of construction workers told us, “It’s whites who steal from you on the job site. The Hispanics have their heads down working to make money to send somewhere or the other.” I wouldn’t call that a dispositive observation on the Hispanic orientation toward work, but it gets you to thinking. A willing worker, conservatives tend to understand, is susceptible to opportunities for pay and reward such as the free market provides out of all proportion to those occurring under government auspices and control. This understanding, one might well deduce, gives conservative candidates a leg up in the quest for private sector growth.
The general Hispanic population likewise has a relatively strong commitment to religion and family. I am uncertain how far we are to push this particular point, which I have heard advanced in a vague way for years, without statistical underpinning. I think modern Anglos, looking anxiously at the evaporation of their own cultural norms, have a bent for romanticizing the attachments and outlooks of others who seem at least from the outside to “have it all together.” We know, against this cultural bent, that the pregnancy rate among Hispanic teens exceeds that for whites as the rate among blacks exceeds that for Hispanics. We know that more Hispanics drop out of high school than do whites or blacks. Yet something else we know (thanks to a Pew Forum survey) is that nearly two-thirds of older Hispanics oppose abortion — the other side of this particular coin being lighter opposition (43 percent) among younger Hispanics. When the Texas senate, in February, approved a bill requiring the offer of a sonogram view of her child to a woman considering abortion, three Hispanic Democrats, representing heavily Hispanic South Texas districts, voted with the Anglo Republican majority.
To pursue further the question of philosophical orientation, a poll more than a year ago asserted that 54 percent of Texas Hispanics call themselves conservative, as against 18 percent who self-identify as liberal or progressive. Maybe so, to judge from how things went at the polls in Texas last November. Four Hispanic Republicans won state house seats in Hispanic territory. Three of the Democratic losers were likewise Hispanic. With the election over, along came Rep. Aaron Peña, a Democrat, to cross over to the Republican side due to what he identified as the overlap of his own views with those of the GOP.
Of particular note, from this same standpoint, was the contest in formerly Anglo-Czech-Slovak Williamson County, home base for Dell Computer, lying just north of Austin, where a Hispanic woman, Diana Maldonado, two years earlier wrested the seat from a white man. In 2010, one Larry Gonzales wrested it back for the GOP. Nobody — Anglo, Hispanic, or what-not — seemed to notice anything but the philosophical and partisan divide between the two candidates. Walloping the Democrats, rather than fretting over ethnic identity, turned out to be the big thing.
NOT THAT HISPANIC VOTES can be likened to ripe pears waiting to fall into the aprons of eager Republicans shaking the tree. In 2008, Barack Obama received two-thirds of the Hispanic vote. A national House exit poll in 2010 suggested that 60 percent of Latinos voted Democratic. In fact, something had happened since 2006, when exit polls put the Hispanic vote at 69 percent Democratic. Was that due in part at least to the economic mess, coupled with Democratic failure to create jobs? Whatever the case, Republicans and conservatives sense for 2012 an opportunity, not so much to forge a grand alliance with Latinos — such a process will take time — as to illustrate what Aaron Peña figured out for himself, namely, the general congruence of Hispanic values and Republican policies.
I said the “general” congruence. We need to be careful when moving from the general to the particular, because GOP-Hispanic overlap isn’t total by any means. What are we going to do about immigration? That one’s a doozy. Established Democratic policy is to harangue Republicans for “nativism” and such like, because, well, there’s indeed some nativism even among, let us say, Texans long used to collaboration and friendship with Mexicans, not to mention a well-formed attachment to margaritas and fajitas. The prospect of waking up to discover immigration has made one a member of an ethnic minority is not quickly embraced.
About the Author
William Murchison, a Dallas-based columnist for Creators Syndicate and author of Mortal Follies: Episcopalians and the Crisis of Mainline Christianity (Encounter Books), is completing a biography of John Dickinson..
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gsrq| 4.13.11 @ 6:22AM
Nonsense. This is more Jeb & Jorge Booosh "Latino triumphalism". The brutal truth is .......nine out of ten black Americans vote Democrat. About seventy-five percent of Latinos vote Democrat. About two-thirds of Asian immigrants vote Democrat. Approximately 55-60% of white Americans vote Republican.
Bottom line: The more immigrants are allowed into the country, the smaller the percentage of native born white Americans and thus, the smaller percentage of the population will support limited government (remember that?) and conservative/republican policies.
Plus so called "Hispanics" are to a large extent, illegal aliens, who are by and large, using stolen social security numbers, driving without a licensen, registration, insurance, avoiding income tax......shall I go on?
Want to reduce the unemployment rate? Want to reduce healthcare costs? Want to improve public schools?
Say no to the immigrant/Mexican invasion. Period.
Sheila| 4.13.11 @ 11:26AM
Excellent and fact-filled comment. Ignore the "shaming" language you're sure to receive in return.
Thripshaw| 4.14.11 @ 3:57PM
This article is innumerate garbage. Just saw an item in the local paper about redistricting in my state. Because of the increase in Latinos and the fact that they are a different race with affirmative action privileges, all the Hispanic lobbying organizations are demanding gerrymandered districts so that they can have more Latino representation in Congress. That means less white representation.
