UNITED STATES: "Latinos and American politics: Power in numbers; Hispanics, long under-represented as voters, are becoming political kingmakers," The Economist, 9 January 2010.
Piece accurately notes that the growing heft of Hispanic legislators is already being felt in two of our biggest states: Texas and California. These two offer distinct previews of what will happen on a national level.
The growth of Hispanics, along with the Boomers aging out, are the two biggest demographic trends going on inside America, says The Economist. Hard to deny.
For now, Hispanics "punch below their weight," unlike African-Americans. But major change is coming. The piece notes that Obama's win was decisively influenced by Hispanics, a first in presidential elections. They voted for him 2-to-1 over McCain. Kingmaker status seems inevitable, and once it comes, just wait for America to reopen the Union for new membership.
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Comments (2)
Oddly though, in California, the hispanic lobby is all about Liberal Democrats and Reconquistas . .
In Texas, the partisanship is spread pretty well across the board as the first generation educated Mexican/Americans strive to become full fledged Americans . . many of them that I'm acquainted with are actually independents who resent the racial condesencion from both sides . .
Posted by large | February 8, 2010 11:44 AM
I love it whenever you mention more states added to the union. It gives me hope and inspiration to bring the Philippines into the fold. Imagine when the Philippines, Cuba and Puerto Rico all join the union at the same time, an 1898 reunion of sorts.
There is a prophecy in the Philippines that said country will be the America of Asia (it pretty much is given the political institutions and secular academic institutions bequeathed by Uncle Sam, likewise English as an official language).
I don't doubt prophecies coming from there. There was once a prophecy that the next president of the country would be a woman after Marcos. This was before Corazon Aquino entered the scene. Marcos's wife Imelda thought it would be her, and a political groundwork was laid for her. The prophecy was right, Meldy was the wrong one.
Posted by Tom Leto | February 8, 2010 5:47 PM