Hispanics will create a socialist voting bloc in the United States as they replace American workers, but that won't lead to ethnic cleansing, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach said on his radio show on Sunday.
Basing his remarks on a Pew study showing that a majority of Latinos prefer a larger government that provides more services to a smaller one that provides fewer services, the immigration hardliner said “newly legalized” Hispanic immigrants would tilt the political system toward socialism as their numbers grow.
“Even by the third generation, there is still a decided bias in favor of bigger government,” Kobach said. “If you look at it in ethnic terms… You’ve got a locked-in vote for socialism.”
Some 63 percent of Hispanic voters lean toward the Democratic Party, versus 27 percent for the Republican Party, according to a Pew Hispanic Trends survey published in October. The survey did not measure Latino identification with socialism.
While Kobach was certain Latinos would push the country toward socialism, he stopped short of saying the growing Hispanic population would provoke a bout of ethnic cleansing.
One of the show's listeners speculated that a rising Latino population might provoke a bout of ethnic cleansing. The listener argued that history shows when one ethnic or racial group's numbers grow, it leads to violence. He said that Hispanic civil rights groups like the National Council of La Raza know about this phenomenon.
“When one race or culture overwhelms another culture, they run them out or they kill them,” the caller said. “And it’s a bigger issue than just being Democrats. And they know, in numbers, once the numbers are so vast, they [Hispanics] can do pretty much do whatever they want to do.”
Kobach responded by saying that what protects Americans from ethnic cleansing is the rule of law, but that the principle had weakened under President Barack Obama’s leadership.
“The rule of law used to be unassailable, it used to be taken for granted in America," Kobach said. "And now, of course, we have a president who disregards the law when it suits his interests. And so while I would normally answer that by saying, ‘Steve, well of course we have the rule of law, that could never happen in America,’ I wonder what could happen. I still don’t think it’s going to happen in America, but I have to admit that things are strange and they’re happening.”
The remarks were recorded and uploaded to the Internet by Right Wing Watch, a group that monitors conservative media and political groups.
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