A Problem in the Democratic Coalition
Without a large Hispanic vote, Democrats don’t have a chance of winning the White House - just won’t win the required 270 electoral votes unless there’s a good turn out, and a strong majority of that turn out voting Democrat. So, Democrats will make stroking Hispanic voters a prime focus of their fall effort…but there are some rather strong differences between a lot of Hispanics and some core Democratic principles:
Washington DC, Feb 14, 2008 (CNA).- Key Latino leaders will rally at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Denver later this year in support of a national marriage amendment and marriage-friendly policy.
The event, organized by the Alliance for Marriage, will take place near the Colorado Convention Center where the DNC will hold its meeting. The Alliance for Marriage will also conduct a public relations campaign, including paid advertisements, to publicize the issue and the event.
Organizers claim that the Colorado political landscape has been transformed from “the very heart of America’s pro-marriage and pro-family movement” into a “home front for radical activists.” As an example of this upheaval the Latino leaders singled out Colorado billionaire and former software magnate Tim Gill, who has funded homosexual activist causes.
The Alliance for Marriage plans to mobilize the Hispanic vote to bring about renewal “within both national political parties, but especially the Democrat party”. Citing the influence of millionaire activists, the organizers see Latino support for the family as the “only chance of pushing back the forces of Gill and others.”
“For far too long the votes of Latinos have been taken for granted,” said Rev. Sam Rodriguez, Jr., President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference and Advisory Board Member of the Alliance for Marriage Foundation. “As our numbers grow, our influence is growing, and it is time for leaders of both parties to put protecting marriage and strong family values at the center of their agenda. Candidates like to tout ‘family values’ on the stump, but then toss our values aside when they get to Washington. We’re not going to tolerate that any more.”
Now, truth be told, in the immigration/border security issue there is a large opening for Democrats to move in and scoop up a high percentage of Latino voters - but in John McCain, the GOP has at least a partial antidote to that. Meanwhile, the Democrats also have a lot of appeal in areas of social spending for Hispanics as a lot of them are immigrants or first or second generation Americans who tend to be poorer than the American average and thus willing to lend an ear (and a vote) to those who pledge large sums to improve the day to day lives of the less wealthy. There’s not much the GOP can do about that - we’re not about to out-pander the Democrats on social spending, and we’ll just have to make the very correct argument that while social spending can be useful, it can also be destructive to family - and Latinos tend to have very strong families; much stronger than the American average. Family is important, and Hispanic voters are concerned about threats to this very important thing.
The problem for Democrats will be how to try and square this circle - especially in the face of a GOP which will easily and naturally assure Hispanic voters that we hear their concerns for family loud and clear and we are determined to keep marriage as an institution between one man and one woman. Democrats don’t dare do this, as it would splinter various parts of their coalition - so, they will try to weave and dodge. But I don’t think they’ll be able to do it - eventually, they’ll have to come out and say what they believe and there will lie the GOP’s opening to garner a large Hispanic vote.
An interesting election this will be, that is for sure.
40 comments February 17th, 2008