All immigration needs to be cut off - legal and illegal. We currently import over a million legal immigrants annually in the teeth of nearly 20% unemployment. And because approximately 90% of immigrants are non-white, they immediately qualify for racial preferences that disadvantage whites.
Making whites a minority in what was once their country is the most insane, suicidal public policy ever devised.
The Republican party will never get a majority of Hispanics, but it can win by mobilizing their white voter base. Steve Sailer explains how here.
smokedaddy| 4.14.11 @ 9:56PM
Thripshaw you're an embarrassment. The "whites" you refer to would include tens of millions of Americans of Italian, Slavic, Jewish and Irish descent who were considered every bit as racially and ethnically separate and different as you now consider Hispanics.
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 4.13.11 @ 7:49AM
Ironically, if you make them legal and make them pay their taxes, they won't be Democrats long.
gsrq| 4.13.11 @ 9:24AM
Ironically, if we simply enforce border and immigration laws, so called "Hispanics" (really Mexican-Indians) would be a much smaller factor in American life and a much smaller factor in exacerbating many troubling issues - unemployment rate, healthcare costs, identity theft, degradation of schools by having to accomodate so many non-English speaking children, etc.
Sheila| 4.13.11 @ 11:27AM
Disagree. Just as Jews vote for higher taxes and policies that purportedly "hurt" them (just as long as it hurts the majority White population more), so too will Hispanics and Asians and blacks. You can't fix stupid. Decline and fall.
Michael Tomlinson| 4.13.11 @ 12:34PM
Roughly 35-40% of Hispanics vote Republican. Of course, continue to treat these Americans like pariah and it is inevitable that they'll give up voting Republican. It is a lot like the "ignorant" Irish who for generations were solidly Democrat or the "Papists" whose first "loyalty was to Rome and the DNC." Might want to be careful telling that to Rick Santorum, John Boehner, Ed Gillespie, etc..
Disparaging people who are citizens and fearing them doesn't benefit the country or the Republican Party. The only people who win are Democrats.
Tejanos, native born Americans/Texans of Spanish descent, by the third generation don't speak Spanish.
Want to ban people who are really a threat then ban Muslims from coming to the US and those that are here and not citizens declare them persona non grota and boot them. As for the criminal element in the Hispanic community (i.e., gangs) declare them domestic terrorits and use the Patriot Act to send their butts to GITMO.
As for Americans of Spanish heritage welcome to the GOP brothers and sisters.
gsrq| 4.13.11 @ 12:57PM
Another Bushian are ya Michael? What part of illegal alien don't you understand? Do I need to delinate for you?
American citizens of Latino ethnicity are not the question here. I couldn't care less. But far, far too many so called "Hispanics" (Americans of Latino descent) are far too soft on illegal immigration because so many have relatives who are in fact, illegal aliens (lying, cheating, identity stealing, income tax avoiding, driving without a licence, etc.)
Latinos seem to have some notion that they have a God-given "right" to "migrate". Rubbish. Mass immigration is a man-made policy, coordinated by the elites in Washington and Mexico City. Man-made policies can change.
Stop the Mexican invasion. Mexico is a chronically corrupt country very close to being in a state of civil war.
Deportation is the only solution; everything else is just "whistling past the graveyard".
Michael Tomlinson| 4.13.11 @ 1:21PM
I have no problem with sealing the border and finding a viable solution to illegals in this country from deportation to work visas without a road to citizenship (gang members are domestic terrorists and should go to GITMO). I'd even have those working here pay into Social Security without being eligble for benefits (a tax for the privilege of working in the US).
What I refuse to countenance is labeling all Hispanics (even illegals) as something less than human. Nearly everyone posting here is disparaging Hispanics as a whole when the majority are decent people.
As for the Bush family they've done more than most to make this the country a great nation. As a Republican I admire Bush (41) and (43). That I'm not always supportive of their positions doesn't make them any the less decent and good Americans. Much like Ronald Reagan, a great President, I don't think his granting immediate amnesty and citizenship to millions of illegals or massive tax increases was good policy. Still I admire him.
White America might not be in "decline" if so many whites didn't choose to abort their children. At least Hisapanics don't see their children as burdens to be thrown away in the trash. We can learn a lot from them on this issue.
gsrq| 4.13.11 @ 2:18PM
I'm not angry with you Michael. I'm also not "disparaging" so called "Hispanics" (really (Mexican-Indians). I do "disparage" illegal aliens, as I am a proud nationalist (in the good sense of the word). They are lying, cheating and stealing and their employers are breaking the law and should be punished as well. Illegal aliens are human beings, for sure and I feel sorry for many of them but what they are not is Americans. By definition, illegal aliens are citizens of other countries and that is where they belong. Mexico is the number one sender of legal immigrants and of course number one sender of illegal immigrants too. When will enough be enough for ol' corrupt Mexico?
I want all illegal aliens deported - Mexican, Irish, Russian, Chinese, etc. I want LOWER legal immigration for a good 10-20 year period, just like US immigration history has done before. Periods of high immigration for 20 years, followed by periods of low immigration. It's time for the low period. High immigration is just another symptom of liberalism. The idea that we can and should take everyone in the world (or at least Mexico). We can not. Poor, uneducated immigrants consume more in benefits than they contribute in taxes paid. They are tailor made for liberals of both parties to construct "outreach" and other social nonsense programs - bilingualism, free school lunch program, free school breakfast program, pretty soon, free home dinner program!
