Last week, this writer noted a recent article written by Samuel Huntington for Foreign Policy magazine in which Huntington documented the tremendous growth of the Hispanic population in the United States.

Huntington, chairman of the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies, stated, “The persistent inflow of Hispanic immigrants threatens to divide the United States into two peoples, two culture and two languages. Mexicans and other Latinos have not assimilated into mainstream U.S. culture, forming instead their own political and linguistic enclaves — from Los Angeles to Miami — and rejecting the Anglo-Protestant values that built the American dream. The United States ignores this challenge at its peril.”

In his article, Huntington cites a number of statistics to back up and verify his claims about the growing Hispanic population — both legal immigrants and illegal immigrants — in the United States.

This writer noted these statistics, and it is clear some Saturday Column readers believed the writer shared or was promoting the same thoughts and worries expressed by Huntington. They claimed this was evidence of a bias or being anti-Hispanic.

This writer did say that, based on the evidence and numbers presented by Huntington, much of it shocking, that it was important for Lawrence, Kansas, and all U.S. residents to be aware of the tremendous growth of the Hispanic community and consider how best to deal with this challenge.

Obviously, this massive change in American society can be handled in a good, sound and healthy manner, but failing to acknowledge or plan for these changes would be a mistake.

Huntington isn’t the only person calling attention to Hispanic numbers. The front cover of this week’s Business Week magazine states, “HISPANIC NATION — Hispanics are an immigrant group like no other. Their huge numbers are changing old ideas about assimilation. Is America ready?”

Among the many statistics cited in the Business Week article: “Of all children under 18, Latinos are 61 percent in San Antonio, 53 percent in Los Angeles, 39 percent in Miami and San Diego and 36 percent in Houston.

“One out of 10 small businesses will be Hispanic-owned by ’07, jumping to 2 million from 1.2 million today.”

As stated last week, it is important for more Americans to be aware of what is happening and be prepared to deal with the changes in almost every facet of American life, rather than be surprised, angry and bitter about those changes.

Perhaps critics think it is best to hide the growth and influence of Hispanics, that it shouldn’t be discussed and that residents in Lawrence or elsewhere should wear “blinders,” ignore the facts or claim they are inaccurate. Such an approach is sure to result in serious problems rather than manageable challenges.

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Democrats are having a field day criticizing President Bush and claiming he and his allies represent the “most crooked, lying group I (John Kerry) have ever seen.” Kerry’s inner circle of handlers, such as Ted Kennedy, Tom Daschle and others will say the same thing.

They — Kerry and the other Democratic presidential hopefuls — spent the last two to three months badmouthing anything and everything about Bush and yet they claim they have not engaged in negative campaigning. What a bunch of hooey.

In several of Bush’s ads promoting his re-election, there are very brief scenes from Ground Zero after the 9-11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

Within minutes, Democratic leaders claimed those ads should be taken off the air, that it was wrong for the president to use the terrorist attacks in his bid for a second term.

Commenting in his column this week on the use of the 9-11 photos, prize-winning Washington Post writer David Broder said, “If you accept the premise that this nation is at war with terrorism, then you have to applaud the restraint his campaign has shown so far in exploiting the attack that began the war.”

Do any of the leading national Democrats actually believe there is no “war,” no effort by terrorists to do whatever they can to destroy America’s resolve and position as a world leader? Do they believe or agree it is essential for Uncle Sam to engage these terrorists wherever possible and destroy these killers? Maybe not.

Kerry and his cohorts may try to get Americans to forget the terrorists and the “war” in which we are engaged, but try telling that today to the people of Spain.

Do Democratic leaders think the United States now is safe from future attacks and that this country should not expend so much effort on anti-terrorism?

It is understandable that Democrats would like to have Americans think the economy and jobs are the most important challenges facing Americans today, but the fact remains, terrorism and the war on terrorism still should be our No. 1 priority. If terrorists win the battle, the economy and jobs will be of far less importance.

There is every reason for Bush to remind Americans, as well as the rest of the world, that terrorism cannot be pushed to the background and forgotten. It is very real, very present and very dangerous.

How will Americans react if and when there is another massive, deadly attack within the United States? Democrats are sure to blame Bush and his anti-terrorist efforts even though they are trying to downplay the threat of terrorism.

That’s politics!