Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
(This picture has little to do with the subject, but... hey, why not?)
Rob Long sets us up a bomb on the main feed by asking why Asians aren't already Republicans. Then he quotes Charles Murray, he of the Bell Curve and Coming Apart fame, who thinks the reason is because the Republican brand is dominated by social conservatives:
This time I will explicitly offer a broader argument and then give the numbers. My thesis is that the GOP is in trouble across the electoral board because it has become identified in the public mind with social conservatism. Large numbers of Independents and Democrats who are naturally attracted to arguments of fiscal discipline, less government interference in daily life, greater personal responsibility, and free enterprise refuse to vote for Republicans because they are so put off by the positions and rhetoric of social conservatives, whom they take to represent the spirit of the “real” GOP.
I use Asian-Americans as an example of how powerfully this antipathy can alienate a naturally conservative voting bloc. Let it be clear: The causal link with social conservatism is asserted here, not proved. But the GOP had better take the hypothesis seriously.
And in the comments following Rob Long's post, various theories are floated by distinctly non-"Asian" folks, ranging from the idea that we're Confucianists, that we're all about illegal immigration, and so on.
Look, I can't speak for all "Asian-Americans" (a term fraught with peril, as we will shortly discuss), but having been a raging Marxist, and then a stereotypical Left-Progressive, and then a sorta-confused-squish-center-right and finally (so far) a "radical" Tea Party conservative ... I'll offer some thoughts here as to why "Asian-Americans" are not Republicans.
1. There Ain't No Such Thing as an Asian-American
The first point that must be made is that there is no such creature as an "Asian-American", at least not yet. I am a Korean-American. My wife is Chinese-American. My kids are Chorean-Americans. Neither of us know jack diddly squat about Vietnamese culture or language.
Confucianism is an important cultural element ... for Northeast Asians, such as Chinese, Koreans, and to some extent, Japanese. I have no idea whether Indians, Pakistanis, Thai, Cambodians and Bangladeshis are influenced at all by Confucius -- but I'm going to lean towards No.
Barkha Herman asked in the comments whether Nikki Haley and Bobby Jindal are not Asians.
As the term is used here in the U.S., as opposed to in the UK, the answer is no. Sorry, you can try to be PC about it, but that's just the truth. No Indian walks into a Korean restaurant and feels at home; no Japanese guy goes to a Pakistani grocery to buy his miso.
So that's #1. There's no such thing as an "Asian-American", although the political forces of both Left and Right would dearly love to create such a thing. (I had raging fights with my school back in my university days, protesting the idea of "Dean of Asian-American Students".)
To the extent, then, that Murray or Rob Long or most folks think about "Asian-Americans", they really mean the dominant Northeast Triad of China, Japan, and Korea. (In Houston and SoCal, Vietnamese would be the 4th, but don't forget the large numbers of Viet-ching, i.e., Vietnamese of Chinese descent).
For example, all of the stats about success in education did not apply all that well to Southeast Asians (Vietnamese, Cambodians, Filipinos, Hmong, etc.) which caused all sorts of issues for "Asian-Americans" talking about stereotypes.
2. So Let's Talk about the Northeast Triad
Confining myself then to the Northeast Triad, which I know best, I do think Charles Murray makes an excellent point. But I think he misses the larger operating principle. (I think I'll call the NE Triad - Chinese, Japanese, and Korean -- by the term "Asian-American" since that's what most of y'all would think anyhow.)
It isn't that the Republican brand stands for Bible-thumping, anti-abortion, gay-bashers ... as much as it is that the Republican brand stands for stupidity. Again, this is a stereotype that is ludicrously inaccurate, but there's a reason why George W. Bush and Sarah Palin were attacked so viciously as being unintelligent. Why Richard Mourdock (whom I've met, and is a very thoughtful, very intelligent man) and Todd Akin were attacked not just as sexist, but as stupid and ignorant.
Now, speaking from personal experience, the distinguishing feature of Asian-American culture is the degree of importance we attach to academic achievement (which, by the way, is distinct from intelligence or common sense). There is literally no profession that is more revered than that of college professor. My entire childhood and teenage years were devoted to getting into the right college, and after that, the pressure was to become a professor of some sort or another. My parents were distinctly disappointed when I chose to go to law school instead of pursuing a Ph.D.
