John Sanchez: Republicans offer Hispanics hope and have earned our votes

[Leroy N. Soetoro]

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/john-sanchez-republicans-offer-hispanics-
hope-and-have-earned-our-votes

As lieutenant governor of New Mexico, I have had the privilege of living
and serving in a state with over 50 percent minority residents. Now that
I’m in the last few months of my second term, I want to share a little bit
about my story and explain why many Hispanics should and will vote for
Republicans in the Nov. 6 midterm elections.

I was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico and was the youngest of
eight children. We were raised by a single mother in absolute poverty.

When I got older, I realized I had been raised with solid conservative
values. My mother was never political. However, she taught us the values
of personal responsibility and hard work. She showed us that taking
advantage of opportunity was the way out of poverty.

When I use the word “poverty,” what I mean is this: there was a time in
our life when we didn’t have running water. I grew up using an outhouse. I
know what it is like to have holes in my shoes.

However, it wasn’t poverty itself that shaped me – it was my mother
telling me that although no one owed me anything, there was hope. In this
amazing country of America, anything is possible.

My mother told all of us that if we worked hard, stayed in school and did
the right thing we could live the American Dream. She was right.

I often tell the story of going through the trashcans behind the local
supermarket with my brothers, trying to find cardboard from old boxes to
replace the worn-out soles of our shoes. We hoped it wouldn’t rain that
night, causing our shoes to fall apart on the way to school.

But the story didn’t end there. Because we lived the values passed to us
by my mother, we achieved success.

I found myself 40 years later having dinner with the president of the
United States. Sitting there with the most powerful man, in the most
powerful city, in the most powerful nation in the world, I looked down at
my new expensive dress shoes. I realized how far my mother’s values and
her dream of America had taken me.

Like many Hispanic families, we wanted to secure a better life, so we
started a business at Mom’s kitchen table. We founded what would become
one of New Mexico’s most successful small businesses, twice being honored
as the small business of the year. We did this by following the pro-
business, empowerment principles that we learned at home and found in the
Republican Party.

After realizing the truth of the American Dream, I was compelled to give
back to my community through public service. My first election was to
serve as a councilman of our small community, working hard to empower the
business community.

Next, I was inspired to do what many thought was impossible: taking on the
powerful speaker of the New Mexico state House. At that time, Raymond
Sanchez was the longest-serving speaker of any assembly in the nation. In
a heavily Hispanic district that was 2-1 registered in favor of the
Democrats, I emerged the winner as the Republican candidate.

Having the same last name as the opposing candidate, all that separated us
was the values that we fought for. I spoke about the hand up while he
talked about the hand out. I discussed using welfare as a trampoline to
propel you to a better life; he spoke of welfare as a hammock to lie in,
keeping you safe until you die.

I went on to speak of how the empowerment of education leads to economic
freedom. He believed people deserved increased dependency on government.

Obviously, my message resonated with our people and we won!

As a businessman, city councilman, state representative, and now as
lieutenant governor of New Mexico, these are the values that I believe in,
as we wage a battle between two distinct visions for America.

The traditional Hispanic values include a strong faith in God, a deep
sense of patriotism, devotion to family, reverence for the sanctity of
life and a powerful work ethic. There is a strong drive among traditional
Hispanics to be free to build lives that hold to these values without
government interference or societal condemnation.

In the 1960s, these values were not incongruent with the Democratic Party.
Growing up, my uncle always had a picture of President John F. Kennedy in
his home. During my lifetime, however, I have seen the Democratic Party
morph into something JFK would not recognize.

As of late, those on the left have little interest in job creation or
patriotism. They are now using the word “socialist” to define themselves,
and their agenda features massive government takeovers of scores of
private industries, including health care. There is no room in their angry
rhetoric for the mainstays of Hispanic life: faith, family and freedom.

There also seems to be a disconnect between the Democratic Party and
Hispanic citizens’ views on immigration.

Hispanic Americans do not want foreign criminals to flood our southern
border, hidden among the legal workers many of our industries need.

We do not want the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) to be
disarmed, allowing drug dealers to run loose among us.

As the owner of a construction business, I can appreciate that there are
often not enough available legal workers. However, a competent guest
worker policy could solve many of these problems. It is not impossible.

If we could send men to the moon with less technology than we now have in
a few of our smartphones, clearly we can implement a coherent immigration
policy.

Elections have consequences. Going back to the double-digit unemployment
we suffered under President Obama is not an option. Republicans offer the
best hope Hispanics have for a better life.

I implore all American Hispanics to vote Republican in the midterm
elections. Republicans are fighting our fights – for a stronger military,
increased economic growth, religious freedom and job creation. The list is
endless.

Already, with a Republican Congress and a Republican president,
unemployment for Hispanics is now lower than it has been in my lifetime.

In 2017, the median income for Hispanic households rose at more than twice
the rate of the rest of the population. The national gross domestic
product has climbed above 4 percent under the Trump administration. And
global respect for the U.S. is quickly returning.

From the state house to the White House, we need to stand together and
elect the people who will stand for us.

The combination of Hispanic Republicans running for office and their
identification with core values among Hispanic voters is leading to some
surprising results.

Hispanics in Texas earlier this year were showing support for Gov. Greg
Abbot 49 to 45 percent. And Sen. Ted Cruz now appears to be leading
comfortably in his re-election campaign, with roughly 37 percent of
Hispanics favoring him.

Also in Texas this year, GOP state Sen. Pete Flores was elected to a seat
that had been held by Democrats for 139 years, defeating a popular
Democrat.

For Hispanics, our time to make a difference as Republicans is here.



--
Donald J. Trump, 304 electoral votes to 227, defeated compulsive liar in
denial Hillary Rodham Clinton on December 19th, 2016. The clown car
parade of the democrat party ran out of gas and got run over by a Trump
truck.

Congratulations President Trump. Thank you for cleaning up the disaster
of the Obama presidency.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp.

ObamaCare is a total 100% failure and no lie that can be put forth by its
supporters can dispute that.

Obama jobs, the result of ObamaCare. 12-15 working hours a week at minimum
wage, no benefits and the primary revenue stream for ObamaCare. It can't
be funded with money people don't have, yet liberals lie about how great
it is.

Obama increased total debt from $10 trillion to $20 trillion in the eight
years he was in office, and sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood queer
liberal democrat donors.