The Asian Conservative

As an effort to help grow Asian Conservative consciousness a current list of conservative Asian politicians would be a most valuable resource to have.  Building this compilation dawned on me when the relatively unknown Republican Anh “Joseph” Cao of Louisiana unseated 9 term Democrat William J. Jefferson.  While I’m a resident of California and not Louisiana, I’m certain that I not only speak for myself but for others in wanting to know the who’s who of conservative politics in the Asian community.  I will be updating this post regularly with updates on Asian politicians as I discover them.  To start out with I am adding local politicians in Silicon Valley.  I encourage my readers to help by submitting people in counties and offices I’ve failed to mention.

California

1. Gwan Alisantosa – Milpitas Unified School District Trustee
2. Grace Mah – Santa Clara County Board of Education
3. T.N. Ho – Santa Clara County Board of Education
4. Raymond Chui
5. Van Tran
6. Naraj Singh
7. Teddy Choi
8. Charles Hahn
9. Hon. Michelle Steel - California State Board of Equalization District 3
10. Janet Nguyen - Orange County Board of Supervisors

Oregon

1. Dave Kim
2. John Lim

Nevada

1. Cheryl Lau

New Hampshire

1. Saghir Tahir

South Carolina

1. Nikki Randhawa Haley

Texas

1. Angie Chen Button

Utah

1. Curtis Oda

Washington State

1. Tan Lam

Louisiana

1. Bobby Jindal - Governor of Louisiana
   
2. Anh “Joseph” Cao

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Ignorant. Irreverent. Uneducated. Irresponsible. These four words used to describe me as a voter. I joined AsianConservative because I was a non-voter but now I care.

Until this election I was willfully ignorant of ballot measures and political agendas. Being eligible to vote since 2000 I probably voted 4 (at most 5) times. As shameful as it is I probably cannot pass a basic 8th grade civics test. I had a good Civics teacher. I forget his name but he was memorable as a character. He kind of reminded me of the gym teacher, Mr. Buzzcut, from Beavis and Butthead. Unfortunately I’ve forgotten most of my Civics.

I would vote for people but not paper. By “paper” I mean the paper on which our laws and legal mumbo jumbo is written. I would stroll into a polling place and check the boxes for President, Governor, Senator, etc. and then skip the rest of the voting sheet ignoring ballot measures and propositions and all that jazz. I would say that my indifference towards ballot measures could primarily be attributed to irrelevance. At the time most measures could fall into a sparse few categories: (A) raise/lower taxes, (B) approve Indian casinos, or (C) name a street after somebody.

With the 2008 election, however, I realized that the “paper” voting options can be equally as important as the people. Do you oppose discount bus fares for war widows? Your vote could help your cause. Do you approve of medical marijuana? Ferndale, Michigan voted on a measure to allow medical marijuana dispensaries (it passed). One Issue that I was particularly interested in were the high-speed rail from San Francisco to Los Angeles (it passed). Real hot-button issues in California included Gay marriage, teen abortions, and congressional redistricting (that’s hot button?). The issues that we vote on seriously impact the quality of your life and mine.

Why should you care about voting? Why you should tell your friends and family to vote too? Here’s why: the votes for some of the California ballot measures passed by wire-thin margins. Sure there are some no-brainers like discount bus fares for war widows but other ballot measures often pass or fail by razor thin 1%-2% margins, maybe less. That could could be just a few hundred votes depending on the voter turnout in your community. My network on Friendster MySpace Facebook AsianConservative alone could swing that vote.

Knowing the ability of a ballot to impact my life, and knowing the ability of my vote to decide a ballot’s fate makes it ever more important to stay up-to-date on things happening in your community, city, and state legislatures. I found the California Secretary of State website that lists California Ballot Measures that will be headed to the polls. If you find any for your state, county, city, school district, or even Home Owners Association, post it in the comments. Vote AsianConservative and Vote often!

California Ballot Measures http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_j.htm

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While we’re a bit late in reporting this, having just discovered that untested Republican opponent - Anh “Joseph” Cao, unseated nine-term Democrat U.S. Representative William Jefferson brings a promise and a smile to us here at the Asian Conservative.  We’re looking forward to following Representative Cao and what the future may hold.

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The current scene of Asian Pacific Americans in Congress is 100% left of center. Not only is this lopsided but also surprising, considering that the total number of representation is minuscule. To this date, only the states of California, Hawaii, Virginia, and Louisiana have now or at one time or another had Asian representation in Congress. This number totals twenty-two and historically has been represented by the Democratic Party.

Our current representation holds at 6 in Congress. Current Democratic Senators such as Daniel Inouye and Daniel Akaka of Hawaii or Democratic House Representatives such as Norman Mineta, Mike Honda, and Doris Matsui of California, David Wu of Oregon, Robert C. Scott of Virginia, and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii.

Conservatively, our legislators consist of Jay Kim of California and former Representative and now governor of Louisiana Bobby Jindal.

While I prefer a stronger conservative base, the miniscule number of representation is surprising. Especially considering the Asian population densities in areas such as Nevada, Washington, Texas, and Florida. The Nevada Asian population is over 88,000 and growing, The state of Washington counts over 447,000, Conservative Texas with a whopping 920,000, and swing state Florida counting over 360,000. These numbers should tell us that if united properly, a constituency could be activated for conservative Asian politics to flourish. And, that with the recent election of Governor Bobby Jindal, in the southern state of Louisiana, hope should be given that an even playing field exists for a new generation of Asian Americans to practice public service.

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According to a New York Times article from 12/9/2008, minorities now account for 50% of the population in the largest U.S. Cities and percentages continue to grow broadly across small towns and suburbs. This being the case, Asian conservatives should strive to increase the public’s awareness of Asian opinion. Minorities have a growing voice in the United States and it is imperative that Asian Americans (especially Asian Conservatives) be recognized as an influential force among the voting public.

In the 2008 elections for instance, California witnessed the impact minority voters imparted on public policy. In particular the voter ballot for Proposition 8: whether or not gay marriage should be banned in California. A “yes” on Prop 8 was against gay marriage, a “no” on Prop 8 was in favor of gay marriage. During the 2008  elections the popular media obsessed over “the Black vote” and the “Latino vote” because these two minorities groups historically have low voter turnouts. In contrast to past elections minorities came out in droves to vote — mostly for Obama.  These “new” (or renewed) voters had a decisive impact on the fate of Proposition 8 because both groups overwhelmingly voted in favor of Proposition 8 - consequently banning Gay marriage in California.

The important point here is not approval of Gay marriage. Rather, the outcome that the United States and American media heard in the voices of Black and Latino communities via their ballots. America now knows that these two constituencies have the power to sway a vote. A power that I previously wouldn’t have assumed. Asian conservatives (and Asians in general) should strive to achieve similar recognition in other public endeavors.

My intent as a member of this AsianConservative.com is to get people interested in  and aware of the Asian conservative opinion. I encourage public servants, advertisers, American media,  Mayors, Governors, Congressmen, and Presidents to think to themselves “What do Asian Conservatives in America think of this?”

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