So reverence for teachers and professors is something that was/is very much stressed in Asian cultures. Imagine, then, what the influence of one's college professors at a place like, say, Princeton would be on an Asian-American young person.
Even if, however, one doesn't end up an academic, that whole attitude towards academic success, towards intelligence, towards credentials infuses our culture. It bleeds through outside of academic/intellectual circles. Two examples.
One of the few successful post-Boomer Asian-American authors is Chang-Rae Lee, who wrote, among others, Native Speaker and Aloft. My parents, uncles, and aunts told me about him. Dude is Exeter - Yale, and teaches at Princeton. They don't know Amy Tan, don't know Michiko Kikutani, but they do know the Yalie.
Why exactly do you suppose that Asian-American fans went nuts for Jeremy Lin? It wasn't just because he was ethnically Chinese. Hines Ward is ethnically Korean; Tiger Woods is ethnically Thai. No Asian-American went nuts over them. Hint: it has to do with where Linsanity got his BA.
3. It's Not the Social Conservatism; It's the Perception of Anti-Intellectualism
So I disagree with the esteemed Professor Murray. I don't think that evangelicals and social conservatives hurt the Republican brand with Asian-Americans. After all, have you ever stepped foot in a campus ministry meeting on our elite college campuses? Huge chunks of IVCF, CCC, and other evangelical student movements are Asian-Americans.
No, I think the problem is that very significant elements of the Republican "brand" have an anti-intellectual bias to them. For example, the "brand identity" of Catholic priests (especially Jesuits) is that of rigorous classical scholarship; the "brand identity" of evangelical ministers is televangelists with mega-churches and rock bands. I love me some Joel Osteen, but I don't think anyone confuses him for an intellectual.
Elements of the Republican Party, and the conservative movement in general, embrace American culture. Things like the NFL, NASCAR, bowling, hunting, fishing. All are wonderful, and there are brilliant men and women who love all of those things. But the patina of perception around such American culture is one of physical vs. intellectual, of body vs. brain.
And ... let's be honest here. There are some elements of the conservative movement that look down on the pinhead credentialed intelligentsia that come up with some of the most ridiculous stuff ever seen.
Personal anecdote time. A good friend of mine is a doctor, living in a deep red state. He's a second-generation Korean-American who graduated from Yale. He's an evangelical Christian, married to an evangelical Christian (who happens to be white, from Texas, and a doctor). His parents came here with $50 in their pockets, worked their butts off, and passed on the immigrant work ethic to him. He's fiscally conservative. He's socially conservative. He voted for Romney. That Bible-thumping, anti-gay, anti-abortion creationist that Murray rails against? That's him.
He's not a Republican. He voted for Obama in '08.
If you can't get that guy to be a Republican, then kicking out every social conservative won't make a whit of difference.
4. So, How To Appeal to Asian-Americans
That's all fine and dandy, but ... what do we Republicans do about this?
My answer, as the "target market", is to stop trying the divide and conquer ethnic tribal game of the Left. The Right is no good at it. And it goes against the very principles of liberty.
The Right is supposed to, at least, stand for the proposition that the only unit of society that truly matters and deserves special protection is the individual. It's the Left that stands for ethnic, gender, sexual, linguistic, whatever collectivism of one kind or another. Don't try to out-Walmart Walmart.
Instead, if we want to have our arguments taken seriously by Asian-Americans, send out our most credentialed, most intellectual spokespeople. Send out Paul Rahe. Send out John Yoo. Send out Richard Epstein. Have them defend the principles of liberty, principles of conservatism (well, at least libertarianism in the case of Epstein), while festooned with all the sheepskin from all the right institutions.
Stop thinking of "Asian-Americans" as some group that you need to send "one of our own" to speak to. Bobby Jindal is a fantastic guy, but he ain't "one of mine." Nikki Haley is awesome, but she doesn't "look like me." John Yoo does look like me, but don't expect him to be the spokesperson to the Filipino-American community, just because of his "Asianess" (since there's no such thing.) No, send us the white-as-the-driven-snow Peter Robinson of Stanford University.
Socially conservative views, policies, and philosophies may need to be promoted and defended on intellectual battlegrounds, rather than on "Well, the Good Book says so". It isn't as if there aren't intellectual giants in the SoCon world; it's just that the Republican brand doesn't incorporate them as much.
