The Hispanic Vote 2012--No se deje engañar (Do NOT be fooled)--a letter to the Hispanic Community: It is no secret that Republicans are talking about capturing a good percentage of the Hispanic vote in the general 2012 presidential election. Some say if they do not secure at least 33% of the Hispanic vote they will lose in November against the president. Obviously, Republicans are working furiously in an effort to determine exactly how to do this. It is a difficult task when the party who claims it WANTS to secure the Hispanic vote promotes policies which clearly identify it AGAINST the Hispanic vote. One need only listen to what the Republican leadership and its base are saying.

I will not enumerate all the myriad of ways it says it will seek to, in actuality, diminish the Hispanic population in the US by advocating draconian anti-immigration practices in states such as Arizona with its "papers please" law signed by one of the most right wing extremist Republican governors in that state's history to Republicans in red states like Alabama and Mississippi which have attempted to create an immigration barrier and codify into law undocumented worker round-ups to keep small businesses from hiring them. Businesses in those states are suffering from those policies and some are in bankruptcy. Many Republicans want to ramp up efforts on the US borders to seize and kill, if necessary, those who are attempting to cross. They relegate human beings to less-than-human status. It is shameful. The Republican Party is the new Nativitist Party of this century. There are even efforts by right wingnuts to stop the teaching of Hispanic history in public schools. The list of anti-Hispanic policies by the Republican Party goes on and on. All one has to do is Google the facts.

Therefore, I ask you NOT to fall for the Trojan Horse of Republican politics that sounds so nice when its candidates tell you how much they love Hispanics and speak in Spanish for one purpose only and that is to secure the Hispanic vote. The Republican Party in reality does everything from border vigilantism to gerrymandering districts as well as enacting voter ID suppression laws to diminish the impact of the minority vote because they KNOW that vote is usually cast for Democrats.

As a last point and one which I hope you convey to the Hispanic community: DO NOT FALL for Republican attempts to place the Cuban-American Senator from Florida, Marco Rubio, as the Romney vice-presidential pick in order to lasso the Hispanic vote. This is a feeble attempt to take the Hispanic population as fools. Marco Rubio is NOT a Cuban refugee. He will no more be an advocate for Hispanic people than a white racist sheriff in a southwestern state, who wants to round up Latino people by any means necessary in an effort to deport them, is.

The Republican Party is NOT about Hispanic people. It is about white people trying to cement their power which they perceive is slipping away. Do NOT be FOOLED--No se deje enganar. The Republican Party is NOT about you or any who are among the 99%. They merely want you to THINK that they are to win power at your expense. Securing your vote for that purpose is too steep a price for any of us to pay.