Mexican-American comedian George Lopez recently offered some telling commentary about his politics. During an interview with Univision’s Jorge Ramos, Lopez said he does not publicly identify as either a Democrat or Republican. However, he acknowledged he faces a quandary.
“You know, I’ve done some work for the Democrats, so but then I live a life of a Republican. I’m caught in the fifty percent taxes, Jorgito; I got to figure out where I’m gonna be.”
George Lopez’s confession may very well be indicative of a deeper challenge – experienced by not an insignificant number of the population – when it comes to aligning one’s politics with one’s life.
Lopez admits he has “done some work for the Democrats, so…” So what? So he’s a Democrat? He doesn’t go that far, because he quickly adds the words “but then,” and references his own life as that “of a Republican.” 
By implication, a life that is quite successful economically, as Lopez has been an enormously successful comedian. He confesses to being “caught” in a tax bracket that takes away half his income, by virtue of his income being high.
What we apparently have here is a prominent Hispanic American who has been doing work for the Democrats, but who is successful and rich, which gives him access to a lifestyle normally associated with Republicans, which in turn is spoiled or threatened by Democratic tax policies, and since nobody likes to have the fruit of his or her labor taken away, he must figure out with whom should he sympathize more.
The paradox Lopez presents is shared by all those who support a party that promotes fiscal policies that adversely affect them personally, not to mention the country as a whole.
Left unspoken is that in addition to economic interests, both for Latinos as well as for the population as a whole, the extent to which a given party’s moral values align with one's own is also often a relevant factor to take into consideration, when it comes to party affiliation.
For example, abortion is illegal in many countries of Latin America, or at least is far more restricted than in the United States, where the Democratic Party staunchly defends it. Something similar happens with same-sex weddings, and the limits on both practices in many Spanish-speaking countries directly reflect public sentiment.
As many Republicans are quick to point out, the party that constantly claims to have Hispanic interests at heart, the Democratic Party, is the one that essentially defends the same kind of failed big-government, confiscatory policies that ended up casting millions of Latinos out of their countries of origin in the first place. When it comes to social issues, it is also evidently the same political party that promotes a radical left-wing agenda that is patently offensive to the moral sensibilities and convictions of tens of millions of Hispanics.
