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.
- Comment (117)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (20)
Comments:
Sep '12
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
I agree. Could you quote some of this inflammatory rhetoric you refer to? Could you point to a politician (other than Pat Buchanon) advocating a blanket ban on immigration? Could point me to something Levin said that is inflammatory?
What I always hear is something that, to my ears, sounds entirely reasonable--that then, gets repeated by the media second or third hand, and dishonestly turned into an attack on all immigrants.
You're doing it here. The problem is illegal immigration. Yet you repeatedly refer to Republican opposition to immigration, without the qualifier.
Well, who is doing that? Perhaps I'm wrong, and there's this deep well of anti immigrant fervor that I've missed because I don't listen to Mark Levin, but from what I've seen and heard, Republican support for strong borders and enforcement is regularly attacked, dishonestly I might add, by the MSM and some of our so-called allies, like Jeb Bush, on the Right.
Sep '12
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
I do agree with you, without reservation, that Republicans need to get better at messaging. But I'm not going to wail and scold our party when the clear words they say are regularly misrepresented. Messaging only goes so far when the moment it leaves our mouths it is twisted into something the opposite of what we said.
Edited on November 28, 2012 at 8:20pmMay '10
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
All the more reason to do better retail politics. Getting face time with people goes a long way toward disarming the caricatures. If all they know of you is what they hear in the media, good luck.
May '10
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
Pseudodionysius
Chris Deleon
Pseudodionysius:Republicans tend not to, or to do it much less.
Two words: Jack Kemp. · 6 minutes ago
Can you explain this? I am young enough that it doesn't mean anything to me. Yes, I have a bit of an idea who Jack Kemp was, but was there something about him that specifically relates to this discussion? · 3 minutes ago
Rob Long posted on this topic awhile back. · 19 minutes ago
If I understand from the context, then, you are saying Jack Kemp was a good example of someone who came across as likeable, who reached out to different people effectively?
May '12
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
I agree with everything said by TheSophist, but it seems to me we are, once more, going down the road of identity politics. A large number of Chinese/Korean/Japanese are Christian (mostly Koreans) and social-conservative (allegedly), therefore social conservatism is not a hindrance.
Well, two issues with this observance:
1) the question is not asked, what business is it of social-conservatism in government? Is the intention to do the same thing the left did through government; legislate behavior? Or is it to get government off of legislating behavior? The answer to this is independent of the ethnic group you are trying to get to vote for you.
2) While you may attract a number of Asians (mostly Koreans) through a Christian-based approach (although there is no guarantee of getting them to vote GOP, because of the anti-intellectualism), the question isn't asked: what consequences does this policy have for the rest of the electorate which is becoming less religious, especially on college campuses? This is not a winning strategy, long term.
But this is identity politics, just as the left. Every group in the US has differences. Lets focus on the commonalities, instead.
May '10
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
Salamandyr: I agree. Could you quote some of this inflammatory rhetoric you refer to? ...
An example is the multiple members of Ricochet who recently threatened to quit if Ricochet opened up a hypothetical Spanish page, and some of the rhetoric that accompanied their statements. In at least one case a member threatened to quit if there was even so much as another post in another language. Another said not only "No but Hell No." How do you think this tone comes across to an immigrant? If people can't find a problem with the tone on that thread, I'd suggest they might be tone-deaf.
TheSophist, I don't understand why you were among them. I thoroughly enjoyed your post above. What would be wrong with reaching the first-generation immigrant in their own language? Many of them will, simply as a matter of acknowledging reality, not become proficient enough in English in their lifetime, or meet enough native citizens outside their immigrant circles, to be exposed to a full explanation of conservative American philosophy.
As for the second generation, we're losing them in the schools, which is a separate problem we have to address.
May '10
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
Another example of needless and offputting rhetoric (albeit not necessarily obviously related to this discussion at first glance), is the heavy bashing of the sport of soccer that occurs on talk radio and various other conservative circles including even Ricochet, every four years when World Cup comes around. It gets called everything including un-American, a Euro-weenie sport, etc.
Why do you have to bash a sport? If you don't like it, just don't watch it! Yes, I get that some of this is a reaction to the media constantly telling you that you should care, but it's an overreaction when it becomes active bashing of a sport that many others really do care about.
