{"id":13016,"date":"2023-08-04T19:05:20","date_gmt":"2023-08-04T19:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/?p=13016"},"modified":"2023-08-10T15:01:52","modified_gmt":"2023-08-10T15:01:52","slug":"the-rise-of-the-west-how-mexican-americans-and-latinos-are-shaping-the-southwest-into-the-new-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/?p=13016","title":{"rendered":"The Rise of the West: How Mexican-Americans and Latinos are Shaping the Southwest into the New America"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Alex Gonzalez<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I was a teenager in the 1990s when Americans saw for the first time \nthe big grow of Hispanic population, especially Mexican-Americans, in \nthe Southwest. At the time, The so-called conservatives from the \nNational Review the Hoover Institution, started coming up with clever \nnames to demonize Mexicans and Mexican-American population and warning \nthe nation of a cultural demise caused by the wave of  Mexican Latino \nimmigrants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In California in the 1990s,  these so called conservatives and Republicans  crafted menacing titles  like \u201cMEXIFORNIA<\/a>\u201d\n insinuating that states like California will turn into Mexico \u2013 a third\n world \u2013  and as precaution the state needed do something; the state \ngovernment must retaliate by creating punitive laws like Prop 187 to cut\n access to any source of government agencies to children, even if \neducation is Constitutionally protected. And for the most part, this is \nthe same dishonest argument many of so-called \u201climited government \nconservatives\u201d always have used in the last twenty years to justify \nlaws, at the federal and state level, under the pretense of \u2018the rule of\n law,\u201d or \u201cAmerican social decline\u201d to demonized Mexicans, \nMexican-Americans. From American losing their jobs, increase in crime, \nloss of a \u201cwhite identity,\u201dthese naysayers always blame \nMexican-Americans and Latinos because in their minds, the growth of \nMexican-American community was is a symbol America\u2019s racial and cultural\n demise and loss of \u201cwhite\u201d power. As a result, for opportunistic \nRepublicans in \u201cconservative circle\u201d blaming Mexico and the \nMexican-American communities was the norm to predict that economic \ndecline of the Southwest, specifically in states where Latinos, mostly \nMexican-Americans,  soon were going to the majority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twenty five years later, the Southwest has become the economic engine\n of America and Mexican-Americans and Latinos are almost half the \npopulation in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the last twentieth years, the continued growth of the Southwest, \nfueled mostly by the growth of Latinos, is the biggest takeaway from the\n new population estimates that the Census Bureau released in late December<\/a>.\n They were the last before the 2020 decennial census, which will be used\n to reapportion both congressional seats and Electoral College votes \namong the states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the U.S. Census estimates,  the population projections \npoints toward a ten (10) seat change over 17 states across the nation by\n year 2020. States that will gain single seats include Arizona (1), \nColorado (1), and Texas (3). And while California may lose one seat, \nCalifornia has maintained a healthy population stabilization since 2014 \nat around 39-40 million.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The reapportionments after both the 2000<\/a> and 2010 censuses<\/a>\n produced comparable shifts in representation from the Northeast and \nMidwest to the Sun Belt. If the projections for 2020 prove accurate, it \nwill mean that since the start of this century, more than 30 seats and \nElectoral College votes will have shifted from the Rust Belt to the Sun \nBelt, with no Rust Belt state gaining a seat at any point. A map from \nElection Data Services tracking the cumulative impact of reapportionment\n from 1910 through 2010 captures an even more dramatic shift of power \nand population to the Sun Belt states.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Politically speaking, these are House Congressional seats and College\n Electoral Votes that will be taken from Upper Mid-West and the Rustbelt\n and reapportioned to the Southwest.  Therefore, the growth of the \nMexican-American and Latino population in the Southwest, especially in \nCalifornia and Texas, is creating a shift  in political power by pulling\n congressional seats from the Rustbelt to the Southwest; these are the \nreal politcal immediate redistricting changes \nthat will occur  in 2021 with the first election to be held in the \nMid-Term of 2022, and subsequently for the Presidential race of 2024. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Moreover, both Texas and California<\/a> are already \u2018minority-majority\u201d states with Latinos making more than 40% of the population and in Arizona, and Nevada  \u201cnonwhite people already constitute a majority of the population ages 18 to 64 in Texas and Nevada<\/a>,\u201d according to William Frey, Brooking Institution demographer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Population growth has also led to economic growth. California is a heavily urban majority-minority coastal state and California is doing \u201cawesome<\/em>.\u201d<\/a>\n the state is in much sounder fiscal shape; while federal deficits are \nsoaring again, the state has erased its red ink and even stashed $18 \nbillion in a rainy day fund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the most draconian predictions that conservatives like  Stephen Moore<\/a> of the Heritage Foundation constantly\n argue is that the state has been losing population due to its high \ntaxes and too much immigration \u2013 Hispanics\/Mexican-Americans \u2013 as a \nresult, \u201cwhites\u201d are leaving to other states like Arizona and Texas. \nBut, as the new  Stanford  research<\/a>\n shows, those who leave are lower income, but the state also gains \nhigher income educated residents and \u201cboth in absolute terms, and \ncompared to sensible control groups, we find little migration response \nto changes in top tax rates,\u201d the study concludes. Moreover, according \nto new population  data by Pew Trust<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>California\n has a 0.15% better population increase at 0.78% than the national \naverage at 63%. The population of California  has increased to almost 40\n million (39, 557,000) currently from 36,600,000 million in 2008 \u2013 see population growth map below.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n

