From: dtwei@acsu.buffalo.edu (Danielle T Wei)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american,soc.culture.bangladesh
Subject: Re: More Money than Votes
Date: 9 Nov 92 22:27:06 GMT
Organization: UB

In article <69147@cup.portal.com> hassan@cup.portal.com (hassan monu alam) writes:
>
>Another California congressman, Robert Matsui, was also upset but took a 
>selfcritical view. He recalled that in the primary election in June, Asian 
>Americans accounted for only 2% of the votes cast in the state--compared 
>with 83% for whites, 8% for blacks and 7% for Hispanics. Asian Americans 
>account for 10% of California's 30 million people, and nearly 40% of the 7.3 
>million Asian Americans in the country. "If I were Bill Clinton, I would not 
>have sent anyone to this meeting," Matsui said. "Asians don't exist yet as a 
>political force."

Right!! We Asians need to get out there and VOTE!!!

>Asian Americans in California split their votes among candidates Bush, 
>Clinton and Perot-40%,19% and 35%. They thus gave their strongest 
>support to Bush, unlike whites who preferred Perot, and blacks and 
>Hispanics who favoured Clinton (see table).

BUSH FOR PRESIDENT IN 1996 :)
Actually, i think I speak for many newer immigrants here when I say that
our homeland's culture is rather conservative. I simply cannot stand
some of the "American" liberal attitudes..

>party convention in Houston in August. The early comers from Asia, 
>Japanese and Filipino Americans, like blacks and Hispanics, have been 
>close to the "party of minorities," the Democrats, while the more recently 

Well, I cannot say anything about Filipino Americans, but most Japanese
Americans today are rather wealthy, and thus should support Bush more..
Then again, I'm not a Japanese-American

>arrived Korean and Indochinese Americans, for political reasons, have 
>[supported the Republicans]

Yes, I can see why Koreans want to support the Republicans.. The situation
in L.A. is simply out of hand!! Those looters should all be executed!!

>[Chinese and Indians]
>both comprising subgroups with vastly varying backgrounds, fell 
>somewhere in between. (In presidential elections, though, Asian Americans 
>have voted heavily for the winning ticket--70% in 1984 and 61% in 1988).

Well, somebody conducted a survey in soc.culture.china, and Bush came out
to be the winner.. But here are the seperate results:

Taiwan [mostly residents]: overwhelmingly clinton (65%?)
Hong Kong [some residents]: overwhelmingly bush (85%?)
Mainland [mostly non-residents]: bush, but margin not that large


Personally, as a Chinese, I believe Bush will be more beneficial to us than
Clinton because Bush will probably maintain a better relationship with China
than Clinton.. People often ask me "but you're in America, what do you care
about China?" This is true in a sense, but look at the Japanese-Americans
during WWII.. The truth is: the U.S. must pay respect to your homeland if
you want to live happily in the U.S.A.

>But after the success of the Civil Rights Movement--for which the 
>Democrats rightly claim much of the credit--minority rights and equal 
>opportunity have been universally accepted, a Republican analyst says. 
>The Democrats have since become too beholden to the lowest social strata-
>which do not include Asian Americans-while the Republicans, through their 
>disdain for welfarism and championinK of self-help, education and family 
>values, won Asian American adherents, the theory goes. Democratic Asian 
>Americans have advocated forming coalitions with other minorities but some 
>Republican counterparts argue that there is fundamental conflict in values 
>and interests between Asian and African Americans--on educational quotas, 
>for example. And Asian Americans are not interested in bilingual education, 
>which many Hispanic Americans insist on.

I think the biggest split between the minority groups is "who wants what."
Most Africans want a "united colored race" stand together against those
"white slave owner" while most Asians do not care that much, and would much
rather prefer personal wealth.

The biggest joke here is the NAACP: they believe they represent all minority
groups, and thus include an Asian chapter.. But most Asians do not endorse it.
Also, the NAACP supports blacks everywhere (l.a. riots), and thus many Asians
feel NAACP is only an organization for THEM..

Let's look at the facts: blacks mostly support clinton, asians mostly
support bush.. blacks like educational quotas (how else can they get people
into top schools?) and asians despise them (25% seems to be the ceiling at
most schools, one exception is berkeley, which got sued a few years back and
changed its practice).. I don't really think asians really care about
bilingual education (espeically here in NY), but personally i think any
immigrants to the U.S. should learn to speak English first, instead of coming
here with no english and trying to change things here..

>them. The authoritative census figures for Asian Americans (7.3 million in 
>1990) include Asians who are temporarily living in the US with no intention 
>of seeking permanent residency as well as the large number of recent 
>immigrants (accounting for most of the increase in the Asian American 
>population in the past decade) who are not yet eligible to apply for US 
>citizenship

Well, I hope these Asians would join the Republican party when they get
a chance. Face it: the Democratic party is/will be dominated by the blacks,
and we will never get anywhere working with them.. We must gain more power
by making ourselves larger in the Republican party..

>supported the cause thinking that they are similarly vulnerable) and more 
>recently for the maintenance of a liberal immigration law, Asian American 
>activists have not had compelling issues to unite them, though some say hate 
>crimes against the community may become one.

Yes, Clinton better take care of those hate crimes if he wants any asian
support.. but things may get worse if clinton continues supporting
"protect-american-jobs" and anti-foreign-products(people) feeling

>The Bush/Quayle campaign has raised something like US$35 million by 
>mid-September, an unprecedented US$1.5-2 million of which came from 
>Asian Americans, a Chen estimates. Indian Americans, noted for their high 
>educational and professional, profile as well as for high income, are the 
>biggest donors to the Republican Party among Asian Americans, followed 
>by Chinese Americans and Korean Americans. Star fundraiser Zachariah 
>Zachariah of Florida, a physician, wants the Republicans to eliminate 
>restrictions on foreign-trained doctors.

Well, there has to be SOME restrictions, but I agree the current restrictions
(the EFCMG exams, etc) are a bit too strict

>says that if Clinton is elected, he would make more and higher-level Asian 
>American appointments. The Republican Party's Chen acknowledges that 

I'll believe it when I see it

>It is not that Asian Americans have abandoned electoral politics in favour of 
>appointments. The Democrats are hoping that at least two new Asian 
>Americans would win seats in the US House of Representatives and 
>another in the California state assembly. The Republicans are hoping that 
>Jay Kim, now mayor of Diamond Bar in California, will become the first-
>ever Korean American House member. Kim would also be the first 
>Republican Asian American in Congress in some years. Currently, the 
>three members of the House and two of the Senate are all Democrats. 

When are we going to have a CHINESE congressman (house or senate)
I know most chinese (not all, no flames please) are relatively newer immigrants
but we make up quite a portion of today's Asian population

NW
p.s. this is a long article!!
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american