Posted on 11/11/2008 3:06:30 PM PST by americanophile
How? By appealing to the Golden State's fastest-growing demographic group, Hispanics. Yes, I know. In recent elections roughly two-thirds of the Hispanics who voted in California went for Democrats. But there is one hopeful precedent: Proposition 227. On the state ballot a decade ago, this measure called for a ban on bilingual education in the public schools. Ron Unz, the high tech entrepreneur who drafted the initiative, based it on a simple conviction: No different from the children of earlier immigrants, the children of Hispanics should be taught in English. Until the week of the election, polls showed that more than 60% of California Hispanics supported Proposition 227. Then opponents began blanketing the state with television ads, outspending the initiative's backers by about 25 to 1. Although enacted with 61% of the vote, Proposition 227 received the votes of just 40% of Hispanics. Within weeks, however, post-election polling demonstrated a remarkable event: Hispanic support for Proposition 227 rebounded. "Political ads can only rent support," Mr. Unz told me, "not buy it." California Hispanics weren't alone. As recently as 2001, a poll found that English-only legislation commanded the support of some three-quarters of Hispanics nationally. "Hispanics didn't come here to go on welfare or rip off California's taxpayers," Mr. Unz argued, "and their support for Prop. 227 proves it. They came here to become Americans. They have a strong work ethic. They believe in family values. As Catholics, they're pro-life. They're natural Republicans." Proposition 227 was the last time a California Republican made a concerted, intelligent effort to reach out to the state's newest immigrants. Now Republicans -- particularly Republican candidates for governor in 2010 -- need to try again. Former congressman Tom Campbell has filed papers to form a fund-raising committee. High tech entrepreneur Steve Poizner has formed an exploratory...
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
If the things that this country originally stood for before we become so focused on skin color aren’t enough to attract these voters then we’re lost anyway.
California has so much debt they might not have the cash to run another election.
I agree with have to make a play for Hispanics but not at the cost at having open borders
There must be some way we can do this and if we did then the Dems would be really screwed in future elections and I guarantee the black community would not be happy
I really like Tom Campbell. I’ve met him several times. He lives near me, and I’ve run into him at the grocery store. (He would be the only one there in a suit.) He helped out a group of parents that were having problems with San Jose Unified. He’s a nice guy.
I don’t agree with all of his politics, but he’s a good guy. He’s also very smart.
Conservatism is not genetic.
It must be learned and taught.
Conservative charismatic hispanics must be the delivery system.
most Hispanics I have met are conservative and believe in a good work ethic instead of handouts.
They believe strong i family, they are opposed to homo’s, they do not want high tax’s nor do they want big govt.
They believe or the ones I have met is to work
hard , leave me alone and let me work for what I want.
If we got them in our party then the Dems would be very worried.
How we will do that and not give them open borders I do not know.
I live in a SoCal city with alot of illegal immigrants. And when I say alot, I mean thounsands, if not tens of thousands. There is no way to deport them all or coerce enough of them to self-deport in numbers that would make any real difference.
That being said, there is material to work with. Many immigrants are fiercely entrepenurial and will go where the money is. They are also culturally conservative and have many family members in the military.
Finally, they keep wages low that should be low (e.g. gardening, housekeeping, fast food).
exactly.. I know many Hispanics here at work.. and most live and work with a conservative work ethic..
but it appears to be something about our branding, and it just seems like a marketing problem.. But it is definately a harder concept to grasp: less government, more self reliance. It takes a certain individual that believes in Freedom. I worry sometimes that we are a dying breed.
Conservative charismatic hispanics must be the delivery system.
I think we need to really target high school aged kids, especially in California.
I think we need to start having young Republican clubs in public high schools. Give out pizza to get kids to go to the club. Have interesting speakers. Have dances, so that conservative kids have social networks. Have facebook pages and other online groups for high school kids. I also think we should encourage businesses to give scholarships to kids who are active in the Republican clubs.
We need to get to the kids before they go to college, so I think we target kids in high school. We have to start early so that by 2012, they’ll vote for a republican.
You man the secret to gaining the Hispanic vote by conservatives is to treat them the same as everyone else and not pander to the extremists within the group, and instead target the average ‘Hispanic’ who is likely already a religious conservative hijacked by a socialist group bent on taking part of the United States and declaring it’s own state?
Gosh, who would have thought that...
Find me a second generation immigrant who is for illegal immigration who isn’t already part of a group like La Raza.. To support illegal immigration is to lose the battle, and simply give immigrants no choice between the parties. Sure, the pro-life position resounds with them, but that means less than the fact that their streets are being overrun by Mexican nationals bent on committing crimes, mostly praying upon their own community.
The only reason why we’re losing the Hispanic vote is that when we talk to them, we try to sound like liberals.
“There must be some way we can do this and if we did then the Dems would be really screwed in future elections and I guarantee the black community would not be happy”
Let’s run on small government. Everyone, except the losers who don’t work and really don’t vote, can get behind small government once they see how it will really help them. If we can’t win on small government, let’s secede.
I hear you and if we did I would not lose any sleep over it.
They can have their liberal utopia and I’ll watch them destroy themselves within 10 years.
course by that time they will not be able to get back here
10 more years of constant media bombardment of leftist ideals. The opportunity to win Hispanics en masse has passed us by.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/k6KUDv1wzraWhwlBt1
We need to engage in mass deprogramming of democrats, this video is a good introduction.
Amen to your thoughts. We are loosing hispanics because we sound like liberals. Talk to the hispanic churches on pro life issues and they will listen. More over, we need to walk into the hispanic community and start registering some voters. We will be surprised that, there are lot of hidden conservatives who don’t come out.Also, second generation hispanics are against illegal immigrants and they are very republican in their views.
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