Latino Giant to Change U.S. Politics

Demographics show that the huge increase in the Hispanic population in the US will start to swing Republican states to the Democrats. Even though the borders may be somewhat secured in the future, the damage is already done. There is no way to deport 13 million Mexicans even if some want to. They will become citizens. We can only hope that the hard working, law abiding Hispanic citizens will help assimilate them, teaching them the values of a Democratic Republic instead of those of a Socialist State.

Excerpt: SAN ANTONIO -- It was over frozen lattes three blocks from the Alamo that Lydia Camarillo and I discussed the wave of Latino voters expected to change politics in Texas -- and America. Camarillo is vice president of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, a group that signs up new Hispanic voters and spurs them to the polls.

Some Texans predict that the "Latino giant" won't fully flex its political might until 2012. Some say 2014. Others see the tough immigration law in Arizona moving the impact to this year. All agree that when Latinos arrive at the polls in huge numbers, the results won't please Republicans.

"I think they know that the day is coming," Camarillo said. "That's why they are coming up with obstructions, such as voter ID laws."

And there's not much Republicans can do about a surging Latino electorate in the short term. Even if they appeal to more Latino voters and Hispanic turnout stays weak, the raw numbers may overwhelm them.

As Rice University political analyst Bob Stein explains, over the past three decades, Latino support for Democrats in Texas has actually fallen from 75 percent to 60 percent. But as Democrats lost 15 percentage points, they almost doubled in the number of votes received because of the explosive growth in the Latino population. Read article here.