What is the proper size and scope of a federal government? A particularly timely question as scores of developed countries struggle with the aftermath of government spending binges. But how the United States, the world’s biggest economy, answers will be particularly instructive for this 21st century.
As the latest American Census numbers reveal, Hispanics are now 50.5 million strong, with approximately 60 percent describing themselves as Mexican-American. And with the Census projecting that by 2050, three out every 10 Americans will call himself a Hispanic, the American 21st century will largely be shaped by how the largest minority group views the government.
If Hispanics are to believe the political left, then the government is the purveyor of an endless succession of government-run programs and services that can be sustained through increased taxes. If Hispanics are to accept this proposition, then we can expect a bleak future for the Americas.
If the American experiment is to flourish in this 21st century, Hispanics will have to play a role in rejecting government solutions in favor of greater freedom and personal responsibility. Hispanics will have to realize that the government can never replace ingenuity, entrepreneurship and a vibrant free enterprise to create prosperity and a high standard of living. It is the promise of this upward mobility that the United States has long offered to new arrivals coming to its shores.
Economic prosperity and the lure of a better tomorrow continue to attract millions of immigrants to the United States, including many from Latin America. And it’s been American’s dogged persistence to remind its government that it is ultimately accountable to the people, not the other way around that sets it apart from other countries.
To the outside observer, it is easy to write off the American government as dysfunctional. But a more careful study reveals the passion for competing ideas that has always characterized the American experiment from its earliest days is in its latest incarnation. Hispanics, like the rest of Americans, are at a crossroad between collectivism and liberty. Rest assured that the outcome of this decision will not be confined to just the United States.
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