The USA is no more a "nation of immigrants" than many other nations around the world, Mexico most of all. Time to say no to mass population transfer (with all it's attendant social costs).
Seek| 4.13.11 @ 3:41PM
Nobody is implying that Hispanics are "less than human." But in large numbers, like today, they are simply not right for America. All nations, great and small, restrict immigration by size and national origin. We're no exception -- no apologies.
loulou| 4.13.11 @ 2:21PM
Are you saying that Hispanics are all in favor of illegal immigration and open borders? Are all Hispanics unable to understand the rule of law?
The Hispanics who have illegal alien relatives will never be conservative Republicans.
JimH| 4.13.11 @ 8:17AM
Latinos are not a homogenous group. Puerto Ricans are different from Cubans who are different from Mexicans. That said, most come from culturally conservative, if statist governmental societies. If Republicans can convincingly portray their opposition to illegal immigration is a matter of fairness to those immigrants who played by the rules and not nativist racism. If they can show that their policies to reduce regulation help small business and provide new opportunities they can make inroads in Latino voters, at least in areas where such voters are truly American citizens.
gsrq| 4.13.11 @ 9:27AM
But the number of Puerto Ricans is so much smaller than the number of Mexicans and Central Americans that it is statistically insignificant.
Conservatives will likely never convince poor, grade school educated peasants, who often have been raised to hate the "gringo Yanquii".
Good luck with that effort, GOP! Ha, ha, ha....
Demography is destiny.......race/ethnicity matters greatly. Maybe unpopular to admit but it's true.
Sheila| 4.13.11 @ 11:31AM
Another excellent comment, but you're wasting your time with the movement Republicans here. Try http://unamusementpark.wordpre.....ed-part-3/ and http://stuffblackpeopledontlike.blogspot.com/
gsrq| 4.13.11 @ 11:38AM
Sheila - your compliments are kind, thank you.....I guess we think alike! :-)
Michael Tomlinson| 4.13.11 @ 12:38PM
JimH good point. Sadly, some of the most out spoken on the issue of immigration speak not only from ignorance, but fear of those who are different. They need to pull their heads out and look at the new Governors of New Mexico and Nevada to see how wrong they are.
gsrq| 4.13.11 @ 12:59PM
Whom am I afraid of Mikey? Are not the governors of New Mexico and Nevada American citizens?
"A nation without borders is not a nation" - R. Reagan.
"What's yours is mine" - motto of Mexicans.
Michael Tomlinson| 4.13.11 @ 1:25PM
Funny you quote Reagan who believed in the free flow of people and goods across the borders of the US, Mexico and Canada. The only modern President to grant immediate amnesty and citizenship to millions of Hispanics. Of course, you were probably ignorant of that fact.
Another point I sign my name and don't hide who I am. You might want to man up or woman up depending on your gender and sign your name.
Melvin| 4.13.11 @ 8:29AM
Whether some like it or not, there is a large percentage of Hispanic Closet Conservatives. Now being Hispanic does not necessarily correlate a particular ownership of any one ethnic group.
The Socialists Communists in this Country desperately want to poo poo these numbers. Since the Communists are Godless souls anyway they want to dilute the religious heritage of Hispanics they same way the Communists are diluting religion within the Anglo ranks.
Religious values is the single greatest threat to the Communist movement within the United States since the realignment of the Berlin Wall.
Just look at the urban inner city social re-engineering indoctrination centers that the Communist Democrat Party put together for Lyndon Johnson's, "Great Society." There are millions upon millions of Black Americans within these fetid environs, but the number of churches within these cities continue to close and disappear.
Conservatism and the belief of God, operate hand in hand, you can't have one without the other.
Notice I said, "Belief in God," and not religion. My wife and I are Conservatives, believe in God, but attend no organized religion.
Should those within the Conservative Party court Conservative Hispanics? I will answer the question this way. Either you are a Conservative or your not. There is no such thing as a Compassionate Conservative, Progressive Conservative, or Liberal Conservative. A person either is or isn't.
This should be the way that Conservatives should accept fellow Conservatives within the Conservative fold.
The Communist Democrat Party of the United States would love nothing more than to dilute the Conservative movement, the same way they have diluted the belief in God.
JimP| 4.13.11 @ 8:33AM
With due respect to Mr. Murchison, this column covers just about every GOP talking point about Hispanics that we've been hearing since at least 2004 and the GOP's plan to get the Hispanics to vote Repub is to do nothing but leave the border open and let businesses get away with hiring illegals. Have the Hispanics responded to the GOP elite's largesse and become Repub voters? NO.
