COMMENTARY ON POLITICAL APATHY : Will the Latino Voter, a Sleeping Giant, Hear a Wake-Up Call? : County Latinos are most in need of representation but least likely to vote. We must mold change or be swept away by it.

Democracy’s biggest enemy is political apathy. This affliction strikes everyone. It is blind to race, culture, gender and even class. What pains me most is when it affects people of my culture.

Latinos in Orange County, among the many diverse groups, are the poorest and the greatest in need for health care. Yet the sleeping giant continues to politically sleep.

Will the wake-up call be this year?

Almost 25% of the Orange County population is Latino, and in the most populated city in the county, my own Santa Ana, Latinos represent 65.2% of the population.

The real tragedy is that too many Latinos are not registered to vote--and too many of those who are registered to vote don’t. For example, in the November, 1990, election it was estimated that only 23% of the 68,000 registered voters in Santa Ana were Latino. In addition, though sad to admit, the voter turnout of Latino voters is usually significantly lower than other groups.

This breaks my heart because if more Latinos registered and voted, leadership would have to change. No longer would Latinos be treated as if they are a burden. Instead, they would be inspired to contribute more to our great country and make it even greater.

In the upcoming Nov. 3 election, we can all make a difference--if we vote. The deadline to register is Oct. 5.

But let us remind ourselves that Latinos are not inferior to any other groups which currently do better with regard to economic or political success. We are who we are because of our environment, which is something that anyone can be empowered to change. But it is not easy to break the chains of passivity. I am not hoping for aggression, but rather for asserting ourselves toward greater civic participation with sophisticated know-how and tenacity.

My dream for Latinos is for us to become a role model community to the rest of the world as a politically empowered group. It will be a struggle, but it can be done. The obstacles that face this challenge must be overcome.

One such obstacle is cynicism. Though Latinos have plenty of reasons not to trust the system, the current times cannot afford our complacency. Feeling betrayed time and time again can easily make someone loose faith in the political structure.

But is it the system or the people running it? This type of betrayal starts when an individual who has an opportunity to make a difference for the community stops listening to his or her heart. It is like the point made by a Russian poem: “It is said that power corrupts men, but I have learned that it is men who corrupt power.”

Latinos have 500 years of seeing their exploitation in action. Yet, as the anniversary of the European discovery of the New World approaches, Latinos must work harder than ever before to overcome the curse of cynicism. This burden is the cloud that impairs our vision of a real political empowerment. We must learn to boldly ignore or push aside anyone or any group that blinds us with rhetoric or scare tactics in order to satisfy some selfish and petty desire for personal power.

I’m old enough to have seen many a righteous political struggle crumble. Strengths can easily become weaknesses if we stop being constantly vigilant about monitoring our sincerity. One such strength is pride.

Though pride can sometimes be a negative trait in people, Latino pride can also mold itself to be a great asset. If we can develop greater pride in our political involvement, and work on making it as contagious as our art, cuisine and music, then we will begin to truly empower our community, and ultimately improve our economic and political realities.

Pride, however, needs to work hand in hand with a knowledge-based perspective. In order to do this, we Latinos must enhance our culture of learning. As the Mexican poet Octavio Paz says, learning is the mother’s milk of wisdom. Too many times we Latinos discard the issue of learning as something for the young. But too many of our young can’t wait to be old and too quickly stop learning. This needs to stop. Like the Aztec sun always rising, so, too, we must always continue to learn.

As we pursue the American Dream, we must give back to our nation so that we can stop greedy local, state and national politicians from stealing our dreams. We need more true leaders. We must wake up from our slumber. It is not too late to take the call of Viva political participation. No matter who you are for, this is not the time for apathy. Change is in the air, and we must stand up and be counted, or it will sweep us further away from our dreams.

It is not just a Latino challenge. Whoever you are--Latinos, African-Americans, Asian-Americans or Anglos--we must all invest in our democracy.