This week marks the start of Hispanic Heritage Month.

Hopefully, this month our fellow Americans will learn that Hispanics have been part of the history of this country for almost 100 years before the founding of the first English colony in America, and not just newcomers crossing the border.

Maybe they will understand that Latinos represent a growing tax base and a fertile market of investors and consumers that American businesses compete over — and not a drain on this country’s economy, as some want to portray us.

Perhaps they will grasp that rapid population growth with heavy concentration in battleground states, large numbers of Latinos without strong affiliation to a political party and the prospects of a close presidential election have transformed Latinos into a political voting power this election cycle.

This Hispanic Heritage Month is also a time for Latinos to reflect on the opportunities before us. This is a historic election for our community.

We have an unprecedented 9.2 million (and growing) registered voters, and it will be within our power to change the course our country is on: rising unemployment, more than one-third of Hispanics lacking health insurance, an education system that graduates less than three-quarters of our kids, out-of-control predatory lending that exploits Hispanic workers and homeowners, and immigration raids that terrorize our communities and tear apart mothers from children.

The fastest-growing segment of the American electorate, Latinos will make a difference not only in this election cycle, but in future ones.

We already had an impact in the primaries.

If Latino Republicans had not come out overwhelmingly for Sen. John McCain in Florida and the Southwest, he would not be their party’s nominee today.

And the Democratic contest would not have been as prolonged if not for Latinos’ steadfast loyalty to Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Now we need to demonstrate that we have the power to define the elections in November.

As Latinos, we have much to celebrate this Hispanic Heritage Month. The Hispanic market represents $800 million per year in purchasing power (and expected to reach $1 trillion in 2010), Hispanic women are creating businesses three times faster than the general populations and Hispanic-owned businesses generate millions of dollars per year in revenue.

But we also have high poverty rates and our community is overrepresented in low-skilled jobs that pay inadequate wages with few benefits.

Our growing numbers are translating into increasing political power, but we are underrepresented when it comes to members of Congress and largely absent from top leadership positions in both political parties.

While many Hispanics will celebrate the long way we have come over the last couple of decades and look at the glass as half full, others will bemoan the glass half empty and stress that we have quite a way to go.

But rather than arguing whether the glass is half empty or half full, let’s just continue filling it.

Cristina Lopez is president of the National Hispana Leadership Institute, a national nonprofit dedicated to developing Hispanas/Latinas as ethical leaders through training, professional development, relationship building and community and world activism. She can be reached at pmproj [at] progressive [dot] org.