Establishment Republicans don't seem to want to face the fact that welfare state freebies and off the books pay give illegal immigrants an advantage over their poverty stricken lives in Mexico etc and are an INCENTIVE to come here illegally. Throw in the open border and the problem is greatly exacerbated. The truth is that illegals DO take jobs away from Americans and drive down wages. For example: construction and landscaping. When I was a teen these jobs were plentiful for summer employment between school terms. Before the housing bubble burst you couldn't find an American teenager working for any lanscape or construction crew and I know for a fact that the pay these illegal workers received was closer to what I received back in the 60's for this same work than an inflation adjusted wage. This is just one example. The Bush family thinks we who want effective and complete border enforcement and to have illegals deported are "nativists" and prejudiced against Hispanics. This was and still is BULL. Sadly, the Bush family have shown themselves to be out of touch elitists who are over sensitive to this issue, probably because Jeb married a Mexican girl. Sorry, but that's just how it is. Hispanics are never going to become Tea Party conservatives unless and until the border is controlled and illegal immigration is stopped. Until that is done trying to address getting Hispanics to vote Republican is like a doctor setting a broken bone while the patient has a severed artery. First stop the bleeding! Then set the fracture. This kind of common sense is too complicated for the GOP elites.
Mike W| 4.13.11 @ 9:04AM
If someone like Murchison is still spouting this type of nonsense then I think it is hopeless to reform the Republican party from it's own death wish.
In 2008, Hispanics voted 2/3 for Hope and Change. They didn't vote for McCain, the Hispanderer, who never met an amnesty he didn't like.
Hispanics are majority Democrats. Just last week it was announced in Texas that 61 percent of immigrants are on some kind of public assistance and when you consider only illegal aliens ,that number became 71 percent.
You can spout off about conservative Hispanics all you want but when you watch the news in San Antonio and you see Univision interviewing Hispanic Texas lawmakers in Spanish, about their law suit against the state of Texas then you know that the state has an immigration problem. The lawsuit against the state is because Hispanic Texans are worried that a proposed congressional redistricting will reduce Latino power.
Murchison also references Jeb Bush. Anyone who believes him or his idiot brother has no credibility.
loulou| 4.13.11 @ 2:23PM
Amen, regarding the idiocy of the Bushes.
tatosian| 4.13.11 @ 9:14AM
"The prospect of waking up to discover immigration has made one a member of an ethnic minority is not quickly embraced."
Well, perhaps not quickly embraced but embraced nonetheless. Once minority status is achieved the particular individual becomes the happy recipient of numerous government programs, supported by Republicans and conservatives, that wage a tireless war against the dreaded white racism of disparate impact, si?
I mean set asides, de facto quotas regarding hiring and admission to colleges and such, those things are all based on ethnicity and race right? (And also gender and sexual preference of course, but we can discuss those another time, right? Sí, se puede amigo)
And frankly, I don't know any Hispanics who are less than adamant in defining themselves as Hispanics or Hispanic/Mexican/whatever-south-of-the-border Americans. Does defining themselves thusly bring us together or divide us as a people? Who's responsible for this us and them dynamic?
Is racial and ethnic separatism a conservative value? Who knew?
And I understand, as a Republican and conservative you had no choice but to help these hardworking, honorable illegal aliens scurry across our borders. You had to help rescue your American business friends from the scourge of all those thieving, malingering, overpaid American slackers.
Sure, it was Americans who did the fighting and the dying in America's wars, and business in America benefited greatly from those freedoms dearly purchased. But those guys are gone. I mean what have they done for business in America lately huh?
Look. I've said this before and I say it again; The Republicans and the establishment conservatives have taken another path. If you are not a hyphenated American, if you believe that the American culture and society deserves to be conserved rather than eliminated, there is no place for you in the new and improved Republican party and it's conservative movement.
Like it or not, we are the minority now. We should fight accordingly.
Semper Fidelis
Sheila| 4.13.11 @ 11:33AM
"Like it or not, we are the minority now. We should fight accordingly." Well said.
Michael Tomlinson| 4.13.11 @ 12:43PM
You can Semper Fidelis all want, but you know absolutely zip about today's Corps or the brave men and women who defend your right to remain ignorant.
As for ethnic Americans don't go to the Northeast on 17 MAR and spout such crap about Irish-Americans or you'll get not only your ass kicked, but your head shoved up it for good measure.
tatosian| 4.13.11 @ 5:56PM
Oh please.
3rd Marine Grunt Viet Nam. 68-69. Quang Tri. Are you kidding?
I've already served this nation. As did my father and 13 of my uncles during ww2 and Korea.
You and yours readily dismiss and disregard the contributions of those that came before you. I do not. In fact the contributions and sacrifices of those that came before helped turn this nation into the economic powerhouse that prompted your illegal alien friends to scuttle across our border and embed themselves in a culture and society that they not only decry as racist, bigoted and oppressive, but have repeatedly declared to be their own. Which, I guess justifies the disproportionate percentage of your illegal alien friends taking government handouts. According to a recent study by The Center for Immigration Studies:
- in 2009 (based on data collected in 2010), 57 percent of households headed by an immigrant (legal and illegal) with children (under 18) used at least one welfare program, compared to 39 percent for native households with children.
-Households with children with the highest welfare use rates are those headed by immigrants from the Dominican Republic (82 percent), Mexico and Guatemala (75 percent), and Ecuador (70 percent). Those with the lowest use rates are from the United Kingdom (7 percent), India (19 percent), Canada (23 percent), and Korea (25 percent).
