Latinos are just Americans now
“Latinos think they’re white,” bemoaned a liberal commentator trying to explain November’s election. He’s wrong, of course, but only missed the truth by a hair: Latinos think they’re Americans.
Democrats are having a hard time explaining the “Latino vote” this year. That’s because it doesn’t exist. Most came into this country poor, uneducated and speaking Spanish. And over the generations, they’ve become regular Americans in every sense of the word.
The Census Bureau says there are over 65 million Hispanics living in the U.S. That’s 19% of the population, and the overwhelming majority were born here. They're not visitors or temporary residents – they're our neighbors, coworkers, and fellow Americans.
The stereotype of Latinos as Mexican berry pickers is laughably outdated. Latino business ownership has exploded, surging 40% in recent years – the fastest growth rate in three decades. U.S.-born Latino median household income hit $62,000 in 2021, showing remarkable progress from where their parents started.
They're running businesses, leading companies, and shaping American culture. Many are educated middle-class professionals who came from places like Venezuela, Colombia, and Brazil – fleeing not persecution, but bad economic policies.
Yet the left seems stuck in a time warp, treating Latinos as if they're still newly arrived immigrants who need government protection from racist gringos. They appear genuinely shocked when Hispanics don't automatically check the "D" box on their ballots, and are apoplectic that nearly half of the country's Latinos voted for Trump.
Here's what the political panderers don’t get: When you build your life in America through hard work, you tend to believe in American values.
That shouldn't surprise anyone who understands basic human nature – people who achieve success through free markets typically want to protect those opportunities, not destroy them. Come to think of it, when's the last time you’ve seen Latinos burn down their neighborhoods in protest of a racist cop?
Like any large group, they face challenges. When you look at most economic statistics, they sometimes lag behind the national average. But their upward mobility is strong and consistent – each generation doing better than the last, just like every other immigrant group in American history.
We've heard a lot about the migrants who are coming to America illegally, and we'll soon have an administration take that issue seriously. It shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone that allowing an unlimited number of unknown people to flood across our border would create massive problems.
But that's a separate issue from the tens of millions of Latino Americans who are already here, building businesses, raising families, and living the American dream. They've become integrated into American society just as thoroughly as Italians, Irish or any other group that came here.
The political class needs to wake up to this reality. Treating Latinos as a monolithic voting bloc made sense when most were recent immigrants facing similar challenges. But today? They're as diverse in their views as any other Americans.
Some are conservative Catholics worried about traditional values. Others are progressive urbanites focused on climate change. Many are small business owners concerned about taxes and regulations. And yes, some support expanded government services.
In other words, they're regular Americans. The only people who don't seem to understand this are politicians and pundits still stuck in the 1980s.
– Ken
Well stated Ken! I assume the 65 million Latinos does not include any illegals, with estimates of an additional 20-30 million illegals living here - illegally! REALLY looking forward to the mass deportation process coming up as I'm sure most Americans are.
It is way past time that we stop pandering to new immigrants. Working as a poll worker for the election we saw people come in with valid driver's licenses who couldn't speak any English. The ballots were printed only in English, fortunately, so of course they had no idea who they were "voting" for. Until fairly recently, immigrants who didn't speak English were embarrassed about that fact and did everything possible to learn our language. Here in Nashville our schools are dealing with several dozen languages which is nuts. While some accommodation is certainly appropriate, a huge part of becoming an American is speaking the language.
In 1985 my wife decided to close her antique shop which left us with a small building in a transitional block in an older part of Dallas. I put up a for FSBO sign hoping to avoid realtor fees.
A Latino man in his 30s approached me to lease the building with an option to buy. We worked a deal and he opened a used tire shop. Every month he stopped at my house, cash in hand to pay. If he was a day late he had called ahead to tell me. Twice each month he drove his rickety truck to Mexico taking old tires there, returning with questionable retreads to sell. His hand painted sign on the building only read “Llantas Usadas”. After three years he proudly informed me he had somehow obtained financing, had the down payment ($11k). I went to the closing at a title agent.
The ladies asked if he had a certified check. He shook his head but quickly produced a wad of cash: $11,000 for me and some amount for the title company.
His history was: 8 years earlier he had come to Texas, speaking no English and worked odd jobs eventually buying a cart selling cut up fruit cups on street corners. Five years later he had saved enough to rent my building selling used and retread tires. It was only then he moved his wife and children north.
I never knew, nor asked, about his immigration status. The last I saw him in 1990 he had closed the tire shop, sold the building and was opening another business in another part of the city. All I know is I’m certain he’s done well. I took some risk selling to him but far less risk than he had taken. Legal or not, by the book or not, he was living the American Dream. Why on earth would we ever imagine he would vote Democrat?