I find it reassuring, if not always sincere, whenever a Republican political person does something that is meant to reach out to the fast-growing portion of our so
ciety with ethnic origins in a Latin American nation (or Spain, itself).
Because to me, that means somebody is accepting reality. If anything, I wish there were more Republicans who were willing to openly talk about the significance of the Latino population to our nation in the 21st Century.
THE PROBLEM WITH contemporary electoral politics is that there are too many Republican politicians who are willing to kow-tow to that portion of our society whose nativism overwhelms their common sense. That is what causes the GOP these days to so strongly think that the local political people in Arizona have a clue as to what they are doing with regard to immigration laws.
It also is what inspires them to think they can pass measures with regards to citizenship (which is an accident of birth, nothing else) that go against the letter of the law of the U.S. Constitution.
In light of that, what should we make of Carly Fiorina – the former Hewlett-Packard Co. CEO who now is running as a Republican for the U.S. Senate seat from California. During her primary campaign, she adopted much of the ridiculous rhetoric being spewed these days on immigration, and even now says her idea of immigration reform starts with putting more law enforcement-types along the U.S./Mexico border.
But she’s also trying to make her gestures of support, trying to show she’s not completely unsympathetic to the interests of the Latino population (which in her home state that was once a state in Mexico comprises about one-third of the electorate).
OF COURSE, SHE’S going after the segment of the population that is a little more computer-literate. She’s giving us a new website, en Español, to be called Amigos de Carly (at www.amigosdefiorina.com, to be exact, as opposed to http://carlyforca.com/ in English).
It gives us her background and a few basic stances on various issues, along with a Spanish-language translation of her “blog,” which in all honesty reads more like a collection of press releases than any compilation of her personal thoughts.
Like I wrote earlier, it is nice to see a gesture from Fiorina that admits we exist. I just don’t know how much stunts like this are going to accomplish.
Because I could easily see this being a site that sways huge numbers of Latinos over to her side. It’s not so much that Latinos think all that highly of Barbara Boxer. It’s more that many of us are going to look at the people that Fiorina will be associated with as she tries to turn herself from a one-time business executive into a politician.
WE’RE GOING TO see some individuals who leave us shocked and appalled. It won’t matter how many fluffy, friendly statements she puts out in Spanish so that those of us who struggle with the English language can understand them.
This could be a case where the only Latinos who wind up coming on board are those among our ranks who are eager to differentiate themselves from the masses. I’m not saying “self-hating,” but I couldn’t help but notice an Associated Press report about Fiorina that quoted former Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez as saying the new Arizona law will have local police harassing “gardeners and parking lot attendants” instead of drug dealers.
The kind of Latinos who will be won over by such efforts will be those who want to claim they’re not some lowly gardener or parking lot attendant, failing to realize that we’re all tied in together and those of us who have been more fortunate in life can easily be brought down by the actions of those political people who don’t want to have to distinguish between people and want to lump all Latinos into one undesirable group.
Those people who want to behave in such a way toward Latinos are the problem in our society. Until Republican political types are willing to stand up to them (instead of catering to them for their votes), we’re going to have rising tensions.
CREATING A WEBSITE en Español to translate the same message spewed in English without taking into account the kinds of concerns the growing latino population has are wasting their time and money.
If anything, a Spanish-language website may be nothing more than the 21st Century equivalent of expecting Latinos to vote for you because you showed up at an ethnic rally, ate a mushy tamale and let yourself get photographed while wearing a sombrero.
I’d like to believe that Fiorina and other Republican political people are willing to include our interests, because many of us truly are Democrats by Default. I just haven’t seen the evidence yet.
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ciety with ethnic origins in a Latin American nation (or Spain, itself).Because to me, that means somebody is accepting reality. If anything, I wish there were more Republicans who were willing to openly talk about the significance of the Latino population to our nation in the 21st Century.
THE PROBLEM WITH contemporary electoral politics is that there are too many Republican politicians who are willing to kow-tow to that portion of our society whose nativism overwhelms their common sense. That is what causes the GOP these days to so strongly think that the local political people in Arizona have a clue as to what they are doing with regard to immigration laws.
It also is what inspires them to think they can pass measures with regards to citizenship (which is an accident of birth, nothing else) that go against the letter of the law of the U.S. Constitution.
In light of that, what should we make of Carly Fiorina – the former Hewlett-Packard Co. CEO who now is running as a Republican for the U.S. Senate seat from California. During her primary campaign, she adopted much of the ridiculous rhetoric being spewed these days on immigration, and even now says her idea of immigration reform starts with putting more law enforcement-types along the U.S./Mexico border.
But she’s also trying to make her gestures of support, trying to show she’s not completely unsympathetic to the interests of the Latino population (which in her home state that was once a state in Mexico comprises about one-third of the electorate).
OF COURSE, SHE’S going after the segment of the population that is a little more computer-literate. She’s giving us a new website, en Español, to be called Amigos de Carly (at www.amigosdefiorina.com, to be exact, as opposed to http://carlyforca.com/ in English).
It gives us her background and a few basic stances on various issues, along with a Spanish-language translation of her “blog,” which in all honesty reads more like a collection of press releases than any compilation of her personal thoughts.
Like I wrote earlier, it is nice to see a gesture from Fiorina that admits we exist. I just don’t know how much stunts like this are going to accomplish.
Because I could easily see this being a site that sways huge numbers of Latinos over to her side. It’s not so much that Latinos think all that highly of Barbara Boxer. It’s more that many of us are going to look at the people that Fiorina will be associated with as she tries to turn herself from a one-time business executive into a politician.
WE’RE GOING TO see some individuals who leave us shocked and appalled. It won’t matter how many fluffy, friendly statements she puts out in Spanish so that those of us who struggle with the English language can understand them.
This could be a case where the only Latinos who wind up coming on board are those among our ranks who are eager to differentiate themselves from the masses. I’m not saying “self-hating,” but I couldn’t help but notice an Associated Press report about Fiorina that quoted former Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez as saying the new Arizona law will have local police harassing “gardeners and parking lot attendants” instead of drug dealers.
The kind of Latinos who will be won over by such efforts will be those who want to claim they’re not some lowly gardener or parking lot attendant, failing to realize that we’re all tied in together and those of us who have been more fortunate in life can easily be brought down by the actions of those political people who don’t want to have to distinguish between people and want to lump all Latinos into one undesirable group.
Those people who want to behave in such a way toward Latinos are the problem in our society. Until Republican political types are willing to stand up to them (instead of catering to them for their votes), we’re going to have rising tensions.
CREATING A WEBSITE en Español to translate the same message spewed in English without taking into account the kinds of concerns the growing latino population has are wasting their time and money.
If anything, a Spanish-language website may be nothing more than the 21st Century equivalent of expecting Latinos to vote for you because you showed up at an ethnic rally, ate a mushy tamale and let yourself get photographed while wearing a sombrero.
I’d like to believe that Fiorina and other Republican political people are willing to include our interests, because many of us truly are Democrats by Default. I just haven’t seen the evidence yet.
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