- The states where immigrant households with children have the highest welfare use rates are Arizona (62 percent); Texas, California, and New York (61 percent); Pennsylvania (59 percent); Minnesota and Oregon (56 percent); and Colorado (55 percent).
http://cis.org/immigrant-welfare-use-2011
"...don't go to the Northeast on 17 MAR and spout such crap about Irish-Americans..."
I'm Sicilian Irish from New York you frikkin moron. I spent my entire youth punching up the loud mouth brothers of all those beautiful Coleens I just couldn't resist. But unlike yourself, my head was never shoved up my ass.
I'm glad you brought up the Irish though because my Sicilian cousins and I always wondered at the unbridled animosity aimed at us by those Irish. We figured it was because there were no Sicilians fighting alongside the Mexicans during the Mexican American War. You know, the St. Patricks brigade and all that.
Ah well. Top of the morning to ya.
tatosian| 4.13.11 @ 7:05PM
DoD to Increase Counter-Narcotics Support for Mexico 17-Fold Despite Mexican Security Forces Committing Unlawful Killings
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
By Edwin Mora
"The Department of Defense (DoD) will increase its counter-narcotics support to Mexico by 17-fold from funding levels of $3 million per year before 2009 to $51 million in fiscal year 2011, according to a top Pentagon official..."
http://cnsnews.com/news/articl.....-support-m
Harry the Horrible| 4.13.11 @ 9:15AM
"Conservative Hispanics" identify themselves Americans and don't need any other label or pandering.
People who identify themselves as "Hispanic" are probably going to vote Democrat no matter the 'Pubbies do.
Michael Tomlinson| 4.13.11 @ 12:46PM
I wonder what Russian-Americans in NYC are thinking when they identify with the GOP and describe Obama and Democrats as Soviets? Want they be surprised to find there not really Americans or Republicans, but still Democrats, because their proud of their heritage.
Michael Tomlinson| 4.13.11 @ 12:58PM
Botched that one, but it is late night here after a long day. Should have said, "Won't they be surprised to find . . ., because they're proud . . ."
Harry the Horrible| 4.13.11 @ 8:44PM
There's nothing wrong with an excuse to party or enjoy foreign foods and drinks. I like the Scottish Highland Games myself (something about meat pies, I think).
But I don't identify as a "Scottish-American." I dare say that, once they get away from the fairgrounds, neither would most of the other attendees.
Don't know about your Russian-Americans. How Russian are they really?
Louis Tully| 4.13.11 @ 10:48AM
Oh good lord. Another lame attempt to sell open borders and amnesty to conservatives. They will never learn. which is why the GOP is dying.
JimP| 4.13.11 @ 10:58AM
Touche. It is supremely ironic, IMO, that they spend their time trying to sell open borders and amnesty to us, instead of selling the virtues and common interests of the GOP to the Hispanics. They keep yapping at us "US Americans". Which as you point out, shows they aren't serious about getting the Hispanic vote, they just want to feel morally superior via open borders and amnesty, while increasing their profits using illegal immigrant labor.
JimP| 4.13.11 @ 11:04AM
Let me amend my comment above. I should have said "as is implicit in your comment, IMO" and I should have added that it is my conclusion that they only want to feel morally superior etc. It is possible they really just don't get it.
Michael Tomlinson| 4.13.11 @ 12:47PM
Oh good Lord, you obviously slept through the last election and haven't seen recent polls that show Republicans trouncing Democrats.
Jillian| 4.13.11 @ 11:06AM
There is absolutely no reason to cater to Hispanics to get their vote. No one catered to me to get my vote. Either you're conservative or you're not. It's rather obscene to suggest that if we're nice to Hispanics they will like us and vote for us.
In 1960 White people were 90% of the population, then came the Immigration Act of 1965 which severly curtailed immigration for white Eureopeans, and started allowing immigration of mostly illiterate blacks and brown, particularly South Americans. Our elites wanted to change the racial make-up of America. And they have succeeded, soon white people, the founding stock of this country, will be in the minority. But we're not suppose to mind; whites are not allowed to have an identity. You dare not even say "I'm white, and proud of it." It's somehow evil for white people to want their own country, it's called "white privilege". It's okay for Mexicans to control their borders and want a country for Mexicans, it was okay for South Africa to topple white rule. And to kill white farmers and throw them off the land they had owned for 400 years; aided and abetted by liberal whites in the west. It was considered the height of morality for illiterate, murderous, violent blacks in South Africa to rule their own country.
But for whites to rule the West is considered evil.
Let's close the borders, force Mexico to take care of their own people. Tell them if illegals do not stop we will consider it an act of war. Let's deport all of the illegals and stop legal immigration for the next 40 years. I don't want anymore Hispanic politicians, they simply cheer for their own team.
Where is the WASP conservative unafraid to champion the rights of whites? What ever happened to conservative politicians who argued against affirmative action for blacks and the ridiculous inclusion of hispanics to the rolls of AA?
Our relatively peaceful country has been turned into a multicultural hell-hole.
gsrq| 4.13.11 @ 11:43AM
Good points Jillian. My only addition to your words is, not only in 1960 but as late as 1970, native born white Americans were almost 90% of the population.
