Closing the Racial and Generational Divides
The U.S. Census Bureau’s announcement that slightly more than half the nation’s newborns are Latino, black, Asian, Native American or of mixed race is a milestone. The United States can glimpse its future, and it is in the eyes of a 5-year-old Latina, the smile of a 12-year-old black boy, the laugh of a 16-year-old Asian girl.
Consider this striking fact: For non-Latino whites, the median age is 42; while the median age for Asian-Pacific-Americans is 35; for African-Americans, 32, and for Latinos, 27. That’s 15 years — a generational difference. And it’s playing out in a national politics in which budgets are tightening, just as the need to invest in youth is growing.
Haywood - The modern Republican party has turned politics into a zero-sum game between them and who they represent and everyone else. And they are losing the demographic race. Some analysts have said that this is the last gasp of the old white male evangelical culture as epitomized by the Republican base but I am afraid it is not the last - there will be more gasps. But, they will inevitably drown under the coming deluge. Pat Buchanan might be a racist and a bigot but he was correct regarding many things. I for one, welcome my new demographic friends - pass the salsa and soy sauce because if you can’t beat them then… .