The Democratic Party is too often its worst enemy, regularly providing ammunition to opponents who just have to pick a ripe fruit.
As much the Republican Party is divided, the Trump clan imposing despite everything the pace, as the Democratic formation struggles to unite around the same speech or the same priorities. This isn’t the first time you’ve read this sort of statement, but once again the more progressive wing finds a way to stumble upon a clientele that should be won over by Democrats.
You already know that Republicans wave the scarecrow woke at every opportunity, the term now having an almost exclusively negative connotation. It does not matter whether certain claims are founded and fair, too many progressives have sunk into caricature.
The most recent example of a certain right-thinking left, but disconnected from the priorities of many voters, concerns a new name whose use is being tried to impose when referring to Spanish speakers.
For a long time, Spanish speakers have been referred to in English by the terms Latin, for a man, or Latina, for a woman. For the past ten years or so, the intellectual elite and activists from the LGBTQ + community have instead favored a neutral term which does not therefore refer to gender. This is how the term latinx appeared in many publications.
Where is the harm you will tell me? A large number of Spanish speakers, especially those from the working class, do not want it. It doesn’t matter whether the intention is good or not, whether academics in major centers or younger Spanish speakers promote the term, overall it doesn’t add up.
The Axios site reported earlier this week that by continuing to impose the use of latinx, not only are we giving ammunition to Republicans and conservatives, but we displease first and foremost … Spanish speakers! If only at the strategic level, it is counterproductive.
For its part, the POLITICO site relayed the results of a survey which indicates that only 2% of Spanish speakers choose this term to identify themselves.
It does not matter whether intellectuals or activists are right, the fight they lead is not supported by those primarily concerned. If the initial objective is noble and the fight for inclusion and against transphobia is laudable, pushing change down the throats of Spanish speakers can only in the short term alienate this group from them.
When Spanish speakers are asked why they refuse to use the new name, they simply answer that they have not asked for anything and that they have other things to do. We prioritize access to work and better living conditions. For a handful of university Spanish speakers in the major centers who like Latinx, we find a majority of more conservative Spanish speakers on this issue, those who are generally older and found in the suburbs or rural areas.
More Spanish speakers than expected chose Donald Trump over Joe Biden in 2020. The new president’s party seemed to them disconnected from reality, at least from their reality. Sometimes a little imbued with themselves and convinced of their moral superiority, the elites of the big cities have forgotten the old adage which says that it is sometimes better to “give time to time”.
I am one of those who believe that the Democratic Party no longer knows how to speak to part of the American population. These people who, rightly or wrongly, feel neglected or despised and who, for lack of anything better, throw themselves into the arms of the first demagogue to come.
If they bother to read recent statistics and listen to this clientele, Democrats may well win back the favor of a group that can make the difference between victory and defeat.