Not black Americans have just about always constituted about 12% of the population. So what has caused the percentage of white Americans to dwindle?
High immigration.
Now we have mosques being built everywhere, Sharia Law being pushed, now our society is bi-lingual (Spanish is EVERYWHERE), and we have large numbers of foreigners (legal and illegal immigrants), scamming the system, cheating on identity theft, avoiding income taxes, and using our health and education systems while paying nothing or very little into the system.
It's time to lower ALL immigration, across the board.
Michael L. Hauschild| 4.13.11 @ 11:08AM
Why would we embrace anyone that wants to transform our way of life? If Hispanics do not believe in the tenants of the USA, our Constitution, or our culture, why would we need their vote to dilute our political policy? Americanized Hispanics do not seem to be any more cohesive as a group than are the R's & D's you seem to classify as "white."
You are not going to change the illegal immigrant’s outlook that the “land of other people money” is best preserved by electing democrats; what you can do is send them back to Mexico so they cannot vote. That is the only viable means to alter this demographic.
Your implication that we can solve the illegal immigration issue by funding the RNC, some advocacy group or by sponsoring amnesty legislation as an alternative to enforcing the law is laughable.
gsrq| 4.13.11 @ 11:46AM
Good points. One way to look at things is this: We now have chronic high unemployment. What does that mean? We have too many people for the number of jobs needed/created.
Lower the population. Deport 20 million. There are surely more than 20 million illegal aliens. 20 million would be a good start. Mexico must learn to care for their own. Period.
NaturalBorn Texican| 4.13.11 @ 11:11AM
In my opinion, Reed's statement about how he could NOT understand why any Mexican American would vote for anyone other than a demoncrate is DEMEANING to all the fine, hardworking, upstanding, family oritented Americans of Spanish/Mexican heritage.
Reid is getting senile, and his unattractive and demeaning sterotypical prejudices are showing..............
Michael Tomlinson| 4.13.11 @ 12:49PM
Sadly, thanks to Sharron Angle and her demeaning of Hispanics and Asians (a lot of you look Asian) the moron Harry Reid is still in the Senate and majority leader.
gsrq| 4.13.11 @ 1:01PM
Latino reasoning:
To be against a huge, massive illegal immigration invasion is to be "anti Latino".
How convenient for the invaders! LoL!
Michael Tomlinson| 4.13.11 @ 1:48PM
Ma'am as for being anti-Latino if you aren't don't be so sensitive. Yout statements may give a false impression of your ideas on race and ethnicity.
Of course, I'm a WASP and can't speak for Latinos/Hispanics/Mexicans or illegals, but you do give the impression your beef is only with illegals from south of our border. What about the millions of illegals from Africa, the Middle East, China, Ireland (surprisingly a significant number) and other lands?
Michael Tomlinson| 4.13.11 @ 1:55PM
Ma'am my apologies I missed where you went after "foreigners" scamming the system. Good to see you understand the problem of illegal immigration goes beyond the Hispanic/Latino/Mexican population.
I'm for going after American citizens who do the same thing too. Why give them a break just because they were born here or their families came through Ellis Island. That doesn't give them the right to scam the system anymore than illegal Latinos.
gsrq| 4.13.11 @ 2:25PM
My opinion is that race/ethnicty to play some role in society. Culture matters and race/ethnicity is what makes up culture.
The USA was founded on limited govt. / individual liberty principles because is was mainly based on English and West European principles of an earlier time.
African, Asian, Arab/Muslim and North and South American "natives" (today's Mexicans) have quite a different view of life. They have a much more group oriented (statist) and less indivdual liberty based view they our heritage.
On Islamic immigration, I am wholeheartedly against it. Most muslims are quite fundamentalist and therefore unfit for life in an individual-based, small government (no longer), separation of church and state society such as ours. I view Islam as a mortal enemy of Western civilization. Has been for thousands of years; won't change anytime soon. They simply have a different worldview. Islam is a religion and a political ideology. It is totalitarian in nature.
Michael Tomlinson| 4.13.11 @ 11:44PM
Harry I agree on Highland games. Don't mind using the term Scots-American for myself, but really I'm just an American. From my reading on the subject (and it is limited) they're proud of their Russian heritage. Not a bad thing for any ethnic group.
Derek Leaberry| 4.13.11 @ 1:05PM
Sad to say that the usually wise Bill Murchison offers not only cultural and demographic revolution and the overthrow of the historic American nation, he supports the rewarding of millions of criminals. No thanks. Hispanics who are part of the historic nation are to be respected. This is their home. The twenty million and more Latin Americans who are here illegally must be rounded up and deported.
As for the cultural conservatism of Hispanics, that is usually trumped by the Hispanic fealty to the Welfare State.
Michael Tomlinson| 4.13.11 @ 1:35PM
How may illegals are there? During the Bush Presidency those who opposed "comprehensive immigration reform" touted the # 13 million. Now it is 20 million (despite some reports it is dropping thanks to Barack Obama's failed economic policy).
This is reminiscent of evolutionists who started with evolution being tens of thousands of years old to now its hundreds of millions of years old. A "fact" hard to prove, but one many put their faith in.
