OPINION:
Does Robert Knight’s article (Commentary, “The GOP temptation to try to fix the unfixable,” Monday) make sense? He acknowledges that the Republican Party has a major Hispanic problem, but as a solution he counsels the party to “do nothing” on immigration reform. Any legislation passed during the next 18 months would, he claims, would allow “mass amnesty for an estimated 11 million illegal aliens, also known as ’unregistered Democrats.’”
Doing nothing changes nothing, and Mr. Knight knows the status quo stinks for Republicans. Barack Obama won 67 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2008 and 71 percent in 2012. “Doing nothing” is made worse by the fact that the Hispanic vote continues to grow as a percentage of the total vote (9 percent of the vote in 2008; 10 percent in 2012).
I might not be your smartest reader, but it doesn’t seem wise to take a knee in a football game when you’re down by 17 points. Throw the long pass instead. For the Republican Party, this means listening to its business wing and letting labor go where demand is (the United States). Once Republicans are no longer perceived as bigoted fence builders, we might pick up more Hispanics (e.g., see the book “Immigration Wars: Forging an American Solution” by Jeb Bush).
STEPHEN RICHER
Washington
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