Recruit some new leaders out of the campus Christian movements. I guarantee that you'll find some "Asian-Americans" at our elite universities who can be groomed into real positions of influence.
And take back our campuses. Do whatever that takes.
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Comments:
Dec '11
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
Why exactly do you suppose that Asian-American fans went nuts for Jeremy Lin? It wasn't just because he was ethnically Chinese. Hines Ward is ethnically Korean; Tiger Woods is ethnically Thai. No Asian-American went nuts over them. Hint: it has to do with where Linsanity got his BA.
Huh? Tiger Woods did matriculate at Stanford.
Edited on November 28, 2012 at 3:52amSep '12
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
I'd also add to EThompson's comment that neither Ward nor Woods really looks Asian.
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
"Stop thinking of "Asian-Americans" as some group that you need to send "one of our own" to speak to. Bobby Jindal is a fantastic guy, but he ain't "one of mine". Nikki Haley is awesome, but she doesn't "look like me". John Yoo does look like me, but don't expect him to be the spokesperson to the Filipino-American community, just because of his "Asianness" (since there's no such thing.) No, send us the white-as-the-driven-snow Peter Robinson of Stanford University."
Okay, but where should we send him? Because it seems to me that John Yoo is on to something when he mentions the cities -- maybe it's more useful to distinguish between urban and suburban ethnic populations? I mean, the ones at Harvard are going to be left wing. But why should Koreans in LA's Koreatown vote Democratic, as they do? I don't have an answer to that.
Sep '12
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
For the same reason that other people do. They understand that Dems will provide for them. Asians are pretty pragmatic. They're going to go to the guy who gives them a better deal. It's no different than anyone else.
May '12
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
Great post. I don't agree with everything, but this is the kind of stuff that makes me a Ricochet subscriber.
I think one area we can all improve is dropping the (insert heritage/ethnicity here)-American jargon. I am not Italian-American. I am American. I have been blessed to meet a lot of black people, but I have not met an African-American and that includes my pal Adayemi Adelfe (spelling is way off I am sure) he is African and when he is naturalized he will be American.
I think conservatives can do better leading a big diverse family if we start acting like we are a big diverse family and drop the faux PC -American jargon.
Jun '12
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
CoveredUp
For the same reason that other people do. They understand that Dems will provide for them. Asians are pretty pragmatic. They're going to go to the guy who gives them a better deal. It's no different than anyone else. · 1 minute ago
In other words, they were seduced by the Obamaphone too.
Aug '12
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
First off, tremendous post. As Brent said, this is what Ricochet is all about. Now on to a critique!
I taught at a boarding school with many Chinese and Korean nationals who are likely to become American citizens in the future. We must not forget that many Asian-Americans from the northeast triad enter America without much knowledge of her past. When they vote, they vote based on current perceptions of the parties. The GOP's harsh tone on immigration, plus the media/left's characterization of such, positions the GOP at a significant disadvantage starting off. It is extremely difficult to fight that first impression of which party is more "on your side."
When you are young, you are far more impressionable based on what the power structure deems as "cool" or "the acceptable choice." Immigrants are young in another sense: they are young citizens. Democrats have done a much better job controlling the narrative from the start. On top of all this, Democrats employ "ethnic solidarity" to encourage immigrants to align themselves with politicians from the Democratic party based on ethnic identification as the most important factor. A lethal combination that begets the "hyphenization" of American subcultures.
Sep '12
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
ConservativeWanderer
CoveredUp
For the same reason that other people do. They understand that Dems will provide for them. Asians are pretty pragmatic. They're going to go to the guy who gives them a better deal. It's no different than anyone else. · 1 minute ago
In other words, they were seduced by the Obamaphone too. · 1 minute ago
They know how to game the system as well as anyone. Where I am from, if you don't try to milk it, people ask, "What is wrong with you? You're just being a sucker." It's not just rich people who take advantage of the tax code...
Mar '11
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
Awesome post! Not just highly informative, but entertaining to boot!
TheSophist
It isn't that the Republican brand stands for Bible-thumping, anti-abortion, gay-bashers... as much as it is that the Republican brand stands for stupidity.
