It's simple really
There's a been a lot of talk about what Republicans have to do to become a relevant party again. Most of that conversation has centered around eroding the Democratic stranglehold on minority voters, particularly Latino voters.
And almost all of that has centered on comprehensive immigration reform.
While I think comprehensive immigration reform is important and ultimately the best way to extend the Republican brand into minority communities (provided they don't completely fuck it up, which isn't something I can assume they won't do), I can think of two things they can do relatively soon with little effort.
Get rid of the "English as official language" plank in their platform. Their "heritage language" fig leaf isn't fooling anyone. Yiddish is a heritage language. Spanish is the lingua franca of most of the hemisphere we find ourselves in.
Make Puerto Rico the 51st state. It's in their platform, “We support the right of the United States citizens of Puerto Rico to be admitted to the Union as a fully sovereign state if they freely so determine.” They so freely determined. How about keeping a promise in your platform for a change?
If the party cannot on the one hand give up its juvenile language position and on the other hand fulfill what is perhaps the most mature promise in its platform it will never again be a serious contender for leadership in the United States. Certainly if those two simple changes are beyond their ability to contemplate, how do they expect to achieve comprehensive immigration reform?
And almost all of that has centered on comprehensive immigration reform.
While I think comprehensive immigration reform is important and ultimately the best way to extend the Republican brand into minority communities (provided they don't completely fuck it up, which isn't something I can assume they won't do), I can think of two things they can do relatively soon with little effort.
Get rid of the "English as official language" plank in their platform. Their "heritage language" fig leaf isn't fooling anyone. Yiddish is a heritage language. Spanish is the lingua franca of most of the hemisphere we find ourselves in.
Make Puerto Rico the 51st state. It's in their platform, “We support the right of the United States citizens of Puerto Rico to be admitted to the Union as a fully sovereign state if they freely so determine.” They so freely determined. How about keeping a promise in your platform for a change?
If the party cannot on the one hand give up its juvenile language position and on the other hand fulfill what is perhaps the most mature promise in its platform it will never again be a serious contender for leadership in the United States. Certainly if those two simple changes are beyond their ability to contemplate, how do they expect to achieve comprehensive immigration reform?