Latino Vote and the Future

By Felix Alvarado, Editor

October 12, 2014

Obama Courted the Hispanic Vote and was elected president on the strength of the Latino vote.  We all know that he is African-American and a Democrat.  He also has deported more Latinos than all the other ex-presidents combined.  And each month he breaks his own deportation record.  If Latinos have lost confidence in African-American leaders and Democrats this must be the reason.  You would expect Republicans to pounce at this opportunity to finish off the Democratic Party once and forever.  Kind of.  There is a Republican running for state representative in Arlington that wants to stop the illegal immigration problem by invading Mexico.  Don’t know yet if he is trying to replicate Theodore Roosevelt and the Rough Riders.  The current candidate for Lieutenant Governor wants to “secure” the border by sending the National Guard and whatever.  And to endear themselves even more to Latinos, Obama, Democrats and Republicans excluded undocumented immigrants, mostly Latino, from Obama Care.  The effect on families is devastating.  There is an undocumented lady that was diagnosed with breast cancer.  She cannot get treatment here because of her immigration status.  She is married has a son born here and one raised here.  To get the lifesaving medical attention she needs she must “self deport” to Mexico and leave her family behind.  Of course she will never be able to return to the US unless Congress and the administration change the immigration laws.  Her departure would have a divide a wonderful family.  Without being cynical, “Why should Latinos vote for either party?” 

Perhaps some of us believe that platitudes and tokenism are power.  They are not.  Praising the contribution of Latinos to the American Way of Life does not equate to power of any type.  We will never be taken seriously as a constituency until we vote in the same numbers as the general population.  To have power means that the number of elected political officials will be the same as our percentage of the population.  It means that we will have equal representation in our public institutions.  Power comes at the ballot box.  At the moment we are not perceived as a political threat because of our low voter turnout.  Our threat is a future threat when Latino children turn 18 and can vote.  That is the group that is being courted.  The Democratic Party believe that this group will vote Democrat.  The Republican Party is trying to prevent that.  This constituency may well determine the direction of Texas politics in a few years.  They are well worth courting.