I agree with this statement, and I would even take it a step further: the Republican party seems to exude an undefinable aura that makes it very unattractive to anyone - including generally apolitical immigrants - who are not already on board.
Stupidity certainly contributes to this aura, but disdain and smugness also play a role. It is hard to watch/listen to the most visible conservatives (who are mostly talk show hosts these days) without getting the sense that they are not just ignorant but angry at lots of people. I can see why that would not endear Republicans to immigrant groups.
The problem for Republicans is that too many people vote based on impressions, not facts. The best policies in the world won't get you elected if people feel you're a boor.
May '12
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
This post is a bit all over the place (not to mention the implication that a certain demographic are effete snobs who want little to do with the swarthy unwashed conservative peasantry) but it underscores a important point-There are few if any Republican politicians and leaders who can make the case for the Republican party or Conservatism. They are largely inarticulate, vague, and evasive. Think of Boehner, Cantor, McCain, Bill Kristol, Ed Gillespie, and others. In fact, consultants like Mike Murphy urge them to campaign on bland platitudes and vague solutions.
In essence, the people leading the Republican party suck.
When I think of Conservatives who can make the case for Conservatism few of them are actually in politics or leadership positions-Mark Steyn, Mark Levin, Paul Rahe, Peter Robinson, Bill Whittle, to name a few. Daniel Hannan and Nigel Farage are perhaps the exceptions who are clear and concise in their advocacy for Conservative values and ideas. Most of the people who do make the case for Conservatives aren't actually in politics.
Nov '10
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
May I put in a word for Bobby Jindal despite the fact that he isn't East Asian? He's a Brown University (Ivy) graduate and a Rhodes scholar. I think he'd be a fine person to talk to other Asians, every bit as good as any white person although I acknowledge that he might not be any better.
I totally agree with most of what you say. I'd add a couple of things, however. While you may not have bought into your university's "Dean of Asian-American Students" concept, lots of young people do. Let's be honest: Asian cultures teach respect for authority, and there isn't an authority that is more respected than that of the university professor. While we on the Right have been doing whatever it is that we do, the Left has been using its position in the universities to transmit its values to young Asian and Asian-American students. So there are a number of such young people who have been taught a lot of Leftist ideas, not least that their Asian-American victim group identity trumps their identities as Korean- or Vietnamese-Americans.
Edited on November 29, 2012 at 8:01pmNov '10
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
Mendel: Awesome post! Not just highly informative, but entertaining to boot!
I agree with this statement, and I would even take it a step further: the Republican party seems to exude an undefinableaurathat makes it very unattractive to anyone - including generally apolitical immigrants - who are not already on board.
Stupidity certainly contributes to this aura, but disdain and smugness also play a role. It is hard to watch/listen to the most visible conservatives (who are mostly talk show hosts these days) without getting the sense that they are not just ignorant but angry at lots of people. I can see why that would not endear Republicans to immigrant groups.
That's one reason why, a while back, I was suggesting some Republican advertising based on the College Democrats "I'm a Democrat" video, showing the range of race, ethnicity, economic background, and so forth that you can find in the Republican party: people like Mia Love, Susana Martinez, Artur Davis, etc. Republicans need to somehow change people's perceptions of what a Republican looks like.
May '12
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
Outside of our combined comments the words 'republican party' and 'conservatism' do not belong in the same sentence. It is impossible to make a case where one does not exist.
Mar '11
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
Lucy Pevensie
Mendel: Awesome post! Not just highly informative, but entertaining to boot!
That's one reason why, a while back, I was suggesting some Republican advertising based on the College Democrats "I'm a Democrat" video, showing the range of race, ethnicity, economic background, and so forth that you can find in the Republican party: people like Mia Love, Susana Martinez, Artur Davis, etc. Republicans need to somehow change people's perceptions of what a Republican looks like.
I agree wholeheartedly, but I think this idea will have to overcome a big hurdle: the free market.
No matter whom some party functionaries put forth as the "face" of the Republican party, the market - in the form of listeners and advertisers - has already selected the real faces of conservatism: Rush, Hannity, Levin, and their ilk.
The truth is that these guys are obnoxious, venomous, and popular. It will be an uphill slog to convince the country that Marco Rubio is the "genuine" representative of conservativism when an audience 10 times larger is listening to, and nodding in agreement with, an anti-immigrant screed on the radio.