As for the Welfare State its biggest supporters are white women, blacks, Hispanics and a minority of white men. It is truly the "Rainbow Coalition," but its biggest proponents and defenders are white men and women as evidenced by the Democrat parties leadership.
wolflen| 4.13.11 @ 2:15PM
i read the comments "close the border" "deport them" with amusement...perhaps those that support these unrealistic ideas fail to note: mexico is being taken over by drug gangs..and the "gangs" are turning into "armies" and are recruting more soldiers every day-which is easy to do with a young unemployed/uneducated population...sending the illegal aliens back to mexico at this point would only give the armies more soldiers to recruit..
as tourism to mexico declines due to the growing violence in major attractions such as Acapulco and more and more US advisories tell americans to leave mexico-now
perhaps some don't see this as a direct threat to the US...but when the armies get enough soldiers and support of money, weapons and training from established terrorists groups...and decide to cross the border and take over some small town in texas or arizona...and the border patrol..even the national guard will be overwhelmed at stopping them...then what...remember that a poll taken of mexicans in mexico said...over 50% would leave to the US .... what would stop them now...a border fence??
gsrq| 4.13.11 @ 2:28PM
You are correct. That was a respected Gallup poll I think. Just a few years old. Over 50% of all Mexicans would leave to the USA if given a chance. Mexico is a large country. We can't accept them. Period.
The bigger question is: why is Mexico, with much oil, gold, silver, fertile farm lands and great coast lines, unable to create a decent economy for it's people? Decade after decade, century after century and they still can't?
Curious.
Michael Tomlinson| 4.13.11 @ 11:48PM
We agree on this Mexico needs to get its act together and take care of its own folks. Part of the problem the Mexican Revolution(s) always looked to the left for their raison detre. They need to get serious and crush the Narco Terrorists and end the current "uncivil war" in their country then embrace capitalism and free markets.
Based on Obama's plans for the US if they do this they'll be the dominant economy on our continent if they do.
Seek| 4.13.11 @ 3:13PM
There are few illusions in American politics more enduring than that which holds Hispanics to be "natural conservatives." Bill Murchison, to my regret, is captive to it. He argues, in effect, that Latinos would vote conservative if only we Gringo conservatives "reached out" to them. Well, Old Hoss, we have been reaching out -- pandering, actually -- and for a good 40 years. It's been to no avail. Hispanics as a whole always vote their interests, those of national and linguistic identity. If the GOP gives in (Bush gave us a push), we will be laying the infrastructure for a Canadian- or Belgian-style binationalism that, at best, is barely workable and at worst utterly destructive.
The open borders enthusiast responds that family values don't stop at the Rio Grande. This Bushism is meaningless, sentimental piffle. The truth is family values don't stop anywhere. The point is Hispanic conservatism -- to the extent it even qualifies as conservatism -- is very different from ours. Its cherished symbols and goals are radically different. With sufficient critical mass, Latinos will radically redefine our nation, permanently and not for the better.
"Strength through diversity" is a myth. No amnesty!!
gsrq| 4.13.11 @ 3:39PM
Well put. For those of you still unconvinced by Seek's views, (see California) and what unrestricted, mass "migration" has done to a once great, powerful, state.
CA native, mexican| 4.13.11 @ 9:11PM
CA had about $2 trillion in gross state product for 2010. NO other states in America pull that off. Budget crises? We have them all the time so relax.
Once great state? Still great making 13% of the total US GDP of $15 trillion. You can talk moral hazard all you want - CA takes the cake, dollars, dollars, and more dollars.
Everyone here talks about the lying, cheating, illegal driving, etc. Mexican immigrant as a threat - but your REAL threat is the Mexican that is born here, gets a UC education, makes six figures, and buys property - not to mention giving the native anglo female americans something they don't get from their male american counterpart: passion that doesn't stem from grumpiness.
Immigration is a symptom of a wealthy nation and our legislators know it. The real way to stem immigration, is to have biometric social security cards - in the age of the iPhone and iPad we can't even do that? Yes, we can but we won't...because immigration is a symptom of a wealthy nation.
btim| 4.14.11 @ 6:33AM
Are you on crack cocaine? LoL Spoken like a clueless fool.
seanv| 4.14.11 @ 7:07AM
California is nothing but an appendage of corrupt Meh-hee-co. Anyone of any education and wealth is leaving Mexifornia in droves.
The state is now filled with 8th grade educated Mestizo peasants. It is sad.
CA native, mexican| 4.14.11 @ 8:40PM
not me. i got the uc education in economics, six figures, and many anglo nurses (girlfriends) - i fully intend and will marry an anglo female, because i want to mix our races so there is racial deconstruction. let me tell you, with credentials like mine - i am a hot commodity. not to mention i do some serious grilling.
hold on to your daughters but don't tell them what to do, they'll rebel and end up in my arms somehow.
i'm your real threat - not the guy who cuts your lawn.
