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The demographic changes caused by migratory waves are frightening, particularly when they are illegal immigrants; and, above all, because historically migrants have been victims of the woke narrative and the manipulation of the political left. The latter has occurred because the right has failed to address the migration issue with sensible proposals. But the reality is changing.
The Republican Party today offers, in contrast to the Democrats – increasingly radicalized and hostage to the most dangerous socialist impulses – a commitment to freedom. Free markets, individual liberties, the ability to create wealth, to have less money confiscated, and explicitly anti-socialist rhetoric.
With proposals like the Green New Deal, wage and tax hikes (especially on the rich), anti-business laws, shutting down the economy, weak borders, foreign policy at the mercy of China, and the discourse of class struggle – of victimhood, despising property and whitewashing communist regimes – the Democratic Party, the same of Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez, Warren and Ilhan Omar, has made it clear what it believes in.
Let’s talk, then, about Hispanics. We are traditionally more conservative than other ethnic groups, and most of us are accompanied by what is ultimately most valuable: a terrible experience under the socialist experiment that forces us to embrace freedom (i.e., capitalism, democracy, individual liberties, and the defense of private property to the hilt). Entrepreneur Aaron Tao, although not Hispanic, speaks of the experience as an urgent testimony that must be heard by American youth who today myopically opt for socialist projects. His parents, who lived through Mao’s communism, told him of the tragedies in the country from which they fled.
Cuban migration, at first, then Nicaraguan, Bolivian, Argentinan, and of course, Venezuelan, moved to the United States with an unbearable burden of experiences on their shoulders. All those who migrated did so because they were fleeing socialism and its tragedies. That is why in Florida, above all, the Republican Party did so well in the last elections.
Unlike the rest of the country where those fleeing violence have moved to, Florida has been settled mainly by the victims of the Caribbean and South American communism. And from this reality, we can talk about the electoral impact of demographic changes. If Florida is today a freer state, more Republican, attractive to the rest of the country that suffers the weight of Democratic policies, it is, in large part, thanks to the Hispanic vote. The last elections are evidence of this.
But not only in Florida. Nationally, things have changed. According to the latest Pew Research analysis, the Republican Party performed tremendously well among Hispanics nationally in November 2020. Compared to 2018 (just two years earlier), the Hispanic vote for Republicans went from 25% to nearly 40% nationally.
Going back further, the propensity is crystal clear: in 2010 only 22% of Hispanics registered to vote would have voted for the Republican Party. The trend is clear: over the years, Hispanics are beginning to embrace conservatism. In fact, a 2016 Pew Research study revealed that more Hispanics identify as conservative than liberal, or left-leaning: 32% vs. 28%. As Ronald Reagan once said: “Latinos are Republicans, they just don’t know it.”
Today the country is in the hands of the Democratic Party. Although Republicans are terrified of the demographic impact that a massive and illegal migration would have, the reality is that, behind Hispanic migration, could be the lifeline of a country that, today, seems to be sinking. We just have to talk to Latinos; because, incredibly, very few of us are doing it.
Ultimately, the hope of the Republican Party could rest with Hispanics and the future of the United States depends on it. Although the region today continues to be haunted by the specter of socialism, it is imperative that Hispanics prevent the United States, the great bastion and beacon of liberties, from falling. Republicans must reform their list of priorities.
Orlando Avendaño is the co-editor-in-chief of El American. He is a Venezuelan journalist and has studies in the History of Venezuela. He is the author of the book Days of submission // Orlando Avendaño es el co-editor en Jefe de El American. Es periodista venezolano y cuenta con estudios en Historia de Venezuela. Es autor del libro Días de sumisión.