Demography and Politics in the US

Socioeconomic and demographic changes in North America increasingly influence politics. Slave owners, led by General Grant during the Civil War,* who fought with fire and blood for the right to bring blacks over from Africa to remain shackled on plantations in southern states, could not bear the sight of an African-American Obama guiding the country’s fate. If they saw this, as well as darkness tinting the economic, social and cultural skin of northern power, they would die all over again.

An equally lethal end would be had by those racists led by the Ku Klux Klan, a group which has expanded its hatred and discrimination to the Latin American population. Their rage would cause them to catch fire, something they did to the victims of their racial hatred.

Once free, thanks to Lincoln and others, African-American blackness began to travel the long road of integration into the economy, society and culture, a road which has not yet ended. Some advances are conclusively seen, as demonstrated by the blacks that currently stand out on the national level in diverse areas such as politics. A paradigmatic example is Obama, who may be reelected by the people’s vote in the upcoming United States presidential election. It is equally fitting to mention Colin Powell, a black man who in the Bush era was Secretary of State, and Martin Luther King, an African-American intellectual who achieved worldwide fame for his fight in defense of blacks’ rights and ended up killed by the same old racists.

Now, the political effects of the changes in U.S. demography run in favor of the Latin American population, which has dramatically increased since the 1950s. Latinos are now the second highest U.S. minority in terms of population. The Latin American influence is increasingly greater in politics because the Latino vote, in some states, will define the results of the presidential election. This explains why presidential hopefuls favor themes of interest to Latinos in their campaigns (immigration laws, health, education, etc.).

Currently, important U.S. cities (Los Angeles and San Antonio, among others) are in the hands of North American Latinos. A Latin American of Cuban origin, Marco Rubio, was pegged as a potential presidential running mate by the Republican Party. A woman of Bolivian ancestry, Cecelia Munoz,** is a key member of the federal bureaucracy and works with Obama. It is highly probable that in the not-so-distant future, the popular vote will elect someone of Latino origin as President of the United States.

*Editor’s Note: General Grant was actually Lt. General in charge of the Union (North) Army. General Robert E. Lee was in charge of the Confederate (South) Army. Also, the slave trade from Africa to the United States was ended in the first decade of the 1800s, long before the Civil War. Slaves were still traded within the states.

** Editor’s Note: The author also listed Blanca Otero as a member of the bureaucracy working with Obama, but there is no record of such a person working a high-level bureaucratic job.