CA native, mexican| 4.14.11 @ 8:34PM
i like coke, but not crack cocaine.
anyway - dude, $2 trillion gross state product. it's verifiable. no other state comes close - so when you "all" try to act like CA should be like your home state - forget it - i will point to our wallet every time. $2 trillion gross state product - what it do.
simon templar| 4.13.11 @ 7:29PM
Please remember that a large percentage of the legal hispanic and mexican population in Arizona actually supported recent laws passed there to restrain illegal immigration. This group resents these illegals and understands that they are a drain and a threat to the Republic. They need to be encouraged and invited into leadership positions within the GOP. This will break the Prog lies that conservatives are racist and change the debate once and for all when hispanic americans are on national TV speaking out against amnesty and open borders.
Michael Tomlinson| 4.13.11 @ 11:55PM
Simon I think this is what Murchison was trying to say. Conservatives who want to seal the borders and deal with illegals in the country (deportation or work visas) need to change their tone. Like it or not many of them sound as rude as the MoveOn.org and SEIU Democrats.
Framed properly and with civility we'll win the debate as well as elections. Hispanics understand the need to get control of our borders and create an equitable system that upholds our laws and economy. Arizona is proof of that.
smokedaddy| 4.15.11 @ 1:44PM
Well stated Michael. Why is it so hard for our peeps to show just a little respect & understanding when making our case for enforcement. I mean, you can disaprove of the homeless guy breaking the loitering or public drukenness laws without labeling him a "criminal". Why not the same for illegals who are otherwise earning an honest paycheck by working for a living. I listen to some of the talkradio, like John & Ken here in So Cal and it is truly embarrassing. The average immigrant is not going to want to listen to anyone who surrounds their arguments with putdowns, insults, or other denigrating comments. A shame, since as Murchison points out, there's lots of room for agreement and at least civil conversation. There's no need for anyone to compromise on their position, even if it involves mass deportation, so long as a civil, respectful tone is used.
Seek| 4.15.11 @ 1:25PM
Let the Left call us "racist." So what? Are we about principle or p.r.? If we police our own ranks, scrubbing them of the taint of Vdare and other realists, we effectively will do the egalitarian's dirty work anyway. Some of the "restrictionist" Hispanics, by the way, aren't nearly as much in the realist-patriot camp as you might imagine.
Nite| 4.13.11 @ 9:45PM
The color of a persons skin or their nationality has no bearing on who I consider in an election. I only consider their personal convictions and principals and that they are conservative. I will vote for the candidate that I consider the best qualified. However, I will never vote for a liberal progressive for any position even dog catcher.
Michael Tomlinson| 4.13.11 @ 11:49PM
Amen!
PCPSmoker| 4.14.11 @ 6:47AM
What a long and worthless article. "we need to reach out, we need to not talk about the 14th amendment, we need to imitate Jeb Bush".
How about assimilation, securing the border, teaching English, emphasizing individual liberty, and treating latinos as Americans vice a special group?
Or we can just re-invent the wheel with regards to immigration.
seanv| 4.14.11 @ 7:10AM
If we listen to Latinos and Mexico in particular, they will come to the US by the figure of another 50 million. They will get here and then sing songs of how the love and miss their homeland. Why the hell did you leave in the first place?
Could it be because Latino culture is say we say, a bit "tribal" and primitive? They've accomplished so much over the centuries, haven't they?
The taco.
Seek| 4.14.11 @ 2:28PM
There's also the burrito and fajitas.
PCP Smoker| 4.14.11 @ 7:23PM
That's a bit racist on your part. It's not about the immigrant. The real enemy is liberalism.
ca, native| 4.15.11 @ 12:31AM
dont forget, we also impregnate your daughters. racial deconstruction is in effect.
Seek| 4.15.11 @ 1:28PM
Though I am conservative, I feel safer around white American liberals than around Amerindian Mexican "conservatives." In the end, race and nationality trump ideology.
ca, native| 4.15.11 @ 12:33AM
oh and, if we don't impregnte them - we leave it in anyway. because that's what we do.
jlrlee| 4.14.11 @ 11:43AM
Being a white conservative in Texas with a lot of rental property has allowed me to get to know a lot of Hispanics. I have no doubt that as time goes by, Hispanics will move up the economic ladder, own homes, become entrepreneurs, and many of them will recognize the fallacy of socialists tendencies of the democratic party and will vote with the republicans, assuming the republicans continue to move toward supporting freedom and liberty for all individuals. If the republicans don't begin to stand fast for freedom without bending to the democrat party onslaught via the main stream media, the country is lost, because the democrats support only the nanny state, not individual freedom. The nanny state will stifle the Hispanic individual economic advancement, just as it has stifled other minorities in the last 50 years.
GBArg| 4.15.11 @ 9:21AM
This article is written in fine writing style, IMHO.
I'd pass it on except it takes too much effort to ease out the good points, of which there are many.
Please read some Rudolf Fleisch sometime. Most people don't have the time to luxuriate in the perspicacious pecadillos of pretty palabras.
Alan Brooks| 4.17.11 @ 3:01AM
"Yes, Senator Reid, there are many of them, and the right will be a fool if it fails to take advantage of their availability."
"take advantage?" Murchison,
your two words above belie your first paragraph concerning cynicism and self serving-ism.
Creative Recreation | 8.10.11 @ 10:23PM
is good