Edited on November 28, 2012 at 5:21amNov '10
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
CoveredUp
ConservativeWanderer
CoveredUp
For the same reason that other people do. They understand that Dems will provide for them. Asians are pretty pragmatic. They're going to go to the guy who gives them a better deal. It's no different than anyone else.
They know how to game the system as well as anyone. Where I am from, if you don't try to milk it, people ask, "What is wrong with you? You're just being a sucker." It's not just rich people who take advantage of the tax code...
Are you saying this based on some personal observation, or is this conjecture? Because I really don't believe that this is characteristic of the Asian cultures I am familiar with. Granted, I know Korean and Chinese "educated elites" and the general Vietnamese community best, and there are obvious reasons why Vietnamese politics are idiosyncratic, but I really can't imagine that the Koreans in LA's Koreatown are thinking this way.
Sep '12
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
Lucy Pevensie
Are you saying this based on some personal observation, or is this conjecture? Because I really don't believe that this is characteristic of the Asian cultures I am familiar with.
I speak from personal experience, but not from Koreatown or LA. I'm from the Midwest.
When I learned that 70% of Asians voted Obama I was really surprised, since I thought that conservatism worked well with Asian goals. The Chinese came not just to get away from the commies, but to live prosperously. And I figured we'd be simpatico, but then I remembered the Law of Die Hard: It's always about the money. So when I read about Republicans tacking left on immigration and such, I think that it's never going to be enough. You're trying to take a position that the other guy has staked out years ago. And the other guy is going to provide the "free" health care. What are you going to do? Tell them how great a smaller government would be? Sweet. It's almost as good as a $0 copay. Almost.
May '10
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
I was living in Detroit in the early 1990's when troops that Bill Clinton had sent to Somalia were coming home. The Detroit Free Press interviewed a local soldier and his words have stuck with me for a long time.
I'll paraphrase because I don't have the article at hand, but basically he said that, in the beginning he was proud to be there because finally his country was doing something for his people. But after being there for awhile he began to realize that these weren't his people. Yes, they were black like he was but they didn't have anything in common.
And that's what all these people need - a good dose of reality. The problem is not our product - freedom is always the right product - but young people have been sold the idea that the free lunch, not the free soul, is their birthright. They will get a taste of reality soon. How they react to that reality will steer the course of the nation.
Nov '10
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
EJHill:
And that's what all these people need - a good dose of reality. The problem is not our product - freedom is always the right product - but young people have been sold the idea that the free lunch, not the free soul, is their birthright. They will get a taste of reality soon. How they react to that reality will steer the course of the nation.
This sounds true in many contexts but not, to me, in the context of Asian-Americans. I've spent a lot of my life among Asian-Americans of lots of different national origins, and a free lunch is just not on their radar. And, despite TheSophist's point about differing cultures, I have to say that on this point the cultures I am familiar with--Indian, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Korean--are pretty much as one.
Sep '10
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
In Westminster, Ca, a middle class suburb with the largest Vietnamese community in the nation, the school district actually had the guts to be the only district in CA to reject -- at risk of losing millions and a possible state takeover -- a law that lets students and staff "decide their own gender." Now, I don't think it was Asians making that decision, since there were only 5 members on the board, but I believe it to be no coincidence that a city that is 40 per cent Vietnamese, would do try to do that, even in this stupid state.
Look up Westminster's new mayor, Tri Ta. He's "one of us" in the good way.
If any "group" are "natural Republicans" Asians are, far more than the much-touted Hispanics.
Edited on November 28, 2012 at 5:58amJan '11
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
Rob Long:
Okay, but where should we send him? Because it seems to me that John Yoo is on to something when he mentions the cities -- maybe it's more useful to distinguish between urban and suburban ethnic populations? I mean, the ones at Harvard are going to be left wing. But why should Koreans in LA's Koreatown vote Democratic, as they do? I don't have an answer to that. · 2 hours ago
The real challenge for Republicans and conservatives is to have a message for urban city-dwellers. That cuts across ethnic lines.
In answer to your question, I would start with outreach on our campuses, centered around the campus evangelical movements. And the ethnic student groups.
Peter might find it interesting to find out when the next Stanford KSA meeting is and attend.