Opinion: Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony won’t win Florida for Hillary Clinton

This past Saturday night, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony hosted a special, free concert in Miami in support of Hillary Clinton. At the end of the night, Mrs. Clinton joined the duo onstage as they urged the crowd to go out and vote early for the Democratic nominee. Ms. Lopez said it was time for Latinos “to unify” and carry Florida for Clinton. She went on to refer to Mrs. Clinton as the “perfect person” to lead America.

It pains me to say it, especially as someone born in the Island, Hillary Clinton will make the mainland U.S. look like Puerto Rico — debt ridden, over-regulated, and with little hope for prosperity.
— Manny Roman

Not only is Mrs. Clinton far from the perfect candidate to lead our nation in these turbulent times, both at home and abroad, but also no amount of star power can make up for her dismay record as a public servant and the subsequent lack of enthusiasm for her candidacy.

When Did Rock ‘n’ Roll Become Part of the Establishment?

Hillary Clinton does seem to have an edge on Donald Trump when it comes to Hollywood endorsements – other rock stars like Bruce Springsteen and Katy Perry have come out in support of the former Secretary of State.

One typically sees rock ‘n’ roll stars with a certain anti-establishment flair to them. What ever happened to being against “the man”? Against the system? Against the corrupt establishment? Hillary Clinton epitomizes the stall Washington establishment that is AGAINST real reform, and FOR the corrupt special interest. Her well-documented and undeniable ties to both Wall Street and K-Street interests make it extremely hard for these celebrities to make a credible case to their fans.

The truth is that these, perhaps once anti-establishment, rock stars have now become part of the establishment themselves. Even worse, their young, unsuspecting fans are being grossly misled into thinking that someone like Hillary Clinton fights for them and is the “perfect person” to elect as President.

Luckily, there is overwhelming evidence and now, thanks in part to WikiLeaks, even more evidence being revealed every single day, that Hillary Clinton looks out only for herself and those who she deems strategically important for advancing her personal agenda.

Rags to Riches Public Servant

Most Latinos know better than to trust politicians who become multi-millionaires while being public servants. We see this happen in Latin America all too frequently and we have an intuition that usually alarms us when we see the signs – Hillary Clinton has admittedly spent the last three decades in public service, but somehow parleyed “fighting for women and children” into vast wealth. Earlier this year Fortune estimated the Clinton’s net worth at over $100 million.

While Hillary Clinton was serving as the nation’s chief diplomat, The Clinton Foundation received tens of millions of dollars from foreign governments, including instances in which the donations were direct violations of the ethics agreement the foundation held with the Obama administration (this has been widely reported since 2015). Many of the donations the Clintons lobbied for, and later received, came from governments who have been heavily criticized for infringements of human rights. Not surprisingly though, Mrs. Clinton happily turns a blind eye to atrocities committed by these foreign actors so long as the checks continue to roll in.

These donations did nothing but buy favors from Mrs. Clinton — the type of pay-to-play politics that has made countless of government officials filthy rich in places like Venezuela. Hugo Chavez would be proud if he were alive, and likely would be taking notes, to see how robust the Clinton scheme has become and how she became a multi-millionaire while being a “public servant.”

Corruption Scandals and Poorly Thought Out Policies Will Not Be Ignored

Celebrity endorsements and special free concerts are not going to move Floridians to the voting booths, although it may drive media headlines.

The young college graduate who cannot find a decent paying job in the weakest economic expansion since WW2, or the working class Puerto Rican who moved his young family from the Island to central and south Florida with aspirations of working hard and providing a more stable life for his family is not going to ignore the harsh economic reality they face every day. Although they may have a fun afternoon at a concert, Latinos are not going to allow themselves to be blindsided by star power.

Florida’s exponentially growing Puerto Rican community, a group targeted by these get out the vote efforts, were driven out of the island by the exact same bloated government policies that Clinton supports.

Democratic Governors and their big government solutions have dominated Puerto Rican politics since the mid 60’s. Today, we see the results from decades of their poorly thought out policies. Make no mistake about it, Hillary Clinton would not have done anything different if she had been governor of Puerto Rico over the past decades.

It pains me to say it, especially as someone born in the Island, Hillary Clinton will make the mainland U.S. look like Puerto Rico — debt ridden, over-regulated, and with little hope for prosperity.

Donald Trump is imperfect. We all are. I wouldn’t dare to go around claiming the Republican nominee is the “perfect” candidate. The fact that Jennifer Lopez does so for Hillary Clinton is disingenuous at best. But he has committed to undo much of the damage President Obama has done in the past eight years, including repealing and replacing Obamacare. Furthermore, Trump would ensure radical liberals do not overtake the Supreme Court.

And for the record, this piece is not an attack on Jennifer Lopez or Marc Anthony; both are incredibly talented at their craft and I’m actually a huge fan of their music! If their intent is truly to shape better public policy and improve everyone’s standard of living, I would welcome an opportunity to discuss solutions and the proper role of government.

Best of Opinion