The Asian Conundrum
I've enjoyed the thought-provoking posts on why Asian-Americans went over for Obama in such large numbers -- at 70 percent, more than any other ethnic group aside from African-Americans. My AEI colleague Charles Murray makes some excellent points, as do Rob and Ricochet member TheSophist, who sounds like he was separated at birth from me.
In fact, having spent some time talking with Norman Podhoretz, author of the excellent Why are Jews Liberals?, on the National Review cruise, I've been inspired to write a book on Asians and politics. Taking off on Norman's book, I may perhaps call it Are Asians Liberals?
To me, the similarities between Jews and Asians are compelling. Both have higher incomes and educational levels than the average American. Both hail from a number of different countries and often emigrated here with high amounts of human capital but low levels of material capital. Both come from cultures -- despite the broad definition of Asian -- that respect and prize scholarship and intellectuals. Both are discriminated against -- unconstitutionally, in my view -- in college and university admissions, and once, no doubt, in government hiring and contracting. Both prize family values and seem to be more religious than the average voter.
Both groups like Chinese food a lot.
These characteristics should attract both groups to the Republican Party. I think the reason Jews and Asians, however, vote against their interests may be because both groups have been concentrated in cities. One of the big demographic differences in the election, of course, was how the cities went for Obama, while the rural areas and many of the suburbs went for Romney. Perhaps it is not just ethnicity, or class, although these no doubt have something to do with it. It may be because Asians, like Jews when they first emigrated, have congregated in cities, which are run by Democratic Party machines who may demand a certain level of "loyalty," shall we say, to compete for city business or to deal with city licenses. To the extent Asians then seek to leave the cities through education and entering the professions, they move into other areas controlled by the left.
But there is a big difference. Since Asians have come in large numbers so recently, starting in the mid-1960's, their political allegiances are not fixed. Jews today follow in the footsteps of Jews who were part of the original New Deal coalition, and have been a solid part of it ever since. Asians, however, are still in play as it were. There is no historical relationship between Asians and the Democratic Party. And there are historical factors that exist for Asians but not Jews that may in fact lead them toward the GOP, such as their origins in countries that have fought communism, their history of small business, their suspicion of big government (having often come from countries with authoritarian regimes), and so on. Asians often own small businesses and are disproportionately hurt by high taxes and overregulation. And there have been prominent Asian leaders in the Republican Party -- such as Elaine Chao, Bobby Jindal, and Nikki Haley -- who have few, if any counterparts, in the Democratic Party.
Thoughts? On the idea of a book? On what should be in it? On arguments that explain the voting patterns better than these?
- Comment (30)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (12)
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
Comments:
Jun '11
Re: The Asian Conundrum
Yesterday I got the chance to pose this question to two Chinese friends who have been in the country for 7 and 18 years, respectively. They are both conservative evangelical Christians who have studied at American universities. They agreed that Asians tend to value higher education above nearly anything else, and perceive the Democrats as the better educated party, and the party more in favor of funding higher education. I think it's partly a matter of pride, and partly a genuine belief in the promise of what education can do for both an individual and the country as a whole.
Edited on November 29, 2012 at 3:34pmAug '11
Re: The Asian Conundrum
Dear Mr. Yoo,
Please, please run for mayor of Oakland.
As the chief of a large department at Kaiser (in Napa and Solano counties), six times a year I have to spend a day in meetings at Kaiser's Oakland HQ.
The deterioration I have witnessed over the past decade in my visits to the city, and the sad state of so many inhabitants, is heart-breaking.
Jamie Irons
Nov '12
Re: The Asian Conundrum
A book I would definitely buy (but only if you strong-arm your publisher to release a Kindle e-book version of it along with the hardcover release).
It's an interesting subject because I remember when I was growing up how there was tangible "fear" by the "[white]-American's" (Italian- , Irish-, etc, etc) that the "Asians" were going to best us. I remember all the hype about how Japan was going to own us (the US that is) and how American kids were just lazy and dumb. Any one remember the classic "Made-in-America" movie Gung Ho ?
It would be interesting if your book touched on the ideas that The Sophist brought up regarding how Asians view education and how that relates to politics and preferred policy ideas.
