 |
Winning The Hispanic Vote For A Generation |
 |
With the stroke of a pen, Lyndon Johnson secured the African-American vote. When he quipped that by signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 the Democrats “lost the South for a generation,” he also knew that he won the hearts and minds of black Americans.
Indeed, he was right. Starting in the 1960s, African Americans have been overwhelmingly Democratic. And while the idea of the Republican South shows signs of crumbling as Democrats like Jim Webb get elected, African Americans still support Democrats by a 2-1 margin. While Johnson may have lost the South for a generation, he may have won the black vote for a longer period of time.
Tactically, Johnson’s endorsement of the Civil Rights movement was genius. It allowed Democrats to simultaneously win a coveted voter block and reaffirm that the Democratic party was the party of the people, as JFK once proclaimed:
“The Rights of Man”–the civil and economic rights essential to the human dignity of all men–are indeed our goal and our first principles. This is a Platform on which I can run with enthusiasm and conviction.
Johnson strengthened the Democratic brand while winning a ton of votes. And Democrats have a chance to do the same thing now with the Hispanic vote.
Hispanics are the fastest growing minority group in America [pdf], with the number eligible voters increasing by about 13% every cycle. And they care about Democratic issues, ranking education, health care, the economy, and immigration among their top concerns. More importantly, Latinos are already anti-Republican, favoring Democrats 57% to 23% in terms of party affiliation, and agreeing that Democrats have more concern for Latino voters than Republicans and can be trusted to handle immigration better as well.
This should point Democratic strategists towards a new policy platform. If Democrats can accomplish comprehensive immigration reform that is fair to all, we can win the Hispanic vote for a generation. And we can do this without compromising our core values. In fact, comprehensive immigration reform goes right to the heart of what Democrats are supposed to stand for.
As Amy Traub at the Drum Major Institute points out, progressive immigration reform would be good for the middle class.
Since the American middle class relies on the economic contributions of immigrants both legal and undocumented, a pro-middle-class immigration policy must not include mass deportation or aim to shut down future immigration arbitrarily.
…
When immigrants lack rights in the workplace, labor standards are driven down and all working people have less opportunity to enter or remain part of the middle class. A pro-middle-class immigration policy must therefore guarantee immigrants full labor rights so that employers cannot use deportation as a coercive tool in the labor market.
By advocating for a legal path to citizenship, naturalizing those people already here, repealing or reworking free trade agreements, and building in labor rights for immigrants, the Democratic party can fulfill its core goals while proving to Hispanics once and for all that we are on their side.
Of course, the immigration problem is going to be a lot harder to solve than civil rights. The arguments against civil rights, even in the 1960s, were exceedingly weak, and the solution was simple: Give everyone equal rights. Immigration is a complex social and economic problem with many possible facets and solutions. That said, the solution to immigration, like civil rights, won’t please everyone. It may involve the same kind of trade-off LBJ faced. By enacting comprehensive immigration reform, Democrats may indeed lose a certain segment of their base - though most people vehemently opposed to immigration reform don’t vote Democrat anyway. That trade-off is worth it.
Race and politics interact in complex ways, but defining moments do exist. I believe African Americans didn’t flock to the Democratic party because of civil rights, that was simply a powerful signal. By signing that law, LBJ declared the the Democratic party stood for a certain set of values, values that African Americans held too.
Hispanics can be made to feel welcome in exactly the same way. It would be a gross generalization to say the Latino vote swings on the immigration issue. People are more complex in their politics than that. But immigration reform directly affects Hispanics much more than it affects the white suburban populace passing local anti-immigration laws. By dealing fairly with a problem that directly affects such an important population, Democrats can once again prove they are the party of the people.
I always wonder what people who want to kick all the undocumented immigrants out think they’re going to eat after they leave. Everybody knows good and well that our farming sector depends on them, as well as food processing.
Beyond the food economy there are rafts of service sector jobs in major economic centers that rely on them, small businesses that depend on them as customers, etc. Twelve million of them live here, work here, as an integral part of the economy we all depend on. It’d toast us to even try kicking them all out, makes far more sense to give them a bigger stake in society so they feel a greater sense of investment in it.
Or we could also quit grinding the economies of their home countries under our boot heels. That’d probably slow future influx tremendously, might even encourage some of them to voluntarily return. I mean, we don’t get Coyotes leading a lot of poor, desperate, Canadians to Seattle to find what menial labor they can manage. No, those people come in the front door on work visas and take jobs at Microsoft.
Robots will replace illegal works, companies are developing product picking machines.