America is facing an existential crisis of awesome proportions.
It has nothing to do -- at least not directly -- with Donald Trump and his against-all-odds triumph in Cleveland. Nor does it pertain to ongoing controversies over abortion rights, same-sex marriage, firearm ownership, overseas military adventurism, or how high tax rates might soar during the next fiscal year.
Rather, it has everything to do with demographics, though not in the way some might think.
Earlier this year the Census Bureau announced that most Americans under five are no longer white. Technically, the overwhelming majority are still categorized as such, but with the ‘Hispanic’ label. Nevertheless, this news made quite an impression.
What few reporters mentioned was the drastic rise in Hispanics of any race. People often forget -- or ignore -- that ‘Hispanics’ can be Nordic, Amerindian, sub-Saharan African, East Asian, anything else under the sun, or some combination of these. The label merely denotes an individual with ancestry from lands ruled by the Spanish Empire.
22 percent -- nearly one quarter -- of under-fives are now Hispanic, or at least they were in 2014, when the latest data were gathered. No doubt this number has increased since then, and sub-zero doubt it will swell during years to come.
Just a smidgen more doubt about what it means for the future of America.
Scores of Republican political operatives allege Hispanics are natural ‘conservatives’ due to a perceived emphasis on traditional family values. The logic holds that if only GOP public officeholders, policymakers, and pundits double down on social conservatism, Hispanics will realize their true partisan home.
Republican politicians have run socially rightist campaigns for decades, yet never once won the Hispanic vote. This is chalked up to them opposing citizenship for the broadly Hispanic illegal alien population. In order to seize victory with Hispanics, our guiding lights demand GOP politicos not only oppose full reproductive liberty and gay rights, but favor wholesale legalization for illegals.
In 2008, immigration amnesty advocate and mainstream social conservative John McCain brought everything these voices propagate to the table. He was rewarded with, per the Pew Research Center, 31 percent of Hispanic support, while Barack Obama received 67 percent.
Four years later, despite his anti-amnesty stance, Mitt Romney did roughly the same as McCain. It became clear that Hispanics do not, as a rule, care a whit for social conservatism or Republican amnesty appeals.
What do they want?
Be aware that, according to the Census Bureau, 64 percent of Hispanics are Mexican in heritage. Save a combined total of 13.2 percent for Cubans and Puerto Ricans, the remainder are generally of Central or South American background.
“When it comes to the size of government, Hispanics are more likely than the general public to say they would rather have a bigger government which provides more services than a smaller government which provides fewer services,” Pew tells, revealing that, 75 percent of Hispanics vouch for Big Brother, while merely 19 percent take the opposite view.
Overall, only 41 percent of Americans embrace government growth. Native-born Hispanics are more likely than foreign-originated ones to call themselves “liberal.” A paltry 12 percent of first-generation Hispanics want limited government; the number maxes out at 36 percent by the third generation and beyond.
Unsurprisingly, a recent, Washington Post, poll indicates that 65 percent of Hispanics are confident their interests go represented by elected Democrats.
If these trends continue, America is likely to become something George III -- let alone George Washington -- would not recognize. We can expect a bureaucracy-driven, innovation-strapped, poverty-plagued, liberty-hating failed state such as the majority of those to our south. An ‘America’ of this nature would hardly be worth living in, let alone risking one’s life to defend.
No shortage of upstanding men and women from every ancestral heritage imaginable wish to make our nation prosper once more. Doing this means more than smart trade rules, however. Capitol Hill should repeal birthright citizenship, swap family reunification for a skill-based immigration system, and, last but not least, build an Israel-style wall along our border with Mexico.
Right now, the United States is the New World’s European Union. Let us not suffer like the one across the pond.
Joseph Cotto is a historical and social journalist, and writes about politics, economics and social issues. Email him at joseph.f.cotto@gmail.com