Daniel Garza, executive director of The Libre Initiative, says that Hispanics and Latinos in America should ask themselves which public policies are “generating prosperity” and which ones are “generating poverty.”
Given the growing political clout of Hispanics in America, their answers could change the nation.
“As a key electoral bloc, we are going to define some of the elections at the state level,” said Garza, whose organization is active in New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, Florida, Virginia, Texas and California “And, of course, because of the electoral map and its significance to the presidential race, there is nothing more important right now than obviously persuading the Hispanic community that we must fight to protect those principles.”
We spoke to Garza on Oct. 4 at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Denver and asked him about Hispanics, the economy and income mobility.
Q: “How would you assess income mobility in America for Hispanic-Americans at this particular point in our history?”
A: “The thing about income mobility is that throughout the history of the United States, that was always the case for the vast majority of Americans who first came to America or who started out at the bottom, that there was a progression through hard work and labor, and dedication through risk-taking and entrepreneurship. That there was income mobility. That had always been the case – until lately. We are actually seeing that median salaries have been dropping. That we are actually becoming poorer and more people are actually becoming dependent on government or on public assistance. And so, what was once a trend of continual income mobility in America, we are now seeing a regression. And that should worry a lot of folks. And that should, of course, give pause to the Hispanic community and have them reflect on what exactly are those policies that are generating prosperity and what are the policies that are generating poverty and work to advance…those policies that create growth, real jobs, sustainable jobs in America – and not grow government’s role in our lives.”
Hispanics have seen a substantial economic decline – in both a high unemployment rate and in the number of households affected by poverty. The Congressional Research Service reports that Hispanic households have the highest incidence of childhood poverty in married families and single-mother-led families.
