Cuban-American Voters: Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Xenophobia is the opium of the Republican Party, whose big tent shelters not only the traditional country club types but also the old Wallace Democrats who were "reconstructed" in the 1980s. Nativism affords them all a cover for their racism. You see, it's not the swarthy color that they find objectionable, not the inherent inferiority which they assume in foreigners from south of the border, but, rather, their "illegality," or, at worst, their "alienness" (i.e. presumed unassimilability) which offends them. They are not really "racists," they will tell you, because they are all into the Mexican hat dance, tequila and mariachis if in situ. It is only when they leave their situ that Republican sensibilities are aroused by their presence among them on U.S. soil (at least since 1848). That their ancestors lived in the Southwest for 30,000 years before the first blue eyes laid eyes upon that land is immaterial. There is no "Law of Return" for Mexicans, nor casino monopolies to compensate them for the biggest land-grab in history. The descendents of the victors in the war that Abraham Lincoln called "the most unjust in history" actually have the presumption to look on Mexican migrants as interlopers, and though they use them as little better than slaves, they nonetheless feel themselves ill-used by them. Perhaps the Mexicans consume too much water or breath too much air. Since the "Contract on America" became law in 1996 both illegal and legal immigrants have been excluded from the social contract, though still expected to pay the taxes that underwrite social security and unemployment benefits for native workers in this country. Because they are barred from claiming benefits their contributions are really contributions, an outright gift from the neediest in this country to the most affluent. This $60 billion slush fund is used to pay welfare to wealthy seniors and the unemployed by choice, and reduces, correspondingly, the tax burden on all Americans. Everybody eats in this country from the sweat of the Mexicans' brow. Americans put cheap produce on their tables thanks to them; they can afford macmansions because of them; everything is cheaper and more accessible to everybody else because of their undercompensated labor. Without them the quality of life for most Americans would plummet catastrophically. At least the Southern slaveholders knew what they owed their slaves and even fought a civil war where they risked everything rather than lose the source of their prosperity and happiness. The Republicans refuse even to acknowledge that they benefit by America's modern version of chattel slavery. Their racism is ingrained, unreasoning, and, ultimately, detrimental to themselves, because it would "emancipate" them from an important source of their prosperity and well-being. It wouldn't be like lopping off one's own head, but certainly it would amount to losing a foot and limping forever.

I should like to believe that the Republican presidential candidates know the folly of nativism and that their xenophobic rhetoric is merely a sop to their constituents. That, of course, would make them hypocrites, rabblerousers and hatemongers; but at least not insane. The really insane ones, the true believers, like Gingrich and Tancredo, have already dropped out. The others are opportunists willing to jump on any juggernaut that will take them to the White House. Some may actually think that they will be be able to decamp once they reach their destination. I do not think so. They may not realize it but they have taken a blood oath, and if they don't abide by it their careers will be ended. Xenophobia is the oldest American political tradition, but not since the 1920s has it monopolized the political discourse as it is doing now. These "read my lips" promises about illegal immigration will be redeemed whatever the cost to this country and the cost will be very great indeed.

Under U.S. law there is no such thing as an "illegal" Cuban immigrant. The Cuban Adjustment (1966) does not recognize such a category of excludables. The formulators of the "Wet Foot/Dry Foot" policy in effect improvised such a category to appease Castro and avoid another balsero crisis. Still, as was evident in Fred Thompson's "suitcase bomber" remark, Republicans see Cuban refugees as menacing foreigners rather than refugees from injustice. It would be foolish for Cuban-Americans to expect any special dispensations from them. The "Contract On America" of odious memory should have alerted Cuban exiles to that fact. Under its provisions more than 100,000 exiles were excluded from the social safety net because they were not U.S. citizens, though they had lived legally in this country and been taxpayers for 40 years. Faced with the prospect of spending the rest of their lives on the streets, tens of thousands of exiles were forced to become U.S. citizens in their 70s and 80s and the suicide rate for the elderly in South Florida climbed to record levels. Gracias, Newt.

Socio-economically, Cuban-Americans, who are older than other Hispanics, better educated and more prosperous, have more in common with Republicans than with Democrats. But Cubans have never voted their pocketbooks. The advantage which the Republicans enjoyed over the Democrats was that Cuban exiles perceived them as being more anti-Castro and anti-Communist. This was undoubtedly the case once. Whether it is still so is debatable. Most Republicans today couldn't care less about Cuba or Castro. They are either like Mitt Romney, who thinks that "Patria o Muerte" is the battle cry of anti-Castro Cubans; or like Mike Huckabee, who as governor of Arkansas publicly supported lifting the trade embargo, something which his predecessor, Bill Clinton, never did; or, worst of all, like Fred Thompson, who mistakes Cuban balseros for terrorists. (I don't know if I should even mention Libertarian Ron Paul, who has said that the "right" of Americans to travel to Cuba concerns him more than whether Cubans are free or no).

Democrats, of course, are as craven and opportunistic in their positions regarding Cuba as are their Republican counterparts, but that doesn't concern me because Cubans are not going to be voting for Democrats in 2008.