Arizona opinion: Why I am a Latino Catholic and conservative Republican (2024)

The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:

Winston Churchill was noted for saying that if you are 18 and not a liberal you don’t have a heart; if you are 30 and not conservative, you don’t have a brain. A conservative is a liberal that was mugged by reality. This describes my journey from one political party Democrat to another political party Republican. My Dad was a Democrat, my Mom was a Democrat, and my relatives were all Democrats. This was simply the experience of the average Latino immigrant Catholic family.

I noticed early on in my life that Latinos have a blind allegiance to the Democratic Party; for many it replaces their religion. All I heard from the elders in the Latino community was, “Democrats son los buenos (are the good ones), Republicans son los malos (are the bad ones), Democrats are for the workers and the poor; Republicans are only for the rich.” So, as a young man at the age of 18, I registered in the Democratic Party following the footsteps of my father and our family tradition. Although I did not understand the intricacies of politics, I knew it was the machine that ran society. Yes, I admit, I drank the liberal Kool aid for several years because I was a low information Catholic voter. I was also apolitical because I was a lukewarm Catholic in my late teens and early 20s. I still did not have a firm grasp about the meaning and purpose of life – which is to know, love and serve God in this life and to spend eternity with Him in the next.

3M ConservativeThere are two types of conservatives: 3M (morality, military, and money) and 2M (military and money). I am a 3M conservative. I believe in Christian morality; I believe in a strong military not a woke military and I believe that money is a necessary commodity to support your family. Therefore, I believe in a strong economy based on honest, fair business practices and transactions.

Many RINOs, (Republicans in Name Only) are 2M conservatives; all they tout are a strong military, a strong economy, more jobs, and more money for everyone. They do not speak up for the morality given to us by God. Case in point, RINOs are silent on abortion, euthanasia, hom*osexual marriage, medical marijuana, etc. but they are war hawks, they are war mongers, they are ready to do the bidding of the industrial war complex (Lockheed, Boeing, Northrop, and Raytheon).

RINOs are in lockstep with the Democrats in voting for bigger government, more regulations, more taxes and printing more money. The RINOs and the Democrats form what is called the Uniparty which is a threat to all of us Americans that believe in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Morality comes from God through natural law and divine positive law, the denial to defend morality is because the faith of the Uniparty in God is shallow and lukewarm.

Political conversionImpelled by my Catholic faith, eventually I began to search for truth, after all, “man is a religious being” (Catechism). The Holy Spirit began to give me moral clarity in this age of compromise. I worked for many years in law enforcement. I met many veteran Los Angeles (L.A.) Deputy Sheriffs who were Church-going believers, family-oriented and Republican. I would listen to their conversations, and I would say to myself that I agree with their traditional morality and worldview, but how can this be, because I’m a Democrat and they are Republican? When I would talk to the deputies that were my age, I found them to be liberal, womanizers, hedonist, apolitical and unchurched. I noticed that I had little in common with them.

I gravitated around the veteran Deputies at work who turned me on to conservative talk radio (eg. Rush Limbaugh) and a program called Crossfire on CNN with Pat Buchanan, a Republican, and Bill Press, a Democrat; this show aired from 1996 to 1999. As I would listen to Bill Press, the Democrat, I would scream at the television and say, I do not agree with that, it goes against my Catholic faith. Bill Press’ lame arguments made me a conservative. As I would listen to Pat Buchanan, the Republican, I would say, that sounds reasonable and well argued, it is in harmony with my Catholic faith. Pat Buchanan and political conservative talk radio became the political science teachers I never had.

In addition, what made me a more solid conservative was being a young L.A. Deputy Sheriff and seeing good and evil, right, and wrong, truth and lies, light and darkness in people, society, and institutions. Law enforcement afforded me the opportunity to see the virtue of goodness and the vice of evil in our society. These are two ideas clearly laid out in the Holy Bible which holds a privileged position for me as a Catholic Christian. “The Word of God remains a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105) to this day.