New Census data show that Hispanics in California, our most populous state, are now a minority in name only.
Of California's 37 million residents, 38 percent are Hispanic and 40 percent are white.
Nationwide, the median Hispanic age is 27 compared to a national median of 36 and a median white age of 41. So Hispanics are not just our most rapidly growing demographic, they are our youngest.
Projections show Hispanics reaching 30 percent of our population by 2050 from about 15 percent today.
The absence of real reforms coming out of Washington should be of particular concern to these youthful Hispanic Americans. All our growing big government failures, now being institutionalized instead of being reformed, will be dumped disproportionately into their laps.
Take health care.
A central pillar of Obamacare is the government mandate that everyone buy health insurance. This was sold as some great act of compassion to get everyone insured, but there is nothing compassionate about government forcing someone to buy what they don't need.
Of the 50 million Americans without health insurance, about 65 percent are under 35. Although it might be tempting to view these uninsured youth as irresponsible, they are often making sensible choices.
It's because of the ridiculous way we define health insurance. The point of insurance is to protect against catastrophes. Car insurance covers accidents, not tune-ups and oil changes. Home insurance covers fires and floods, not paint jobs and plumbing. Yet we're forced to buy health insurance to cover routine visits to the doctor for a sore throat as well as catastrophes involving hospital admittance for an operation.
The difference in cost for a policy that covers routine health care plus catastrophic coverage as opposed to one that just covers catastrophes can be thousands of dollars per year. What sense does it make for a healthy youth to buy more than catastrophic coverage? It's much cheaper to do that and pay out of pocket for routine doctor visits.
But logic doesn't wash for those who love big government.
Obamacare mandates that everyone buy full coverage health insurance and demands especially that youth buy in to get the young and healthy into the risk pool to keep overall costs down. A fundamentally bad idea is financed on the backs of young Americans. How about Social Security?
In a Pew survey last year, 70 percent of those under 29 said they would like freedom to take a portion of their payroll tax and invest it in a personal retirement account.
Will big government power brokers let them do it? No way. It doesn't matter if it is a better investment that will produce a much bigger retirement pot. Or that you actually own it and can bequeath what is left to your heirs.
The goal isn't to make individuals better off. The goal is to prop up a government program. If we let young workers out whose payroll taxes pay for current retirees, where will the money come from? Raise it by cutting some other government program? No way!
So because we define the problem as "saving the system" as opposed to making individuals better off, the only Social Security reform we're hearing about is raising the retirement age for everyone and taking an already bad deal and making it worse for all. We're saving a system not worth saving by putting our youth in entitlement prison.
Couple all this with piling on trillions in new debt to pay for more government which all gets dumped onto the next generation.
The new conservative Republican leadership is trying to cut and streamline, to reform entitlements with freedom, choice, and ownership.
These kinds of real reforms that will invigorate us for the future should excite the growing universe of young Hispanic Americans.
They should be a prime target market for this conservative Republican agenda.
(Star Parker is president of CURE, Center for Urban Renewal and Education (www.urbancure.org). She can be reached at parker@urbancure.org.)
Dale Whiting posted at 8:25 am on Tue, Mar 15, 2011.
Starr,
What leads you to conclude that Hispanic Youth will be sympathetic to the positions you espouse? While 38 percent of Californians are Hispanic, and the median age of Hispanics is 27, your observation that "The absence of real reforms coming out of Washington should be of particular concern to these youthful Hispanic Americans." seems more normative if not perscriptive on your part than any actual measure of expressed values. Republicans may want to reach out to youthful Hispanics, but the question to be examined is "Will the hand reaching out contain anything of interest to these youthful people?" Others will also be reaching out, reaching with hands which have typically contained issues of more interest. Why not compare what Democrats carry with what Republicans carry and take a poll or two to see what attracts the most interest?
sockratties posted at 8:41 am on Tue, Mar 15, 2011.
I usually avoid discussions knocking “Obamacare” and government social systems in general because the objectives of the author and commenters seem to be to knock the administration “du jour” or personalities rather than address issues. I like what I read here, however. Catastrophic insurance for medical and prescription drugs makes a lot of sense. Something like a deductable with car insurance, provided it’s a no fault type of policy. We wouldn’t want the rates to keep going up because someone is unlucky enough to need more care than someone else.
