Hispanic vote gaining importance at local, national levels

Chattanooga Times Free Press ^ | November 23, 2007 | Perla Trevizo

[dennisw]

Well of course, and some American citizens are bilingual and others only speak Spanish, Polish, Greek, Vietnamize or a Chinese dialect. We have the right to vote because we are citizens not because of the language we speak.

What's your point? That we should print bilingual ballots in all those languages and more?

[wardaddy]

So are you saying kids don’t learn English in border towns in American public schools.

We spoke Portugese at my home in Miami and Spanish with our empleada and my girls did not speak English till around 4-5 years old in kindergarten but they picked it up immediately after that...like 3 months tops....conversational for their age.

If they teach in English or simply teach English in border towns then I can’t imagine children don’t learn just as quick.

We continued to speak non English at home since my ex wife did not know English and being in Miami did not need it really....at least not in Coral Gables

[trumandogz]

What's your point? That we should print bilingual ballots in all those languages and more?

Obviously, we cannot print ballots in every language however, we cannot infringe on a citizens right to vote simply because they are not proficient in English.

[trumandogz]

You are right, we cannot deny a person a right to vote based on race, gender or age and it would appear that a low could be passed prohibiting the right to vote based on English proficiency.

However, any such law would be stuck down by the Court based on the Equal Protection Clause.

[puroresu]

However, any such law would be stuck down by the Court based on the Equal Protection Clause.

If the Equal Protection Clause, which is in the 14th Amendment, prohibits denying particular classes of people the right to vote, then why do we have the 15th & 19th Amendments?

[trumandogz]

The Equal Protection Clause use been cited by the Court to grant every right under the sun including the right for illegal aliens to be educated in our public schools.

I am sure the Court will have little problem with citing the Equal Protection Clause to protect the right to vote based and English proficiency. But it is a non issue since there will never be a law or amendment passed prohibiting citizens that do no speak English the right to vote.

[puroresu]

The Equal Protection Clause use been cited by the Court to grant every right under the sun including the right for illegal aliens to be educated in our public schools.

Exactly! And that's a deliberate misinterpretation of the Equal Protection Clause by activist judges. In other words, your position that people who can't speak English have a right to vote is based not on logic, nor on the actual language of the written Constitution. It's based on sociological jurisprudence, where liberal judges "interpret" the Constitution to mean what they wish it meant, not what it actually means.

Now, you may be correct that we'll never again see a law passed requiring people to speak English to vote. But that's just one more sign that our Constitution has been overthrown and our American culture is being supplanted by invaders. It's like noting that Britain may never again see more people in Christian churches than in Mosques. It may be true, but it's something to lament.

[Hunterite]

In 2004 Bush got 45 percent of the Hispanic vote, Kerry 55 percent. That’s not a block.

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Illegals don’t just take jobs from whites.

[RobbyS]

I find it frustrating that our—well, Bush’s secreary of state is trying to cast this as a Israel vs. Palestine matter, when it has obviously become a Muslim-Jew thing. Bush-Rice cannot seem to rap their minds aound the religious character of this conflict. But it has been developing this way since 1967.

[dennisw]

Absolutely it is a Muslim versus Jew dispute. What’s interesting is that secular Muslims cannot escape the oppressive atmosphere of Islam where the live. But secular Jews can easily stand apart for Jewishness and from the Orthodox in Israel. They will often viciously slam the Orthodox. No Muslim in any Muslim nation has such freedom. Some try it but they don’t last too long

[dennisw]

If immigrants want to vote they need to learn English. If it were up to me there would be no bilingual ballots or publicly funded & distributed voting information. You learn English if you want to vote.

English deficient foreign born citizens can obviously do what they want in the voting booth but I wouldn’t cater to them. They should be catering to us by learning English

[RobbyS]

Well, he Muslim critique of Israel as a European colony has point when one look at secular Israelis. They are transplanted Europeans. But Arabs have a similar view of Chrisian Arabs. They also see what secular Europeans cannot see, which is how “tainted” Europe is by Christianity. Which is why the Muslims are trying to crush the Christian Community in the Lebanon. The iron is that so many Christian Arab Americans blame Israel for their plight.