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As 2020 begins, California\u2019s economy is the strongest in the nation, with a gross domestic product (GDP) of nearly $3 trillion,<\/a> representing the fifth largest economy in the world with an estimated  $18 billion of in a rainy day fund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second frequent argument against \nCalifornia by \u201cconservative\u201d pundits is that the high number of \nimmigrants and high taxes was going to push out business leading to \neconomic decline. However, the state continued to boom at higher rates \nthan most Red states, including those with lower taxes and no state \ntaxes.  The Brookings interactive geography of prosperity map <\/a>below shows that California has stronger \u201cVitality Index\u201d than any other state in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click on Vitality Index to see how your county & state stack up: https:\/\/brook.gs\/2H7xYQf<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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California is America\u2019s largest state economy<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even Conservative think tanks like American Enterprise Institute<\/a> (AEI) now have recognize that California is now the world\u2019s fifth-largest economy, up from eighth a decade ago,  producing nearly $3 trillion of economic output in 2018, more than the United Kingdom\u2019s GDP last year of $2.8 trillion. Consider this: California has a labor force of 19.6 million compared to the labor force in the UK of 34 million (World Bank data here<\/a>).<\/strong> Amazingly, it required a labor force 75% larger (and 14.5 million more people) in the UK to produce the same economic output last year as California! That\u2019s a testament to the superior, world-class productivity of the American worker. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How its demographics and diverse economy plays a big role in it. Higher education, a dynamic immigrant labor force<\/a>, high tech and agriculture is the real source of the state. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the Pacific to Gulf of Mexico<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

America\u2019s second largest state economy  is Texas producing nearly \n$1.8 trillion of economic output. But, Texas is a thriving, not because \nis a \u201cred state\u201d state, but because it became the heart of NAFTA<\/a>. Texas is the only state in West with real economic growth since the start of the recession \u2013 see to  Western States Lead the Pack in Key Economic Indicator by Pew<\/a>\n Western states, and Texas, are only the state that  have recorded three\n times the rate of growth in total personal income as last-place \nConnecticut (see map below).<\/p>\n\n\n

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However, unlike other \u201cred states,\u201d what makes Texas such successful red is its geographical location. T<\/a>hese\n 1250 miles of border with Mexico is filled with border communities that\n cross the border each day; an estimated of 1 million of people cross \nthe border legally and about $1.7 Billion trade crosses the U.S.-Mexico \nevery day. California is the largest economy in the nation, but only \nshares 400 miles of border with Mexico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are more facts about what makes Texas successful<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Texas is the most Mexican state in the Union:<\/p>\n\n\n\n