Thursday, March 28, 2024

Comentarios from Maria: A Year after the Republican National Committee’s ‘Autopsy’, their Brand Continues to Fall to the Floor

MC HeadshotLast year, after receiving the beating the Republicans did in the 2012 elections, the Republican National Committee (RNC) published a report entitled The Growth and Opportunity Project where the party highlighted the need to implement structural changes if they were to have a chance to win the White House in 2016.

Among those changes, the report indicated the need to attract diverse groups that are growing, especially Latinos, women, and youth.

Specifically, the report indicated that the relationship between Republicans and Latinos is highly unsustainable.

Among other recommendations, the report advises the Republican Party to connect to the Latino community in a sincere way.

And of course, the report also recommends that Republicans support and advocate for immigration reform, something that Democrats and President Obama has recommended for a long time now.

But after a year of the publication of this report, why aren’t Republicans implementing their recommendations?

The truth is that Latinos are tired of the Republican Party treating us with such disrespect. And though they are trying like crazy to diminish extremist voices within their party that usually use the anti-immigrant rhetoric, what they do not stop doing is pushing policies that hurt us. House Republicans have voted 50 different times to repeal the health care law that would give more than 10 million Latinos health coverage they would not have before. They also continue passing laws at the state level that will make it more difficult for Latinos to vote.

What Republicans clearly do not understand is that the structural changes of the party must be deeper than just changing the way they communicate with us. The changes at the end of the day should become policy to help our community move forward. It is this type of attitude which makes it impossible for the party to accomplish a simple “makeover.”

If they are not able to pass immigration reform, an issue with which most Republicans, including corporate leaders, religious leaders and law enforcement agree, how will they implement these proposed changes?

Democrats are ready to work with Republicans to move the important issues of our country. This includes our community having access to affordable health care, providing more assistance to young people who want to go to college, and ensuring that immigration reform becomes a reality.

With midterm elections just around the corner, the Republican Party should refocus their approach by paying attention to the recommendations the report issued by their own party gave to them.

If they do, not only in theory but in practice, they may have a chance to begin to heal the wounds caused by their own party.

This piece originally appeared in Spanish in the Washington Hispanic