5.29.2007

GOP Risks Losing Latino Voters

Political pundit Dick Morris writes here that Republicans should support immigration reform. Why?

Because, he says:
The hopes of the entire Latino community are pinned to immigration reform and, if the GOP is seen as blocking it, the consequences for the indefinite future will be horrific. The Republican Party will lose Hispanics as surely as they lost blacks when Barry Goldwater ran in 1964 against the civil rights bill (even though a higher percentage of Republicans than Democrats backed the bill in each house).

Morris is, of course, correct: What happens with immigration reform will go along way in deciding which is the political home of the country's growing Latino community. But I'm also beginning to think that regardless of the final fate of the current President Bush-backed reform plan, that a good number of the 44% of Latinos that voted for GWB in 2004 will not be voting for the GOP again.

Democrats aren't much better on immigration, the war and so many other issues of importance to Latinos. As Morris indicates, the Democrats want to protect their union buddies from Latino immigrant labor. Translation: Democrats give lip-service to the Latino cause, but push come to shove, they side with their own powerful interests. And the truth is that many Democrats--local politicians as well as rank and file party members--are decidedly anti-immigrant worker, too.

What's needed is for Latinos to vote based on our interests and not simply on party affiliation. Republican, Democrat, Green or Independent, we should make it our business to collect information on each candidate, examine their records and positions, and then vote only for those that support our issues.

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