Never let it be said that Tea Party people were not game for a challenge.
The American Thinker contributor Tara Servatius reported on a poll that shows Hispanic Americans are fans of Big Government:
What drives Hispanic voters is simple, and it was captured with shocking clarity by a Pew Hispanic Center poll in April.
A mind-blowing 75 percent of Hispanics tell Pew they want bigger government with more services. Contrast that with just 41 percent of the American public that says it wants bigger government with more services. (Some 45 percent of the general American population wants smaller government with fewer services. For Hispanics, it’s 19 percent.)
And while Servatius says that the affection for big government is cultural for Hispanics and persists for generations, Tea Party efforts are being made to change hearts and minds.
On the local front, Dawn Wildman of San Diego’s SoCal Tax Revolt Coalition reports that a Spanish conservative radio show is in the works, which our area Tea Parties will promote. Other groups, like the San Antonio Tea Party, have specific Hispanic Outreach efforts and events that will continue into the 2014 election.
The national organization, Tea Party Express, is looking to do a bus tour to connect with Hispanic Americans across the country:
Officials with the Tea Party Express, the nation’s largest Tea Party political action committee, have been discussing their own Latino outreach, said Sal Russo, the group’s co-founder.
“We’ve been trying to do a bus tour that would focus on communities that we don’t normally talk to,” Russo said
Outreach efforts are not limited to conservative citizen activists, either. The House Republican Conference recently launched a Spanish-language Twitter account, @gopespanol. And a group of Republican “heavyweights”, including former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, recently met in Miami to work on bringing more Hispanics into the Republican Party for next year’s elections.
Andrew Price at Commentarama offers a warning to the GOP about identity politics in a piece entitled “Hispanic Outreach Done Right.”
A real Hispanic outreach program would treat Hispanics like any other voters. Republicans wouldn’t try to appeal to them on “Hispanic issues” but would instead try to appeal to Hispanics who happened to find particular issues of interest. For example, Republicans would try to attract Hispanic parents by improving the schools their children attend. Or they would try to attract Hispanic businessmen by making conditions better for small businessmen. Etc. The idea is to appeal to different groups of Hispanics on the issues that matter to them as individuals rather than trying to appeal to “Hispanics” as a group.
In part, Price has it right. But the campaign must be based more than just on specific issues. In light of the Pew poll numbers, a cornerstone of outreach efforts must be a clear explanation of the joys limited government, free markets, personal responsibility, and individual liberty.
If we conservative activists meet this challenge, it will be a win for all Americans.
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Comments
As Romney proved, it’s really hard for self-dignity, a job, independence, freedom, integrity, etc., etc. to compete against FREE STUFF, Julia-style dependence on the BIG GOVERNMENT NANNY, and OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY.
Muy bien. Buen comienzo.
Jeb Bush is considered a “Heavyweight”? I thought the only Republican heavyweight was the Governor of New Jersey. If the LBJ wanna-be is doing outreach, I’m already worried.
I will simply note that I did put the term “heavyweight” in quotes. 😉
What about Asian outreach? Asian culture values hard work, education, cohesive families,… I was astonished that Asian-American voters broke for Obama as strongly as Hispanics did.
This is not to criticize Hispanic outreach. I wish those efforts well.
I don’t trust Pew polls, and I don’t believe that “75% of Hispanics want bigger government”. I want to see the internals. Were these city Hispanics or country Hispanics? There’s a big difference in attitudes. The Mexicans I used to work with in the construction industry were all self-reliant, reliable, and hard working. I propose that this Pew “poll” is designed simply to push republicans into adopting amnesty.
[…] It won’t be enough to have “Hispanic outreach” without appearing to defend Latinos with frequent and loud shouts of “RACISM!”. Ted Cruz appears to understand and has moved to action: […]
A few years ago, I attended a “school choice” seminar in San Antonio. I was surprised by the number of Hispanics that attended. To a person, they all wanted to be able to send their kids to the school of their choice, but…….
they wanted the taxpayers to pay for it.
