OPINION:
After ballot-box blowouts in 2006 and 2008, many Republicans feared they were becoming a permanent minority party. Adding to their worries were racial minorities, whose long-term population projections and his toric allegiance to the Democrats presaged a major demographic challenge. Then along came November 2010, when the Republicans delivered a “shellacking” in the midterm elections and increased their national share of the Hispanic vote from 31 percent in 2008 to 38 percent. In the process, Republicans gained two Hispanic governors, one Hispanic senator and five Hispanic congressmen.
Not content to rest on their laurels, and fully cognizant of the continuing difficulties the party faces with the country’s largest minority group, certain Republican leaders have launched a full-court offensive to hold and expand their share of the Hispanic vote. For example, TheAmericano.com, a website founded by former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich, recently hosted a two-day forum on why conservative positions should appeal to Hispanics. Meanwhile, the GOP-leaning Heritage Foundation will soon unveil a website called Libertad.org (Spanish for “liberty”).
In their pursuit of identity politics, these Republican leaders and groups are taking the road of political expediency and short-term electoral gain. While approaching Americans as ethnic blocs certainly is easier and more efficient than appealing to voters as individuals, Republicans are forgoing an opportunity to work toward the truly post-racial society that President Obama promised but has done nothing to accomplish. In this respect, the Republicans’ Hispanic strategy might be considered the flip side of the same coin with the party’s infamous “Southern strategy” appeal to white voters.
Looking at the electoral math, it is easy to see the panic-inducing demographic trends and the appeal of identity politics. In the just-past election, Hispanics constituted roughly 14 percent of the U.S. population and 7 percent of the electorate. By 2050, the Census Bureau projects Hispanics will make up 23 percent of the population. Meanwhile, the non-Hispanic white population is expected to decrease to less than 53 percent. Moreover, although the nonwhite population currently is underrepresented at the polls, that trend cannot be expected to continue indefinitely.
As noted above, even in a good year, Republicans garner only about 40 percent of the Hispanic vote. Among white voters, Republicans pull in about 60 percent. Meanwhile, the other major minority group, blacks, who are projected to make up 16 percent of the population in 2050, have historically favored Democrats, giving them more than 90 percent of their votes. Assuming the electorate in 2050 reflects the overall population and these ethno-political allegiances remain constant, Republicans would win less than 50 percent of the vote as a matter of simple arithmetic. Even if 100 percent of the other ethnic groups all vote Republican, the GOP still would be hanging on to barely half the electorate.
The time-tested response to such a dilemma in politics is to pander to the ethnic vote. However, there are several reasons why Republicans should make a clean break from this tradition. First, it is insulting to minorities (a term that is increasingly nonsensical, as “minorities” gradually become the numerical majority). And if minorities do not feel insulted, they should.
Intelligent, patriotic citizens in a mature democracy should cast their votes for candidates who will benefit the country and the common good. Thus, instead of trying to sell ideas and policy positions as being supposedly closer to voters’ ethnic heritage, Republicans should be making the pitch that theirs are the right ideas and positions, regardless of ethnicity.
Second, emphasizing the importance of ethnicity is at odds with Republicans’ narrative of “American exceptionalism.” America is exceptional because race and ethnicity are of relative unimportance in this country. While acknowledging our unfortunate history with slavery and discrimination, and without kidding ourselves that race no longer matters, it remains true that, compared with almost every other country, America offers more opportunities for individuals to succeed on their own merits.
I look to my own father, who came to this country from Taiwan and started out as a restaurant delivery boy, then went on to open his own restaurant. That’s America to me, and it is a story that has nothing to do with race and ethnicity but everything to do with our country’s historic foundations rooted in individual rights, free enterprise and limited government.
As a party that traces its roots to the abolition of slavery, the GOP has a historic opportunity to also liberate the body politic from the irrational bondage of identity politics. The demographic gloom and doom that many Republicans are trying to forestall assumes race will remain constant. But, as the number of Americans selecting multiple races on the census demonstrates, race and ethnicity are becoming increasingly irrelevant, regardless of what politicians are doing. Republicans can again lead this social progress by taking the moral high road, which is to treat and respect Americans as individuals instead of as ethnic blocs.
Eric Wang, a political law attorney, has worked for Republican candidates and the Republican Party.
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