The Tequila Party: A Shot At Suppressing The Latino Vote?
Bueno, we’ve had La Raza Unida Party, the Tea Party, the Coffee Party — I even had a party in my backyard but nobody heard about it. And now we have the Tequila Party. I’m assuming that all of them, except for the party in my backyard, were or still are serious political endeavors.
If you haven’t heard about the Tequila Party, then either you have not been paying attention or their PR apparatus has failed them. The Tequila Party, as far as I can make out, is the most recent attempt by the Republican Party to minimize Latino voter turnout.
Ya sé that some of you are thinking: I am either paranoid or simply going way out on a limb but let’s look at the record.
The Republicans have tried everything from dressing election poll watchers to look like immigration officers, to sponsoring voter ID card legislation as well as anti-immigration laws throughout the United States to suppress the Latino vote. They have pursued all manner of voter suppression activities disguised as “ballot security” procedures just to ensure that Latino and African American voters don’t cast a ballot.
Why is voter suppression so important to the Republican Party? Because much of the legislation they support in areas such as health care, education, and the economy run counter to what Latinos and African-Americans need. So, one way of ensuring a Republican victory on election day is to suppress the vote of those who would likely vote against them.
Now comes the Tequila Party, a thinly-disguised effort to split the Latino vote off from the Democratic Party. Historically, Latinos nationally have supported Democratic presidential candidates at a 65% rate. What the Republicans would like to do is reduce this level of support to the 50% level or less. The creation of a third party to siphon off Latino votes would render the power of the Latino vote harmless.
The experiences in Nevada and California where Latino voters were the determining votes in those 2010 senatoral elections scared the heck out of Republicans and showed what a group of voters that only represented a small percentage of the overall electorate could do. Latinos have the capacity and capability of dictating who will sit in the White House well into the future. This means, however, that if they continue to support Democratic Party candidates the Republican Party will be shut out of the Executive Branch forever!
Blatant voter suppression efforts can only go so far, and risk being ruled unconstitutional in many cases by the federal courts. Hence, the creation of bogus political outlets like the Tequila Party are absolutely essential if the Republican Party is to remain viable.
¿Qué no?
Dr. Henry Flores is a professor of Political Science and Dean of the Graduate School at St. Mary’s University, in San Antonio, Texas.
[Photo By Raelene G]