Sometimes what passes for political reporting from Washington swamps the senses. A report in one of the nation’s leading newspapers suggests that New Gingrich has built a network to make inroads into the HispanicLatino vote. Goodness. That is news. Gingrich does not have an organization in Iowa and cannot pull together a full slate of delegates for the caucuses to vote on, but, by gosh, he has a network within the HispanicLatino population. Yes, and peanuts turn into gold if you stare at them long enough. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Hispanic
Slow Down the Slowing Down
Decision-makers, especially those in business, should take a considered view of recent reporting on the slowdown of the growth of the HispanicLatino population. Changes in population by their very nature alter the composition of the marketplace, but the formation of new markets and a work force that is more HispanicLatino remains fairly on course.
Much is being made of the slowdown in the HispanicLatino birthrate since 2007. As the Great Recession took hold, it dampened the disposition of HispanicLatinos to add to their families. Coupled with the dramatic increases in deportation of individuals in the country illegally and increased border security to prevent their return, the lower birth rate is causing some observers to move quickly to ratchet down estimates of the size of the HispanicLatino population going forward.
Texas: Justices, Help Turn History Back
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and his fellow justices are being asked to stop redistricting maps in Texas drawn by three federal judges who voided the plan of the state Legislature. The three judges concluded state lawmakers purposefully diluted the strength of minority populations. The 2010 Census confirmed that minorities provided the vast majority of the state’s demographic growth since 2000. Scalia oversees appeals from Texas. The Court’s response could be instructive to other states.
A Different Kind of Tea Party
My tea this morning is perfect. As Premier of China and head of government and the State Council, I seldom get a bad cup of tea. The intra-party struggles have been resolved. We seem to be managing that burst of inflation that reared its head in the economy. Our balance of payments continues to grow spectacularly in our favor. Things are fine. We need to open up credit a bit more, but generally we are on our way. Why do I feel so odd, then?
Gingrich: The Newt Slaveholder
Newt Gingrich is at it again. He sat down for an interview yesterday with CNN and repeated the idea that most of the world ridiculed when he offered it at the most recent Republican presidential debate. The notion that local panels or juries would decide the fate of immigrants who are in the country illegally boggles the mind. But he is serious. He apparently believes that citizens other than hate-filled, blood-thirsty bigots would serve on the local boards.
Gingrich would have us believe, too, that such a system could be built. The mountains of files, the numbers of lawyers, the need to hire experts to verify piles of paper – the whole thing is an unworkable mess. Come to think of it already exists. It used to be called the INS.
However unseemly and unmanageable his idea, Gingrich presses on. His new system would never, ever grant citizenship or voting rights to the immigrant community – even after 25 years of lawful and productive existence.
You would think that someone from Georgia – especially someone who seeks to convince the public that he was paid $100 million to provide “historical perspective” to corporate interests after he left the Speakership – would know the definition of slavery.
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What Luck!
Newt Gingrich’s proposal for local citizen juries to decide which of the individuals illegally in the country gets to stay is of course nuts. Why even discuss it? The arguments against it are monumental. The idea is being laughed at across the board and it shows one of the reasons Gingrich would be an excellent choice for Republicans to nominate as their candidate for president – if they want to lose in a landslide.
Seeing Growth in Ourselves
In the midst of the economic recession and the failure of the super committee to begin fixing the federal budget, it is not surprising that households and businesses across the nation harbor doubt and perhaps a defeatist attitude about the future.
But HispanicLatino households of all sizes – and business owners in particular – might do well to consider a contrarian approach, a strategy that nets returns by going against the current grain. Contrarian thinking requires perceiving the future differently.
The Thankful Tortilla
So tomorrow the ubiquitous flour tortilla is all but ignored. For an entire year, day in and day out, it carries within its fragile walls our lowly bean, our stout potatoes, our lofty hopes. The tortilla tomorrow gives way for one day at least to dark and rich wheat rolls, buttery biscuits and melting loaves of white bread. Not a bad trade for a day of true thanksgiving.
But come Friday morning, the tortilla will again take on its burden and enfold our very sustenance within its hold. Yet it seems unfair, after so much toil and labor month after month, week after week, day after day, that it is relegated on the eve of our national thanksgiving to second chair on the operatic stage of family get-togethers.
Prelude to the Past: In Defense of Anglo Rights
What happens, asked then-Justice Sandra Day O’Connor when she served on the Supreme Court, to laws designed to defend minority rights when minorities become majorities? At issue was the Court’s Grutter v. Bollinger decision in 2003 on using some racial preferences in college admissions – a tool that would be unnecessary if we lived in a truly equal society.
Turning Back History
The long arc of the immigration story has gotten us here, literally. Yet on one hand, the demographic and economic forces which are structural in nature and in place have led to the assertion of immigration as a population change agent. Immigration, as it has always, is adding to the population of the country and changing it in the process.
On the other hand, the countervailing sentiment is also asserting itself, so that states like Arizona, Alabama, Georgia, Indiana and Texas are leading the equally natural anti-immigrant reaction.