Texas Hispanics may surprise politicians

I have been driving around the poor neighborhoods of DFW for the past month, seeing patients again, after a year of absence. Let me tell you what I notice: lots more Spanish signs and businesses everywhere. While politicians have been keeping black people upset over racism, like 24/7 news coverage of the “s#!&hole countries” kind of stuff, they have been quietly crowding out poor black people with poor brown people. At the same time, I’ve been listening to news in Spanish on Telemundo. I can tell you with confidence that there is NO conservative perspective EVER represented there. Also, by their choice of news coverage, they have slanted the news to be so pro-Democrat that I’m genuinely shocked (not that I’m Republican, I’m just shocked at the brainwashing.)

If Spanish-speakers ever do hear a conservative perspective, they are going to disappoint Democrats when they vote. They will learn that the reason the US has abortion up to the 9th month of pregnancy is the Democrat Party; the reason their taxes are as high as they are - Democrats; the reason it’s so much harder here to legally run your own business, well, let’s just say the Democrats are the big government party. So if you want to make tamales in your kitchen and sell them, you’ll be doing it illegally in the US, because of these big-government taxes and laws. And we enforce our laws here, but that’s not a Democrat thing, that’s a “rule of law” thing, which I hope is still a thing. Although, there are a whole lot of immigrants who sell tamales without getting any permits or paying any taxes, and they don’t face the wrath of Uncle Sam and, at the same time, little American children get in trouble for selling lemonade without a permit. So I don’t think I understand the rules any more. But I know we have some rules. And for sure Americans don’t expect to get by with murder. You have to be here illegally, like Kate Steinle’s killer, to get that kind of consideration.

So that’s why some people get so enthusiastic about a “wall.” It’s a symbol, a hope that, someday soon, we will all have to follow the same rules. It’s a symbol that We The American People exist, and we are not going to be overcome by people who don’t want to be Americans, but just want to benefit from our system.

Why do we stay upset over stupid stuff like the “s#!&hole countries” comment? If we stay floored by that stuff, we can’t get our feet under us and be able to jump on real problems. I don’t think that we should obsess over "the controversy of the day." I’d like us to obsess over the problems that keep Americans from starting their own businesses or being paid better wages. I’d like to us to obsess over the policies that created the largest prison population in the world -- a prison system that profits corporations, exploits prisoners's labor, warps society, and shatters families. That’s more interesting to me than Trump, any day.