Hispanics and Republicans. It made no sense to me until someone pointed out that the Bush Administration has basically given up on immigration reform for the time being. Now take another look at the average Hispanic voter: "OK, so if I vote for this administration then my entire family can come over here from Mexico and take advantage of all that the US of A has to offer?... Can I vote twice?"
So there you go. Additionally, Hispanics are Catholic. Not as Catholic as Croatians, but still, very religious. And since our guy W is under the impression that Christ put him in office, well, that kind of spirituality also appeals to Hispanics.
Which brings me to my soapbox. I get voting for Bush. Simple message, wartime president, everyone's scared, whatever. But the statistic du jour is that the people who voted for him go to church once a week; Kerry's strongest base of support came from people who never go. And Bush won by millions of votes. This is my discomfort. The religious polarization. 11 states passed laws banning gay marriage because the people in those states believe that God hates homosexuals. A bishop in Green Bay warned parishioners not to "leave God outside the voting booth" if they wanted to be in compliance with their faith. The president is completely open about his tendency to make decisions based on "instinct" and his commitment to a faith-based moral code. This new ethos of politics driven by morals rather than policy FREAKS ME OUT. The best book I've read this year is "Terror and Liberalism" by Paul Berman. In it he reminds us that the US and other developed nations succeed because of the separation of church and state. Because of this philosophy, built into our Constitution, we were able to unshackle ourselves from the notion that there is one overarching force controlling every aspect of existence. Thus, we understand that endeavoring to progress culturally, scientifically, and economically can exist independent of our private faiths. I worry that this tradition is being threatened. Bush won't support stem cell research because of the Christian right. He wants to amend the Constitution to discriminate against gays because of the Christian right. And he wants to appoint judges who agree with all of it. These policies signify an allergy to progression brought on by the fear of - or allegiance to - a deity. The nation is embracing a moral and political ideology based on Christianity. Other nations such as Saudi Arabia and The United Arab Emirates practice the same government, and we call it theocracy. But this paradigm shift was not forced upon us by a tyrant who hijacked the Oval Office. The Christian right, as it turns out, is us. 60 million citizens are blazing this new path. We, collectively, voted for this. It’s not Bush ruining America. It’s Americans.
