This is my third piece in a series about group think and voting blocs. The 1st was about Jews, the 2nd on blacks. Both articles can be found on this blog under the societal alerts category.
When I wrote about Jews I claimed being half-Jew, which I am, giving me modest credibility. When I wrote about blacks I admit- ted up front I wasn’t black, but appealed to the reader’s sense of fair play, suggesting it was extremely important for people of all color/ethnicity to address the group think problem, since it is harming our country.
With Hispanics I’m somewhere in between, in the sense I’ve been much more exposed to Spanish influences/culture than black, and have known personally/professionally many more persons of Spanish heritage and background. Still, I’m not Hispanic.
I grew up in the 50’s in a suburb of Los Angeles called El Sereno, went to a high school comprised of 30%+ Latinos and lived in a neighborhood almost equally split. My teenage sweetheart was Latina and many of my best friends were/are Hispanics.
I remember these schoolyard expressions: orale; trucha; vato; lo mejor; mi casa es su casa; la verdad. There’s more, but they are probably inappropriate for this article. Write to me, and gringo Al will share his memories.
I’ve lived with and among Hispanics most of my life, understand a bit of the language, and know a few things about the customs, culture and so on. I’m asking myself, why do they vote democrat?
Every Hispanic I know is catholic, and I would say most of them go to church. How can they reconcile their religious beliefs/basic tenets of Catholicism with abortion on demand, free birth control, gay marriage, divorce and most recently, the government’s attack on catholic institutions regarding the type of insurance coverage they must provide.
Are Hispanics aware that a group of catholic bishops organized a class action lawsuit and are now suing the federal 
government for, among other things, violating the constitutional provision for separation of church and state?
To me this all seems a contradiction, what mental health professionals sometimes call cognitive dissonance; a situation where a person believes something, but cannot consciously reconcile it with their other ideas/affiliations i.e. they call themselves catholic, but also want to vote democrat. This is an illogical rationalization, conscious/unconscious. Some might call it hypocritical, but I’m trying to stay polite.
What drives an average Hispanic voter to create this self-imposed confusion and inner turmoil? The record shows over the past 40yrs Hispanics have voted increasingly democrat, like a ramp going up from 1970 to the present; an escalator going from ground level to 2nd fl in a department store. What’s up with that?
I suppose metaphorically speaking, you hope things are better up there, with more jobs and opportunities. But remember, you are in the democrat store and in case you haven’t noticed, they’ve given us less jobs and opportunities. The shelves get emptier and emptier in that big government store of theirs, as you go to higher levels.
True, there are more and more store employees trying to help you find what you want, offering advise and free stuff, but is this what Hispanics need? The ones I know do not. They are proud, hard-working people, and don’t take hand-outs. Just give them a chance, a job or an opportunity, and they’ll do the rest!
Democrats have been selling their empathy/concern for Hispanic immigrants, legal/illegal, better than republicans, plus they have demonized them as being anti-Hispanic, uncaring, unsympathetic to their problems and issues. Does this make sense? Line up everything they’ve done specifically for Hispanics the past 40yrs, and compare it with what republicans have done. I haven’t looked at this, but I’m willing to bet there is no significant difference.
For the past 30-40yrs democrats have increasingly hyped/proselytized Hispanics, blacks, Jews, gays, immigrants, illegals, the low middle class, the poor, the elderly, even women, claiming they care about them and republicans don’t. Think about this. If republicans abandoned all these groups as a lost cause, or did obvious things to weaken/harm them, they would alienate 90%+ of the electorate! This is beyond dumb, and simply not true.
If they’re guilty of anything, it’s taking for granted the notion people understand they care about everybody equally, not just certain groups. They also assume most will see the democrat strategy for what it is: mean-spirited, class-warfare, rhetorical nonsense!
Most importantly, republicans assume all reasonable people understand we’re all in this together: rich & poor; black & white; old & young; male & female; gay & straight. Pandering to any one group is disingenuous, stooping to a low common denominator of the human condition: self-interest. Both panderer & panderee!
We need a united people with similar interests, a people who understand the workings of a republican-style democracy. Never mind obvious differences in appearance or attitude. Forget color or ethnicity, male or female. We need to work together to be success- ful. Divide and conquer doesn’t work. Keeping racism alive and/or catering to class warfare must be unacceptable within any serious effort to keep America strong, proud and great.
We are a multicultural society with a single purpose: giving everyone an equal shot at self-fulfillment and happiness; pursuit of the American Dream. Equal opportunity, not equal outcome. We are each the captain of our own destiny, steering our ship as we will. Some work harder than others. Some excel academically or have superior intellect. Some aspire to bigger and better things, while others are content.
This is the way of the world, the human condition. America recognized this 250yrs ago, and has worked steadily to create an environment where each individual has the freedom and opportunity to live safe and comfortably while building a future for themselves and their family. It’s not about this minority or that: it’s about all of us, everybody; todo el gente!
Please, give pause and consideration to your vote. Don’t do it robotically or because someone tells you. Do it for reason {razon!} for correctness {corregir!}, for outcome {solucion!} Make America better for everyone, and it will be better for you!
Gracias mi amigos! Viva Los Estados Unidos Y todos Los Americas!
You’ve been reading Shaneview
I’m Al Shane
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