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December 10, 2012
One Reason Why Hispanics Vote Democrat
There are many reasons, but one of them is that the
anti-immigrant movement, which is pandered to by the GOP, is largely in
agreement with this latest screed by Ann Coulter.
Coulter repeats all the usual talking points used by conservatives as
part of their imperishable faith in the idea that if they'll start
winning elections once they can get a few more white (i.e., WASP) males
voting Republican.
Coulter's position is that Hispanics are all lazy moochers who vote Obama because they hate freedom and love welfare. She repeats a lot of "data" that have become articles of religious faith among anti-immigrant types. All those stereotypes about Hispanics being decent people are wrong, Coulter tells us, they're actually a bunch of awful, awful, people. Coulter goes on:
Those of us who are actually related to Hispanics know the real story. Hispanics are barefoot and pregnant leeches who hate freedom and they contrast so greatly with the industrious WASPs in our midst. Or so say Murray and Coulter.
(We could also note that Coulter's conclusions assume that all Hispanics are either immigrants or recent immigrants. This assumption has no basis in reality. Here in the West, many Hispanics are descended from people who came to what is now the United States 400 years ago. But for the sake of argument, let's just assume that this conflating of immigrants and all Hispanics is workable.)
Coulter's column contains nothing new, and is just a rehashing of talking points from hundreds of conservative books and columns written over the last 20 years.
So why would a Hispanic not rush to vote for the GOP? It must be because they're idle socialists. And who wouldn't want to go to meeting of conservatives and hear all about how the wetbacks are ruining this country?
The policy response on the part of the anti-immigration movement, not surprisingly, is to embrace big government. They advocate for fences and more border control agents and regulations on private business and instructing police to spy on people and demand their papers. That's the "pro-freedom" position, apparently. And in the mind of those opponents of immigration, the Hispanics who vote for the party that they perceive as being more likely to leave them alone, are, amazingly, the "anti-freedom" group. This is the logic of the anti-immigrant mind.
The conservative anti-immigrant position is simply a part of the larger conservative program: more government power, more nationalism, more police, and more control, while being sure to pay some lip service to "freedom" while supporting the latest authoritarian form of prohibitionism.
Prohibition of certain drugs and prohibition of certain people go hand-in-hand philosophically. The same sort of mind that sees nothing wrong with government declaring some kinds of plants to be "government-approved" while some other plants are not approved, is the same sort of mind that can accept that idea that some people should be government-approved while other people are not government-approved and thus verboten. Indeed, some anti-immigrationists are so misguided, that they are in favor of punishing small business people who hire non-government-approved labor, and are even in favor of punishing landlords who rent apartments to non-government-approved people:
Obviously a post like this won't silence Rockwell's critics from the left and right but it shows how the charges of racism against him are a pretty weak argument.
Coulter's position is that Hispanics are all lazy moochers who vote Obama because they hate freedom and love welfare. She repeats a lot of "data" that have become articles of religious faith among anti-immigrant types. All those stereotypes about Hispanics being decent people are wrong, Coulter tells us, they're actually a bunch of awful, awful, people. Coulter goes on:
It seems otherwise, Murray says, because the only Hispanics we see are the ones who are working — in our homes, neighborhoods and businesses. "That's the way that almost all Anglos in the political chattering class come in contact with Latinos," he notes. "Of course they look like model Americans."Murray's talking about himself and Coulter of course. Rich Anglos have Hispanic servants, you see, and they all look so civilized in those maid and landscaper uniforms.
Those of us who are actually related to Hispanics know the real story. Hispanics are barefoot and pregnant leeches who hate freedom and they contrast so greatly with the industrious WASPs in our midst. Or so say Murray and Coulter.
(We could also note that Coulter's conclusions assume that all Hispanics are either immigrants or recent immigrants. This assumption has no basis in reality. Here in the West, many Hispanics are descended from people who came to what is now the United States 400 years ago. But for the sake of argument, let's just assume that this conflating of immigrants and all Hispanics is workable.)
Coulter's column contains nothing new, and is just a rehashing of talking points from hundreds of conservative books and columns written over the last 20 years.
So why would a Hispanic not rush to vote for the GOP? It must be because they're idle socialists. And who wouldn't want to go to meeting of conservatives and hear all about how the wetbacks are ruining this country?
The policy response on the part of the anti-immigration movement, not surprisingly, is to embrace big government. They advocate for fences and more border control agents and regulations on private business and instructing police to spy on people and demand their papers. That's the "pro-freedom" position, apparently. And in the mind of those opponents of immigration, the Hispanics who vote for the party that they perceive as being more likely to leave them alone, are, amazingly, the "anti-freedom" group. This is the logic of the anti-immigrant mind.
The conservative anti-immigrant position is simply a part of the larger conservative program: more government power, more nationalism, more police, and more control, while being sure to pay some lip service to "freedom" while supporting the latest authoritarian form of prohibitionism.
Prohibition of certain drugs and prohibition of certain people go hand-in-hand philosophically. The same sort of mind that sees nothing wrong with government declaring some kinds of plants to be "government-approved" while some other plants are not approved, is the same sort of mind that can accept that idea that some people should be government-approved while other people are not government-approved and thus verboten. Indeed, some anti-immigrationists are so misguided, that they are in favor of punishing small business people who hire non-government-approved labor, and are even in favor of punishing landlords who rent apartments to non-government-approved people:
The 69-year-old landlord was arrested and charged with dozens of crimes, including harboring fugitives and conspiracy — because his property manager rented to illegals. Although acquitted by a jury, he could have spent the rest of his life in prison, and been forced to forfeit the 60 or so units he owned jointly with his son to the State of Kentucky.The fact that people who support this war on private enterprise in the name of driving immigrants out of the country, are then also able to convince themselves that their knee-jerk police statism is pro-liberty, is impressive to say the least."
Obviously a post like this won't silence Rockwell's critics from the left and right but it shows how the charges of racism against him are a pretty weak argument.
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