Watch: We’re about to get a decade named after Hispanics … again!

I knew it was going to happen.

After all, it has happened every decade since 1970, that I know.

Last month, the Economist discovered Latino voters. This month, it was the American Prospect that stumbled upon the nation’s fastest-growing voting block.

I’m amazed that no one has yet used the term “decade of the Hispanics.”

Writer Adam Serwer points out that Hispanic-friendly George W. Bush sought commonality with those voters, repeatedly pointing out things he touted as shared values, like love of religion and family and advocacy of fiscal conservatism. Serwer repeats a oft-mentioned “fact” that many political scientists question: That W’s good-natured pitch won him 44 percent of the Latino vote.

And Democrats weren’t weren’t smart enough to point out that they are fiscally conservative because of widespread poverty, and they stick together as families because relatives are a major part of the safety nets for many. And they pray a lot because they hope the Almighty will better their lot since neither party seems overly interested in doing that.

After Bush’s half-hearted efforts to push through immigration reform failed miserably when the party’s right wing recoiled in loud opposition, the GOP started turning increasingly anti-immigrant, until now, it is a hot-bed of hateful nativists and xenophobes.

Why even the once amiable Sen. John McCain is now spewing anti-immigrant taunts.

Hispanic voters, the writer posits, rewarded McCain by only giving him about a third of their votes in 2008.

The nativist hate-speech has since intensified and become even more vile.

This, Serwer says, will drive Hispanics to the polls to cast ballots for Democrats and prove what some GOP strategists predicted decades ago: that Republicans will lose the Latino vote – without some of which, they cannot win – for an entire generation or more. The point is valid. Then-Gov. Pete Wilson’s strong support of Proposition 187, which would have denied immigrants virtually all social services, helped turn California from a Red to a Blue state.

But other elements must also be considered about the Latino voting block.

If every Latino were to get a nickel each they were referred to as part of “the sleeping giant,” we would all be approaching real wealth. Condescension aside, however, immigrants of Mexican descent, were until the early 1990s, among the two nationalities least likely to become naturalized U.S. citizens, a requirement for voting in all states, because Mexican laws would then prevent them from owning property in the homeland to which many still plan to return.

Additionally, Mexican immigrants tend to be considerably younger than the general population, so raw population figures have long been misleading, because a significantly larger percentage of their population is too young to register.

Worst of all, however, is that for at least a half century, Latino’s overwhelming support of Democratic candidates has made that party take them for granted and made Republicans reluctant to even court them. The result is that neither party has made the group a desirable target whose issues are worth championing, and on whom resources must be spent as they are for much smaller target populations.

And for the record, Latinos are concerned about many issues other than immigration.

Give the Prospect a read and let us know what you think.

Photo by: tlml78