The social security issue is not the same. People can invest in retirement now. Look at 401K plans, Roth IRAs and all the other options. Social security is only meant to be a safety net, not a retirement system. We have way too many entitlements that don’t contribute. When it looks like free money, our politicians will spend it. No one should be dipping into social security that hasn’t paid in the first place. And social security does not contribute to our economic deposit. It has always paid its own way.
If a system that gives individuals more options is adopted, though, it should also keep those that make wrong choices from bellying up to the bar later, trying to get a piece of the pie they eschewed when they didn’t want to pay their fair share.
As for the California statistics regarding Hispanics, that's just profiling. The demographics should relate to age, earning power (related to the ability to save and invest), family structure and health. If you believe that the current conservative GOP agenda will see the Hispanic American as a prime marketing target you’re not talking about Arizona. Governor Brewer, Senator Pearce, et. all, only see them as targets to advance an agenda of division and personal gain.
Dale Whiting posted at 3:49 pm on Tue, Mar 15, 2011.
socratties,
While the article does address some topics you favor, it really is about an entirely different subject, the Republican Party's need and ability to attract Hispanics, the "minority of the future." Got anything to say about that?
sockratties posted at 7:01 am on Wed, Mar 16, 2011.
Dale: While I recognize that people are often classified, organized, vilified, categorized, recognized, sectionalized and identified by race, ancestry, color and other ethnic characteristics, I believe those considerations do not belong in government or politics. Even the argument against such distinctions is divisive when it identifies the subject of the bias. Political pandering to any group is degrading, both to the politician and to the voters. We are either American or we are not. Except for those few of us with indigenous ancestry, we all could be “hyphenated” Americans. Demographics should include those things I listed at the end of my previous comment, nothing more. I agreed with your comment, by the way, but think it would have been much more meaningful if the words, “Hispanic,” had not been there.
Accuracy posted at 11:27 am on Wed, Mar 16, 2011.
Hispanic Americans in Arizona
sockratties concluded: “If you believe that the current conservative GOP agenda will see the Hispanic American as a prime marketing target you’re not talking about Arizona. Governor Brewer, Senator Pearce, et. all, only see them as targets to advance an agenda of division and personal gain.”
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Talking about Arizona . . . Hispanic GOP groups in Arizona include Somos Republicans that represent the interest of Latino Republicans in the state.
But currently, the Arizonans for Better Government organization and the East Valley Patriots for American Values (Democrat group) are working closely with Somos Republicans on the effort to recall Arizona Senate President Russell. Randy Parraz (Democrat /political organizer) is the leader of the umbrella community groups seeking signatures in the East Valley as the big part of the recall effort.
Cerulean posted at 1:47 pm on Wed, Mar 16, 2011.
Starr,
An article by Daniel Gonzales in the June 8 2010Arizona Republic said "In the seven weeks since Republican Gov. Jan Brewer signed Arizona's tough new immigration law, there has been a sharp increase in the number of Latinos registering to vote as Democrats, party officials say, jumping from about 100 a week before to 500 now."
The article goes on to say that Arizona has about 400,000 unregistered Latinos who are eligible to vote. And if we can predict the future by observing the past then the majority of these will register as Democrat. YEAH! (We need more diversity in this State.)
Socratties makes a good point about how and why the Social Security issue is not the same.
DeeDee Blase posted at 8:09 am on Sun, Mar 20, 2011.
Please attend our first FIRESIDE ON IMMIGRATION. Details below:
A FIRESIDE ON IMMIGRATION
By Daryl M. Williams, Esq.
www.bwglaw.net
Lecture and discussion by a devout Mormon on Illegal Immigration
Mr. Williams is a conservative Republican. He is a member of the High Council of the Paradise ValleyArizona Stake. He has been a life-long Mormon, served in several bishoprics, on several High Councils, and in many other callings in the Church. His ancestors lived and are buried in Missouri, Nauvoo, and walked across the plains to Utah. He is a scriptorian.
This Fireside is not sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Date: Friday, April 8, 2011
Time: 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Place: 243 South Mesa Drive, Mesa, AZ
Open to the Public.
For questions, please call DeeDee Blase at 480.200.3748.
“Russell Pearce, the chief proponent of Arizona’s immigration laws is, like me, a Mormon. His views, however, do not reflect the official position of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the official name of the Mormon church. Indeed, Mr. Pearce’s views are inconsistent with the official position of his church.”