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A recent USA Today/Gallup study showed that a majority of Latinos – 56 percent – favor government intervention in solving the nations socioeconomic and political issues. This is well above the 37 percent of overall Americans who favor government involvement in reaching solutions.
Latinos, despite what many conservatives may think, are not born into the Democratic Party. Latinos overwhelmingly support the Democrats, because Democrats are the party of big(ger) government (the GOP is for big government, too. Just look at the Bush years).
So, the question looms: why do Latinos love big government?
First, Latinos don’t love big government (I don’t think any American does). But, as members of a minority group, Latinos view big government as a necessary evil.
In that sense, Latinos love big government the way blacks, women and LGBTs love big government.
When blacks were demanding equal rights under the law during the 1950s and 1960s, they directed their pleas toward the federal government, demanding that Washington intervene and check the inflamed racist system on display in the Southern (and many of the Northern) states. Part of the Civil Rights Movement was a push to make the federal government the supreme bulwark against Jim Crow; to do that, it was given license to expand its reach.
During the Women’s Lib Movement, oppressed women throughout the United States petitioned the federal government to defend the civil rights of women against violations of such at the state and local levels.
In the Gay Rights Movement – which coincided with the Feminist Movement of the 1970s and ‘80s, but has continued on ever since – again, we find an oppressed minority group asking the federal government to step in and protect them from civil-rights-violatin’ state governments (Although, the movement to expand LGBT* rights in the United States has also adopted a piecemeal strategy, looking to pass LGBT* rights legislation state-by-state while the federal government is held hostage).
Oppressed minority groups favor a strong federal government, because as the supreme law of the land, Washington policy generally overrides conflicting state policies. And since most of the U.S. map is solidly red (GOP-controlled), you can bet there’s going to be plenty of Latinos, blacks, women and LGBTs looking to the federal government to protect them from oppressive state governments.
For the same reason, white Americans generally prefer a smaller, less interventionist federal government. If you’re privileged enough to be born into a system that makes you and people like you top dog, while others scramble for scraps from your table, why would you want some faraway government disturbing that? You wouldn’t, because you love the status quo; in fact, you can’t get enough status quo.
The GOP (now, almost exclusively male and white) works to preserve the status quo. That’s why it rails against government intervention, claiming to favor a system in which no one is assisted more or less than anyone else.
What the party fails to realize – or what conservatives purposely ignore – is that Americans are not born equal. Or, as Orwell would say, Americans are born equal, but some Americans are more equal than others.
Race, class and opportunity are conjoined triplets in America.
Most Latinos understand this, which is why they favor a federal government that intervenes on their behalf.
About Hector Luis Alamo, Jr.
Very nice article. However, I have one complaint. This piece brings up the historical struggles of blacks folks, women, and LGBT communities while never mentioning Latina/o battles against discrimination and for civil rights that have been happening for a very long time in the country. I oftentimes think the omission of these kinds of Latina/o struggles is the byproduct of a historically entrenched US white-black race binary that pervades our pre-college educational system and obscures the social justice history of many people who are not black or white. As far as racial justice goes, we often learn about black folks fighting against white racism (however sugar coated these particular historical accounts that are taught to us might be). Furthermore, I would argue that we learn very little – if anything – about other community of color struggles throughout history.
As far as Latina/os are concerned, a few historical examples of addressing civil rights violations by appealing to government intervention include: from 1837 to 1970, most legal cases against anti-miscegination reaching state supreme courts in the Southwest involved Mexican Americans; legal challenges to educational segregation include the Lemon Grove Incident (1930) and Mendez v. Westminster (1946); Hernandez v. Texas (1946) established that all ethnic/racial groups beyond black and white are protected by the 14th Amendment; Perez v. Sharp (1948) lifted all bans on interacial marriage in California; Dr. Hector Garcia and the GI Forum fought against voter disenfranchisement in the ‘50s and ‘60s; etc., etc., etc.
I only mention all this because Latina/o civil rights struggles and resorting to government for aid and protection is not anything new. The struggles we see today around immigration, racial profiling, poverty, police brutality, health, civil rights, etc. are extensions of what has been happening for a long time in US history.
Who says big government is evil? Swedish citizens only have 8% fiscal freedom, but their government has over 90% regulatory efficiency and judicial integrity. Now that’s a nice, big, purposeful government!
So Latinos are victims? Man, you guys have been celebrating national masturbation month a little to much! You can’t see straight anymore.
Latinos don’t like big government the way this article states but they like the stability that is associated with Big Government. We crave stability in our lives and communities. Latinos tend to stick or trust a business that can bring that stability also.
@ Oscar. Don’t you know?But for big government us Latinos would be hanging from trees all around America. You know who I feel for is the White Hispanics. You know, between victimizing Latinos and being victimized because they are Latinos, it’s a miracle they get anything done.
I would also mention that the history of Iberoamerican countries is also one of government paternalism and very little freedoms. Hispanics from México or Puerto Rico are both used to paternalist governments and especially in the case of PR they are very used to a welfare state. Most people there receive some kind of government assistance. The Hispanics that tend conservative are those with business backgrounds or those who have figured out that the DNC is very much against the traditional Christian values that some of them uphold. What is unfortunate is that many Hispanics are going the way of blacks; a sure-vote for the dems. Once you become a sure thing there is less reason to try and court you. Blacks have not progressed very much in heavily democratic enclaves like NYC, Detroit or DC. In these places they have almost total hegemony and yet the democratic party values and governance have not helped them much.
Latinos are a historically oppressed minority group. That’s not a controversial statement. And if there are Latinos contesting that reality, then it’s a sorry state of affairs.
Hector, please stop with the inferiority complex. You and the folks at BL have no idea what real oppression is.
That’s for sure Mario. You know someone here said that brown was the new black. Now think about that!
Orwell never said that regarding Americans. Stop changing the language. Orwell said that in his book Animal Farm, about Animals. Animal Farm is a book that you all should have read because it denotes the very system you Latinos want- but beware because in the end all that “equality” gets out of hand and things don’t end well in the book. What entitlement minded Latinos fail to comprehend is that a government big enough to give you all you want, is always big enough to take everything away from you – especially your liberty and your life. In the end, the big government is going to hook all you Latinos up with your govmint cheese, but you end up becoming indebted to the central planners, in essence you become slaves – which is kind of what all of you are – flunkies for the Obama administration. And if anyone is equal but has become more equal than others I would say that it would be the vocal minority of Marxist minded and radicalized Latinos, gays, women, African Americans that have shoved their fringe movements in the face of all Americans demanding that they must be heard and given entitlements or else, we’ll get Human Resources, the media, or the State to ruin your lives! You BL Latinos are living in your own little Orwellian dystopia, you might even end up being the villains (Napoleon from Animal Farm or Big Brother from 1984) and you don’t even know it yet!
hahaha The struggle for civil rights is a fringe movement.
Stop being so angry, Mario. Just put some creme on it, and it should clear right up.
Let’s end the debate right here: Do you support Mitt Romney for president?