Also, you might try to touch on how 3rd generation Asian kids are rebelling against the strict views that their grandparents imposed on their parents and how the cultural shift in the Asian community might affect their politics. I knew many 2nd generation Asian kids (English-speaking kids but fluent in their parent language) that took the lessons of their parents seriously but their kids not so much.
Feb '12
Re: The Asian Conundrum
Here's a possibility: Asians are conformist, and relatively nonpolitical. Thus, they vote like their peers, or, more accurately, vote as their peers are *supposed to* vote. That means political correctness, in public at least. Privately, they can be Christian, married, and respectable, but in public, to blend in they should parrot whatever the dominant political voice in the room is. Since the 50% of their peers who vote Republican are too scared to admit it, that means being a Democrat.
Feb '12
Re: The Asian Conundrum
I think that exposure to Democrat controlled urban environments is definitely a factor in turning Asians into Obama voters. However, three other factors should be investigated: (1) Asian aspiration to belong to an upper crust that is disproportionately Democrat leaning and insanely infatuated with Obama, (2) Asian involvement in social media which is dominated by left-indoctrinated college graduates, (3) the "person of color" baloney, particularly an issue among South Asians. To a great extent, Asians are proving very good at assimilating to the educated elite of our country, which regrettably has been brainwashed to believe absurd and destructive things by tenured ideologues. I agree with John Yoo that their attachment to the Bolsh... I mean Democrats is more like a fashion statement than a deeply held conviction. If they are made to examine their positions many could come around to the conservative view. However major rebranding will be required to get hip Asians to vote for the Grand Old Stupid Party.
May '12
Re: The Asian Conundrum
John Yoo, I can not disagree with your comments regarding the more educated and successful business people.
I think you ignored the group I had come across on a different post. These are the Vietnamese boat people, the Filipinos and many other groups who have migrated here and did so by playing the rules- first one, then the family, then create a family. Most of these people do the jobs the native Americans don't want to do- cleaning, hospital aides, etc. I would bet there are more of them blue collar types than the white collar types you so eloquently discussed.
These are the folks who work a couple of jobs, have a tight family but have been told that the Democrats are the cat meow. Just saying.
Re: The Asian Conundrum
John, I just came across this - which you might have already seen - from the Bay Area Center for Voting Research, on the most conservative, and the most liberal, cities in America.
http://alt.coxnewsweb.com/statesman/metro/081205libs.pdf
Nov '12
Re: The Asian Conundrum
"The greatest quality of the American experience was the melting pot philosophy. We were Americans first and our ethnic heritage second. It is what united us. Now, we are catagorized by gender, age, ethnicity, religion, etc. Is it any wonder we cannot come together to solve national problems."
I think this is seeing the past through rose-colored glasses. We've always had these ethnic divisions, even with European immigrants. My city is still known for its European ethnic festivals, food and the like, and certain sections of town are known by the ethnic quarter they used to be. Asian immigrants today are just following that mold, with some exceptions. There will always be troubling subgroups. Hey, my ethnic group (one of them) brought the mafia to the US, and Italian restaurants are still really big and nearly identify as legitimately "American" food. With time, we will absorb harmless Asian cultural aspects, too. It shouldn't be a problem.
Nov '12
Re: The Asian Conundrum
"They are both conservative evangelical Christians who have studied at American universities. They agreed that Asians tend to value higher education above nearly anything else, and perceive the Democrats as the better educated party, and the party more in favor of funding higher education."
Related to this since this was part of Murray's complaint, it should be noted that South Korea has a very high number of Christians who are Creationists. So technically, this shouldn't be a turn off to the education-minded East Asian bloc.
Nov '12
Re: The Asian Conundrum
" It may be that city dwellers around the world favor big government more than do people who live in rural areas. City dwellers are more dependent on infrastructure, such as mass transit, that has traditionally been provided by government and they may therefore view government more favorably."
Or it may be because the vast majority of countries outside of the US don't see car ownership as the end all be all if it is even common in the first place. It is a unique, very expensive feature of US culture that the rest of the world hasn't shared for most of the last century.