Apparently, Meg Whitman's billboard is part of an overture to Spanish speaking voters emphasizing the economy and jobs, to peel enough of them from the Democratic camp to win the governorship. So far, so good. But this servile catering to the worst elements in the Latino community will backfire. A principled approach that respected both her previous position and the intelligence of Spanish speaking voters might take on the following arguments. First, emphasize that illegal immigration reduces job opportunities for poorer Hispanic citizens, because the illegals often work below the minimum wage and put downward pressure on wages for those who do have work. Second, the backlash that brought Proposition 187 and the Arizona SB 1070 into being would have never started if the Federal government had enforced the border. She should promise to pressure the federal government to enforce the border so that these state laws would be unnecessary.
She will never win over those Hispanics who believe in identity politics and just want to increase the Latino presence. They are a minority. The majority of Hispanics want to work at good jobs, send their kids to college and generally live the American dream. A principled stand that ties together support for American dream because of the rule of law will respect the intelligence of Hispanic voters and still make serious inroads in peeling them away from the Democrats.
I am asking Meg Whitman to change course now, before she loses all my respect. I have emailed her campaign asking for an explanation and registered my protest on her website. I await her reply. In the meantime, take our poll.
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I was leaning Meg but now going Libertarian.
ReplyDeleteW.C.
ReplyDeleteTake the poll. And thanks for reading and commenting.