"The Hill" : Arizona's Republicans might pat themselves on the back for passage of this law, but they will be soon swimming in a Sea of Latino Babie

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"The Hill" : Arizona's Republicans might pat themselves on the back for passage of this law, but they will be soon swimming in a Sea of Latino Babies and Voters


The Hill
Desertion in the desert
April 20, 2010

By Markos Moulitsas
From Wikipedia :
Moulitsas is founder and publisher of Daily Kos (dailykos.com).
Moulitsas was born in Chicago, Illinois to a Salvadoran mother and Greek father. He moved with his family to El Salvador in 1976, but later returned to the Chicago area in 1980 after his family fled threats placed on their lives by communist insurgents during the Salvadoran Civil War.[1] As an adult, he has recounted his memories of the civil war, including an incident that occurred when he was 8 years old, in which he saw communist guerrillas executing students who had been accused of collaborating with the government.[3]

After graduating from Schaumburg High School in Schaumburg, Illinois,[4] he served in the U.S. Army from 1989 through 1992.

Markos was born in 1971, often known by his username and former military nickname "Kos" (ko-z), is the founder and publisher of Daily Kos, a blog focusing on liberal and Democratic Party politics. He is also a weekly columnist at the Washington, D.C. newspaper, The Hill, and a contributing columnist at Newsweek.[1]

Desertion in the desert


Some excerpts :

In 1994, California conservative activists pushed through Proposition 187, a ballot initiative that prohibited undocumented immigrants from using social services or public education in the state. Legal challenges and the election of Democratic Gov. Gray Davis in 1998 killed the law, but not before California Latinos were lost to the GOP for generations.

Indeed, since 1994, Democrats have won all gubernatorial, Senate and presidential elections in the state except for those won by current Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (originally elected in a bizarre recall election). In a state that is just slightly over 40 percent white, alienating Latino and Asian immigrant communities has been electoral death for the GOP, with few signs of a turnaround anytime soon.
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But while conservatives might pat themselves on the back for passage of this law, the long-term effects shouldn’t be so comforting. Latinos make up 29 percent of Arizona’s population. If current population trends continue, Arizona will become a majority-minority state by 2015. In 2003, more Latino babies were born than non-Hispanic white babies. And by 2007, Latino babies were 45 percent of the total, compared to 41 percent for non-Hispanic whites, and 14 percent for non-Hispanic Asians, Native Americans and African-Americans.

In 2008, Arizona Latinos opted for Obama 56-41, which seems lopsided, but nationally, the number was 67-31 for Obama. Sen. Jon Kyl also got that respectable 41 percent in his 2006 reelection battle. In 2004, John McCain won 74 percent of the Latino vote.

While Arizona Latinos aren’t a solid Democratic voting bloc, this law may very well change that. The Proposition 187 analogy is instructive — the GOP engages in heavy-handed, hateful, discriminatory and partisan demonizing of immigrants at its own electoral peril. As immigrant-rights’ group America’s

Voice said in a statement, “The Arizona State House of Representatives just voted in favor of draconian legislation that declares open season on immigrants and Latinos in the state.”

And as California Republicans can testify, Latinos have long memories.
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