By Raoul Lowery Contreras
February 26, 2000

Recently (February 8th), a report was released by the NATIONAL HISPANIC LEADERSHIP AGENDA (NHLA), a coalition of 32 large Hispanic organizations, that graded the Congress on a “Hispanic” scorecard.  NHLA trashed individual Republicans while deifying Hispanic Democrats. The report is baloney.

“The survey’s purpose, stressed NHLA leaders, is to help Latino voters know if their representatives in Congress are looking out for their community’s interests,” writes Charles Erickson of the Washington, D.C. based “Hispanic Link.”  The NHLA’s “purpose”, however, is also baloney.

What we actually have here is a political smear job by leftwing Latinos who do not represent the country’s 32-million Hispanics.  They chose eleven issues that they say are Hispanic issues and graded individual congressmen on how they voted on them. That scenario is also baloney.  See, it doesn’t matter what issues they chose because they aren’t objective, they are leftwing statists.

For example, how congressmen vote on eliminating the income tax  “marriage penalty”? Certainly Hispanics, who have a higher rate of marriage than other ethnicities, will benefit enormously by relief from the marriage penalty that forces couples, especially educated couples, to pay more in taxes than single people.

Example, how did all these congressman vote on health plans that included tax breaks for small business when Hispanics are forming small businesses at three times the rate of the rest of the country?  Certainly the Hispanic entrepreneur needs tax consideration if he is to carry expensive health insurance for his employees.

Example, how did congressman vote on impeaching the President?  Certainly, if law and order Hispanics truly believe in the Constitution and the law, then a vote for impeachment would have been in the Hispanic community’s interest. Over 50-percent of Americans now consider impeachment of President Clinton to have been correct.

Example, how did congressmen vote on welfare reform? Certainly, a vote to do away with welfare as it existed in the first Clinton administration was a vote for the Hispanic community, wasn’t it?  Or is a welfare state chock full of dependent, subservient Hispanics in the best interests of the Hispanic community?

Example, American 4th graders are no better off today than they were 7-years ago if one believes national test scores. How did congressmen vote on various education initiatives of the Clinton Administration when they have not fixed bad education, the dagger at the throats of Hispanic children?

Example, how did congressmen the NHLA rates so highly vote on the revolutionary Satellite/Low Power Television bill last year that preserves the tiny foothold Hispanic television entrepreneurs have in the country?

The true test of how a congressman’s vote helps or hurts the Hispanic community is whether or not such a  vote makes Hispanics more or less dependent on a larger government. Did the congressman vote to keep government out of the way of the burgeoning Hispanic community? Or did they vote for costly obstacles to Hispanics seeking more opportunity and education?

In other words, using a leftwing, radical, socialist yardstick, did your congressman vote for a leftwing  government that hobbles and economically penalizes Hispanics?  Did their vote help Hispanics that want to run their own lives, want to work hard and enjoy the fruits of their own labor; or, did they vote to keep the Hispanic community on the welfare rolls?

The NHLA doesn’t represent the Hispanic community Like many so-called national Hispanic groups, the NHLA is but one more leftwing, socialistic group that deifies people who vote for more government and for more shackles on individual Hispanics and to over-tax Hispanics who make money.

Who, then, represents the “Hispanic community?” Certainly, leftwing groups don’t; they represent leftwing people, not Hispanics in general. They don’t represent me, nor do they represent the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the very guys who create hundreds of thousands of American jobs. No, they only represent a handful of welfare check supplicants, not payroll check writers.

Given all this, 30-minutes spent with Republican National Chairman Jim Nicholson proved to be very illuminating. There is no doubt that Chairman Nicholson is sincere in reaching out to Hispanics for the 2000 election.

“The concerns of most Hispanics mirror those of national Republicans,” he says.  Better education for Hispanics has not been accomplished under President Clinton, but must be before the entire Hispanic community collapses from lack of education. Hispanic unemployment, though lower in January than anytime since President Nixon’s administration, is 62-percent higher than “whites.” The highest taxes since World War II are draining the fruits of Hispanic labor and business and they must be cut. No progress has been made on securing Social Security that is projected to collapse in a few years. As only 4-percent of Hispanics currently collect Social Security, Hispanics – paying into it now -- want it fixed before they start collecting benefits. The Democrats torpedo school choice even as Hispanics overwhelmingly support school choice and vouchers.

Leftwingers, nor their values, reign in the Hispanic community. The National Latino Political Survey conducted by the U. of Texas discovered that less than 35-percent of Hispanics considered themselves to be “very liberal,” or “liberal.” Most said they were “moderate”, “conservative” or “very conservative.” That, unlike the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, is the real state of mind of national Hispanics.  National Republican Chairman Jim Nicholson is right. Most Hispanics think like most Republicans.

Contact Raoul at raoul@raoul.net

Raoul Lowery Contreras'columns are syndicated by the New York Times Syndicate, New American News service.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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