The Asian Conservative

At an event in Arkansas this past Saturday, Governor Bobby Jindal recently said

“The country fired us from our congressional majority in 2006. Why? The country didn’t stop being conservative. The Republican Party did,” Jindal told a gathering of Arkansas Republicans. “We became what we came to Washington to change — the party of earmarks and government spending. The party needs to stop worrying about what to do to fix itself. Let’s worry more about fixing our country. Then the party will fix itself.”

With this being said, it’s also being reported that Governor Jindal will also be giving the GOP response to President Obama’s first speech to Congress. I find this quite interesting on many levels.  Namely, this prominence he’s been taking.  As President Obama did in the 04 DNC conventions it seems as if the Republican party may be testing a new face for the leadership we are in much need of.  I can only hope his response will be Uplifting, idealistic, and filled with enough unity rhetoric to carry him further among the populous.

Congressmen Mitch McConnel and John Boehner had this to say

“Gov. Jindal’s leadership during a time of recovery in Louisiana, his commitment to real government reform, and his protection of hardworking American families make him an excellent choice to offer Republican solutions for the challenges which lay ahead,”

ryan People Asian Conservative, Asian Conservatives, Asian Republicans, Asin Republican, Bobby Jindal, GOP leader, Jindal

I recently started a discussion at Rebuildtheparty.com on minorities in the GOP.  It has been quite interesting to see the responses from grassroots participants looking to fundamentally shift the coarse of the Republican party.  If you are a member of Rebuildtheparty I encourage you to stop by and give the discussion your two cents.  You’ll find a rather insightful discussion with some real people looking to solve this issue.

Aside from the participation there, I want to bring the same topic over to The AsianConservative to see what kind of responses we can generate.  I look forward to your comments.

Let’s talk about minorities. As the last election clearly showed, there are few minorities in the GOP, which is shameful. There is simply no excuse why Blacks, Asians, Hispanics, Native Americans, and other groups don’t have strong representation within the GOP. How can we fix this? What can we do to help the conservative cause among Minorities?

ryan Uncategorized Asian American, Asian Conservative, Asian Conservatives, Asian Republicans, GOP, Minority Conservatives, Minority Politics, Minority Republicans, Republican

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

ryan People Asian Conservatives, asian local politicians, asian politician, Asian politicians, Asian Republicans, conservative locals, local republicans

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

jeff Policy Asian Conservatives, asian voters, voting

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.

ryan Policy Asian American, asian congressman, Asian Conservative, Asian Conservatives, Asian Republicans, Conservative, GOP, Minority Conservatives, Public office, Republican

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?”

jeff Policy Asian American, Asian Conservative, Asian Conservatives, Asian Democrats, Asian Liberals, Asian Republicans, GOP, Minority Conservatives, Republican

The second largest ethnic group, after Hispanics are Asian Americans.  And, with the 15MM estimated Asians in the United States this is a potentially huge bloc of voters.  With these numbers you would imagine Asian Americans as having a strong voice in American politics.  However, that is far from the fact.  Asian representation is minuscule as compared to other ethnic blocs.  For instance the Jewish community with roughly 6MM+ citizens here in the United States has 37 members in Congress as compared to the 8 Asian Pacific Americans represented.

With so much potential, this under representation is at the heart of what we are trying to accomplish here at “The Asian Conservative”.  Not only do we want smart conservative able-bodied Asians in leadership positions but also that we carry a huge voting bloc that needs to have their concerns and wishes addressed.

The Asian Pacific American population is the fastest growing minority population in the United States and holds key electoral presences not only in California and Hawaii, but also Florida, Texas, and Virginia; all key battle ground states this past election.  Looking at a further analysis of the 2006 national exit polls, Asians show to be equally divided in their party identification.  This close margin is a sure sign that the Asian vote can be a swing constituency.   And, if courted properly will help the Conservative cause.

Another notable concern is the lack of participation among some Asian demographics.  As reported by Politico, in the state of Nevada, Asian voter turnout was between 31 – 36%, a very clear signal that either political party is not activating these minorities.  Also notable is the participation of Asian cultures in Oregon.  Despite Oregon’s particularly large Asian demographic, the politically unattached Asian population ranks as high at 37%.

These numbers should come as a realization that there is a huge opportunity for the Asian conservative to impact American politics, as we know it today.  If we are successful with The Asian Conservative we will be able to do just that.

ryan Policy Asian Conservative, Asian Conservatives, Asian Republicans, GOP, Minority Conservatives, Republican