Patrick’s fearful, broken worldview

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick makes so many asinine statements, responding to them can become repetitive and tedious.

There is a certain broken element to his comments — there he goes again. But this is exactly why the most egregious of his words merit rebuke. We respond to Patrick not because he is capable of change, much less insight into what he says, but because so often what he says about minorities and immigrants undermines the best tenets and ideals of America, and because it is important to give voice, especially here in Texas, to an alternative moral worldview.

As, no doubt, many readers are aware, Patrick recently appeared on Laura Ingraham’s Fox News show where he sounded the alarm about thousands of Haitian asylum-seekers sheltering under a bridge in South Texas, calling it an “invasion,” and then made the argument that immigrants are coming to “take over the country” as part of a silent “revolution.”

“(Democrats) are allowing this year probably 2 million (immigrants), that’s who we apprehended, maybe another million, into this country,” Patrick told Ingraham. “At least in 18 years, even if they all don’t become citizens before then and can vote, in 18 years, if every one of them has two or three children, you’re talking about millions and millions and millions of new voters and they will thank the Democrats and Biden for bringing them here. Who do you think they’re going to vote for?”

Patrick continued: “This is trying to take over our country without firing a shot.”

Many have observed these comments invoke the white supremacist theory known as the Great Replacement, which warns of demographic change.

I can’t speak to Patrick’s intent or awareness of the Great Replacement — does he understand the implications of what he says? — but his comments are as nonsensical as they are disturbing. After all, the Biden administration has been shamefully denying asylum claims under the veil of Title 42, a Trump-era policy that uses COVID-19 concerns to expel migrants.

That sad fact — a moral failure of the Biden administration — raises profound questions about the veracity of Patrick’s narrative, but there is also something fundamentally broken in his fearful worldview.

The United States is a nation rich in diversity. There is no “taking over” of the country because diversity is the country. We are brown, Black and white. We are Asian American, Native American, Jewish, Christian, Muslim and nonbelievers. We are men and women, LGBTQ and straight, liberal and conservative. This nation belongs to all, not simply viewers who worship at the altar of Fox News.

Beyond this, who knows how future Americans may vote. Why should Patrick and company cede any voter? Rather than fear a “takeover,” why shouldn’t Republicans such as Patrick make a case to new voters based on ideas, principles and policies?

The future is unwritten. (But, oh, how I wish I could write a brighter one for Texas and our nation.)

The striking backdrop to Patrick’s comments is how they were made at a time when Texas is the leading example of demographic change, with census data showing

there were approximately 4 million new Texans last decade.

About 3.8 million of these new Texans were minorities: mostly Latinos, Blacks and Asian Americans. In short order, Latinos will be the largest racial demographic in the state.

Naturally, this demographic change won’t be reflected in new congressional maps. Instead, the voting power of minorities, at least those who often vote Democratic, will be diluted. Look no further than the proposed new map for Senate District 24, clearly redrawn to serve our very own former state Sen. Pete Flores, an affable Patrick acolyte who lost his District 19 seat in 2020 and now plans to — voila! — run again.

Texas has a long history of stifling minority voters and distorting representation. Now it can do so without the guardrail of federal preclearance, thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court’s evisceration of the Voting Rights Act in 2013. And let’s also not forget a 2019 ruling that partisan gerrymandering is a political question, which, as Chief Justice John Roberts said, is “beyond the reach of federal courts.”

All of this is to say gerrymandering is how Patrick and those he inspires fight demographic change “without firing a shot.”

LM Otero / Associated Press Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and his ilk are fighting the demographic change they fear — without firing a shot, as he would say.