I have warned many that there can be no group appeal to Hispanics for the GOP for one main reason; Pan Americanism. Hispanics, for the most part, will always support larger government because that is what they know and what they have learned from their ancestors. There is not one Hispanic nation, especially Mexico, that doesn’t have a caste system. Since most of the Hispanics that migrate to the U.S. are Mexican, they bring that learned philosophy with them, and since many of them are dark skinned due to Indian blood, they bring their fear of light skinned folks with them because it is the light skinned Mexicans that rule that nation and, according to them, are oppressive.
A few years ago, I attended a “school choice” seminar in San Antonio. I was surprised by the number of Hispanics that attended. To a person, they all wanted to be able to send their kids to the school of their choice, but…….
they wanted the taxpayers to pay for it.
I have warned many that there can be no group appeal to Hispanics for the GOP for one main reason; Pan Americanism. Hispanics, for the most part, will always support larger government because that is what they know and what they have learned from their ancestors. There is not one Hispanic nation, especially Mexico, that doesn’t have a caste system. Since most of the Hispanics that migrate to the U.S. are Mexican, they bring that learned philosophy with them, and since many of them are dark skinned due to Indian blood, they bring their fear of light skinned folks with them because it is the light skinned Mexicans that rule that nation and, according to them, are oppressive.
Oooops, wasn’t finished………….
On top of having a Pan American political philosophy, and a distrust of light skinned people, they are not quick to assimilate. Cubans don’t live in Mexican neighborhoods, Guatamalans don’t hang out with Hondurans, and Columbians distrust everyone.
Pew Hispanic Center did a survey just slightly over a year ago. It asked what priorities were to Hispanics. According to our rocket scientists in D.C. it is amnesty. Not true, according to Pew. J-O-B-S and education took top billing while immigration issues came in dead last. Just recently, Pew did a survey and found that of the Mexicans eligible for citizenship in the U.S., only 36% had applied. The reason? Language. Hispanics are reluctant to learn English. They view it (or at least some do) as turning their back on their native culture.
Now, my own state is an abnomality. Since Mexican traditions have been part of our culture from the very beginning, and there are Tejanos who can trace their family heritage in Texas to back before 1836, they tend to have kids that are completely assimilated. But these are not the newly minted residents of Mississippi, Georgia, Missouri or any state not on the southern border.
It is a mistake to assume that Hispanics can be lumped into previous immigration groups like the Irish, Germans and Italians. There is no common cultural ground for them with anyone else.
The only way that the GOP will appeal to Hispanics is one at a time. The man who wants to start a business but can’t because of over regulation; the woman who wants to send her kids to a Christian school; the young adult who is attending college and wants to be successful. One at a time.
If the GOP wants to do that, then they need to forget Jeb Bush (who will only pander and will be seen through) and recruite people like Henry Bonilla, and some of the Texas Republican Congressmen who are also Hispanic. They need Hispanics, Republican Hispanics, who grew up in the barrio and learned that poverty doesn’t have to be a permanent condition.
Sorry for the double post above.
Good triple post, R05, 🙂 with good points. They ring very true. Even though I, too, like snopercod don’t trust Pew, their interpretation of the numbers on this isn’t surprising.
One aspect needs to be mentioned, though, concerning Hispanic’s tendency to cluster. Much of that can be laid to financial pressure, IMO. My city is over 50%, but as soon as they can afford to move from the recognized H section of town, they do.
You cannot appeal to people who pay little or no taxes with tax breaks.
You cannot appeal to people who are getting free goods and services by promising to cut them.
It was foolhardy of Romney to say it before a large group, but he spoke the absolute truth that about 47% of the people are net consumers of government and will never vote for anyone who wants to cut anything.
The new Democratic coalition is defying what we’ve predicted since Reagan: that sooner or later the Democratic special interest groups would be in conflict as resources became more limited and they were competing for fewer government dollars. Under Obama they have banded together to declare, “No cuts for anybody! No cuts at all! – A little printin’ music please, Mr. Bernanke!”
You can’t compete with that big never-ending block party with a chart and a graph.
You can compete when the world leaves the dollar behind and the fedzilla become Zimbabwe. When we can’t buy anything anymore because our dollar is worthless, I hope it occurs under democrat rule, because they will be out for a generation. See Herbert Hoover.
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