Constructing Republicanos
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By Stephen A. Nuño.
Will the GOP reach out to Latinos in 2010 and 2012? In short, not likely, but here are a few suggestions if anyone is listening at GOP headquarters.
Institutional integration: Unlike the Democratic Party, Latinos as a percentage make up a disproportionately smaller group of leaders in the GOP than they do voters. The party needs to implement party policies with regard to recruitment and retention to change this.
Outreach: Reagan, Bush and McCain demonstrated in previous elections that if you “build it, they will come”. Latinos respond well to outreach efforts meant to earn their vote. This includes outreach efforts in the schools. There are very few Latino clubs centered on conservatism or capitalism. Programs need to be set up to help create these or assist other clubs to recruit Latinos into existing clubs.
Policies: Latinos desire programs that will help them navigate through the pitfalls of our modern economy. Programs in education, small business development, health care, and home loans present obstacles that can be traversed with assistance from the GOP. This is not to say that Latinos want handouts. Much of this has to do with demonstrating as much empathy for “Jose the Plumber” as the GOP does for Joe the Plumber. The great number of Latinos that work in construction and the service industry are a great source for capturing the entrepreneurial spirit.
Tonal: The GOP brand is very damaged in the eyes of Latinos largely because of the immigration debate. Latinos will support measures to secure the border (see Napolitano in Arizona) if they trust that the policy is more about security and economics than culture. Treating entrepreneurs who cross the dangerous desert seeking a better life as felons is disrespectful and does nothing to actually secure our borders. Mexican-Americans are as fed up with drug-warfare on the border and beyond as anyone. Focusing efforts on violent offenders and not lumping job seekers into this category of people would be a good start. There are ways to control the border without making it a death zone for people looking for work and creating control mechanisms that aren’t so punitive will actually make the border safer against terrorists by encouraging migrant workers to cooperate with those security measures. That the GOP doesn’t get this or refuses to is a good indicator that they are still willing to pander to xenophobia rather than good sense if means more votes.
Ideological: Hispanics are quite comfortable with conservative values, but they cannot be seen as a vehicle used for promoting cultural purity by the likes of Tom Tancredo and Pat Buchanan. Cloaking cultural purists in the language of preserving American values against Hispanics suggests that Latino values are incompatible with American values. Not only is this false, but it ignores history and the willful integration of past migrant groups into the mainstream. If the purists were so confident in American culture and not clouded by intolerance, the large flow of immigrants coming from the South would be seen as a grand opportunity, not an ominous sign of the apocalypse.
Educational: The GOP must demonstrate a willingness to understand the problems and issues that mean the most to Latinos and they must also work to integrate Latinos into the general American culture. For example, this does not mean enforcing or demanding English-only laws, but helping with night classes to help eager Latinos learn the language.
Existing Organizations: Latinos have a set of great organizations that need nurturing and assistance with helping Latinos improve their positions in life. Groups like NALEO, MALDEF, NCLR, etc. all work in various ways to help Latinos navigate American society. However, a greater effort to assist these groups and network with them will go a long way in creating the beginnings of a Republican society.
New organizations: The GOP needs a way to mine the talent out there for future leaders. This will require a long-term effort at cultivating talent from the colleges and business world. There needs to be greater recruitment of Latinos into businesses, the sciences, etc.
Think tanks: Think tanks like Heritage Foundation, Reason, Cato, etc. need to come up with ways to study the potential avenues of commonality that can be used to create connections between Latinos and conservatives – capitalists. This will require a great effort in seeking out talent within the Latino community and even abroad to Mexico and Latin America.
Political-Cultural: The GOP needs to realize that Cubans aren’t the only Latinos out there and that Cubans are not interchangeable with Latino groups in other parts of the country. Greater attention needs to be paid at the local context of the Latino community. Parachuting a Cuban into a Latino community in Los Angeles is unhelpful and works only to confirm that the GOP’s view of the Latino community is only superficial.
Implementing the above policies requires some reflection about the direction of the Party. Reagan and Bush ultimately believed that if they were going to have a successful national Party, the reality on the ground could not be ignored. Of the last one hundred million Americans to become citizens, either by birth or immigration, fifty percent are Latino. Latinos have higher birthrates than non-Hispanic whites. Latinos are younger, on average, that non-Hispanic whites. Latinos live longer or as long, as well, even with more limited access to health care resources. For now, the GOP seems to be on track to go with what they know, white males. This is fine so far as they can be successful doing so, but having such a narrow focus leaves little room for error. As the largely white baby boomers get older, their Medicare and social security benefits will depend more and more on the productivity of a growing Latino population. Focusing political, social and economic resources on Latinos is not only wise for the GOP, but also wise for the country.
Stephen A. Nuño, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Politics and International Affairs at Northern Arizona University. He can be reached at Stephen.Nuno@nau.edu
September 9, 2009
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Sounds like an effective and comprehensive prescription for a growing problem on the right. As whites become the minority in more and more states, Republicans will need to heed such advice if they want to take back the Congress in 2010 and the White House in 2012.