Politics Down on the Border

For John, BLUF:  I don't think we can assume things are always the way our political masters explain them.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Here is a question from a couple of weeks ago.  "Texan Will Hurd defies the odds for House Republicans.  Can he last?".  The reason for the question is he is a Black Man in a district that is 70% Hispanic.  The other reason for the question is that it was published in The Washington Post, which perhaps isn't sure it understands the middle of the country.

This gets to the root of the issue of race and ethnicity in the United States.  We have set up some artificial categories and we assume that individual citizens will fit themselves into those categories.  And vote based on those categories.  The Damon Runyon answer is yes, that is the way to bet.  However, sometimes things change, and that is politics in the long run.  For example, when Hispanics become the majority minority, will the Democrat Party be able to keep them and Blacks both happy?  There is, by way of a challenge, the NAACP lawsuit against the School Board in Prince George's County, based on Brown v Board of Education, over the opening of two schools for non-English speaking Hispanics.  That doesn't sound like comity.

And, back to Representative Will Hurd, he probably appears to be a down the line kind of guy, being former CIA and all that.  And Hispanics in that part of Texas may well be about hard work and family values, having been in Texas for generations.

November 2016 will be an interesting time, and I wish Rep Will Hurd the best of luck.

Regards  —  Cliff