The Border, Big Government, Immigration Reform
A weekly newsletter dedicated to Mexican American news, politics, and culture.
In today’s Daily Chela newsletter….
Spotlight: What Is Big Government?
Election 2024: Debate Party
Biden’s Immigration Plan
Podcast: The Election War
History: The Mexican Border
Latinos Embracing Third Parties
More News and Links
What Does “Big Government” Mean To Latinos?
Democrats want big government and Republicans want small government. That’s the simplified orthodoxy that has permeated American politics and election cycles for the better half of a century.
But is it true?
For Latinos, who now represent 13 percent of the electorate, traditional political orthodoxy is not always so simple. Contrary to conventional wisdom, an argument could be made that a vote for the Democrat Party is not a vote for more government, but a vote for less government.
At the very least, an argument could be made that a vote for the Democrat Party is a vote for government to allocate resources differently. And that alone should be enough to incentivize both Democrats and Republicans to change the way they talk about government on the campaign trail.
Nothing illustrates this point clearer than U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). To many Latinos, ICE represents one of the most frightening and visible arms of government. So why is anybody surprised when Latinos vote to curb the power that departments like ICE wield?
Under Trump, ICE raided numerous Latino communities, destroying lives, and breaking up families. The fact that Republicans don’t cite ICE as an example of intrusive government not only illustrates how detached Republicans are from Latinos, but their own professed philosophy.
The same could be said about prisons. For communities impacted by the social and fiscal consequences of an overreaching the justice system, Republicans represent the party of “lock ‘em up and throw away the key.”
To compare, Democrats are largely perceived to be more open to rehabilitation programs and less stringent government intervention. Unlike Republicans, they are more likely to restore voting rights for felons and provide a pathway in which those caught up in the justice system can reintegrate into society (unless it is Trump, of course).
And then there is law enforcement. To more affluent communities, the Republican Party represents “law and order.” But to many lower income communities, the Republican Party represents intrusive government tactics such as “stop and frisk.”
With this in mind, why would anyone vote for more armed government employees randomly stopping them and harassing them because of how they appear? Why would anyone vote for more government injunctions dictating who they can associate with?
Make no mistake. If police shootings were an epidemic in Idaho or Wyoming, the Republican Party would call to defund police like it does Planned Parenthood. But it doesn’t because police shootings don’t impact rural Republican communities like they do urban Democrat ones (and I say this as someone who is against defunding the police).
The truth is the Republican Party is not the party of “limited government” that it loves to fancy itself. On the contrary, the federal government not only grew by 2 million employees under Trump, but the defense budget grew by 30 percent, and billions were squandered on pet projects like the “border wall.”
The hypocrisy is glaring. But it also illustrates how most Americans view big government through a subjective lens. As a result, big government is best understood not through the lens of literal size or spending but rather whose lives government most effects or intervenes.
In the case of Latinos, a Republican-led government unquestionably intervenes more.
For many Latinos, particularly in low income communities, taxpayer money is best spent on local schools and roads than local law enforcement or prisons. As a result, Latinos vote on behalf of their own self-interests no different than any other demographic.
Of course, none of this is meant to suggest that the Democrat Party always has the best interests of Latinos in mind, or that all Latinos vote Democrat. After all, there is a reason Trump continues to peel Latino voters away from Biden and Democrats.
That being said, I’m not sure anything more effectively highlights the complexities and regional differences between Latinos (which pundits so often fail to articulate) than a discussion about “big government” and the role that government should play.
It comes down to perspective.
Brandon Loran Maxwell
Contributing Editor
More Informative Things For You…
Join Us Live For The Daily Chela Presidential Debate Watch Party
This week, the Daily Chela is hosting a special live presidential debate watch party, followed by discussion and analysis.
Joining us will be Los Angeles Times Breaking News Editor David Peñaloza, political strategist Mike Madrid, Paulie from the Latino Slant, and Daily Chela founder Brandon Loran Maxwell.
The event starts at 5:30pm and will be live streamed on the Daily Chela app and across all social media platforms.
Bring your popcorn and let’s talk politics!
Biden Announces Plan To Protect Undocumented Spouses
President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday that he is using his power to protect undocumented spouses of Americans. This move is meant to help about 500,000 immigrants stay in the U.S. and not get sent back to their home countries.
According to the new plan, immigrants who have been living in the U.S. for at least 10 years and are married to an American citizen can apply to stay permanently. Their children can also apply to stay with them.
Weekly Podcast: Election Wars
Last week’s Podcast:
Last Tuesday, Brandon discussed the ongoing immigration debate, along with recent Supreme Court rulings. In addition, Brandon sat down with political strategist Eli Magana to discuss the upcoming presidential election in November.
This week’s Podcast:
This Tuesday, Brandon will discuss the upcoming presidential debate and challenges that AI poses to American politics. In addition, Brandon will be joined by Hollywood Insider Jordan Micheal to discuss how Hollywood is changing and what it means for Latinos.
A Brief History Of The U.S.-Mexican Border
In the beginning, it was a vague idea, the approximate and inhospitable edge of the Spanish Empire and the beginning of no man’s land.
At the end of the 18th century, the primitive United States of America was far from the nation that would soon become Mexico. Even more “recently,” in the middle of the 19th century, the border between Mexico and the States was only a line drawn on a piece of paper, a porous boundary with no man-made barriers.
Mexico was officially born at the end of 1821. So for two centuries now, along two thousand miles, Mexicans and Americans have had a bittersweet neighborhood.
Latinos Increasingly Open To Third Party Candidates
Latino voters disillusioned with the two-party system show a greater inclination towards supporting third-party tickets rather than swinging fully from left to right, reveals a new poll by Voto Latino.
Preliminary findings, as reviewed by The Hill, indicate that President Biden maintains 2020-level leads among Latino voters in swing states compared to former President Trump. However, there is a growing openness among younger and female Hispanic voters to consider third-party candidates.
More Links From Daily Chela
Watch now: American Homeboy Movie
American Homeboy explores the complex origins of pachuco and cholo culture which sprouted from American soil more than 100 years ago in response to wartime sentiment, social alienation, and government discrimination only to become a pop culture phenomenon.
The film draws from rare interviews shot on 5k with leading Mexican American historians, academics, artists, activists, cholos, and former law enforcement officers against a backdrop of 50 hours of restored archival footage.
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