Anna Escobedo Cabral is treasurer of the United States of America, Carlos Gutierrez is secretary of Commerce and Alberto Gonzales is Unites States Attorney General. President George w. Bush's cabinet is, following Elena Rocha , "one of the most ethnically diverse administrations in the history of the country". As a matter of fact, seven out of fifteen of the "nation's highest posts" are held by ethnic minorities-three of which happen to be Latinos. It is of common acknowledgment that the Bush administration-Republican-practices policies considered to be of conservative inspiration . These policies are formulated, in part, by the Latinos who are members of the presidential cabinet. And to all appearances, they are also approved by a significant share of the Latino electorate.
[...] On the other hand VRA did not have a positive effect on Latino electoral participation. In raw numbers, Latino voters almost tripled in the same period; but the share of Latinos over the total voters decreased. Can we understand the mediocre participation rates as a conservative electoral behaviour? Is it politically motivated? We could defend the hypothesis that low participation rates are a sign of a non-commitment to "conventional forms of political action". These forms, however, are not conventional to Latinos. [...]
[...] A great share of Latino voters are newly-turned eighteens, newly naturalized citizens or simply are excluded. According to a survey by Pew Hispanic Center (2004) of Latinos affirm not knowing enough the candidates (reason why they do not vote). Conforming their political action to institutionalised political action channels would imply breaking the statu quo—which doesn't mean there is any strictly political motivation into it. We could however call it a conservative behaviour for, in passivity, it perpetrates what are conventional forms of political action when it comes to Latinos (non institutionalised). [...]
[...] Many Democratic Latino voters share with their Republican fellows a large range of conservative opinions or behaviours. II-Moral identification "The Latinos are Republicans, and they don't know it yet". This famous quote by Ronald Reagan illustrates the fact that a large amount of non-Republican Latinos share with Republicans a common point of view on key moral and even political issues. In reality, there is a great discontinuity between Latino electoral behaviour and their moral convictions—Republicans may therefore have very liberal conceptions concerning some issues, and Democrats very conservative opinions. [...]
[...] However, a certain number of Republican conservative values are compatible with Latino values—which does not necessarily imply a clear link between values and political behaviour. Latinos can be, and they are to some extent, conservatives. "But, says David L. Leal, I have rarely found a Latino national-origin group holding an opinion more conservative than that of the Anglos" References - Arvizu, John, and F. Chris Garcia “Latino Voting Participation: Explaining and Differentiating Voting Turnout.” Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, v18: 104-128. [...]
[...] Extreme cultural-conservatism can be a feature of social insulation—this can be particularly true if we consider the USA to be, despite a dominant Anglo-protestant culture, a multi-cultural nation. Paradoxically, whereas Latinos could often be considered to be culturally and even religiously conservatives, studies show that they are likely to be as much or more patriotic than other ethnic groups. For the very reason the United States has been built on successive waves of immigration coming from different cultural backgrounds, patriotism is the one linking element that defines, indubitably, American national feeling. [...]
APA Style reference
For your bibliographyOnline reading
with our online readerContent validated
by our reading committee