Like it or not, soccer is the world's biggest organized team sport. When a Mexican immigrant, for example, tunes in to talk radio and hears their favorite sport bashed, does that increase or decrease their likelihood of listening to the rest of the conservative message?
It's that kind of unnecessary, negative, snarky, put-down tone and rhetoric that so many of us dislike about talk radio. We need to focus more on the positive aspects of our political philosophy.
Jun '12
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
Superb post. Retake the academy, no doubt. Send out Apostles of intellectual conservatism, absolutely. First goal will take decades. As for goal 2, where exactly do we send them? Where do non-existent Asian-Americans hang out, en masse?
Jan '11
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
Look, I've been a community organizer in the Asian-American community, for far-left causes and Democrats (but I repeat myself). I'm just telling you that the identity politics of the Left, given towards tribalism and collectivism, lend themselves perfectly to this sort of "outreach". The Constitutional conservative ideology is far less comfortable with it.
And if you try to out-Dem the Dems, you can only lose. That's my main point.
But if you insist on doing ethno-politics, then focus on Mexicans in the Southwest, with people like Ted Cruz and Susanna Martinez. At least they have the demographics on their side; post-immigrant Asian-Americans, not so much.
May '12
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
Another point to consider on "social conservatism". The concept is not uniformly applied in all these cultures. In the US the concept has become synonymous not with how one lives one's life, but with how much one is concerned with the way others live theirs.
From my limited exposure to Asian cultures, particularly the Christian Koreans (which really is the only group being spoken of here which would be attracted by the American social-conservatism), these people are not concerned with the way others live their lives. Such issues are internal to the family, and more so because they generally don't mingle with others outside of their community (at least the first generations).
This is also a fundamental characteristic of all immigrant groups to the US (firstgen at least); they don't care about how others live their lives. These people left all their families and communities behind to come here for a purely selfish reason. We expect them to care about the dissolution of the black family in Mississippi? This is why they don't vote on social issues even if they may be "socons" in their private life. Private life is separate from public policy.
Jan '11
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
Chris Deleon
TheSophist, I don't understand why you were among them. I thoroughly enjoyed your post above. What would be wrong with reaching the first-generation immigrant in their own language? · 20 minutes ago
I was among them because I've been deeply involved in ethnic separatist politics of the Left for most of my 20's. It seems tempting, but ultimately, it leads to fragmentation, separation, balkanization, and the loss of the idea that no matter what, we are all Americans.
Who knows what American identity may or may not mean? I do know this though -- without a common language, there is no such thing as a national identity of any kind. My uncle is an American citizen; he can't read or write English, and speak it very, very badly. After 20 years of living here. Activists want to have ballots printed in Korean so he can vote.
WTF? If you can't read English, can't speak it, can't write it... maybe you should be voting? And I'm talking about my own family here.
I'm very, very proud of my Korean heritage. But politics? American here, thanks.
May '10
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
TheSophist
I'm just telling you that the identity politics of the Left, given towards tribalism and collectivism, lend themselves perfectly to this sort of "outreach". The Constitutional conservative ideology is far less comfortable with it.
And if you try to out-Dem the Dems, you can only lose. That's my main point.
I'm not talking about promising them special favors, but just showing up to discuss the conservative message. Too often we just write them off or assume they'll somehow get exposure to the conservative message by osmosis, or something like that.
Counter promises with the truth, not with more promises. Hey, it might be a harder, more uphill slog, but we have to at least try. Our current strategy regarding immigrants and minorities is basically no strategy at all.
In that sense I agree with your point about sending someone like Dr. Rahe or Peter Robinson. We don't need to send a Korean to the Koreans, although it helps just to bridge the cultural and language gap. But we need to at least send someone. Our current strategy is largely to ignore them.
Jan '11
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
Now, that I can agree with 100%, Chris. :) Conservatives and the GOP probably should send somebody; just don't overdo the "this guy looks like them" thing.
May '11
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
Incredible post!
Problem is Perception of Anti-Intellectualism: YES.
I'll add that I think that the often unspoken driver is the fear that Republicans are racist. I have tried to argue that conservatives believe in a colorblind society. The response I get is that while that is a wonderful ideal, to ignore the reality (i think perceived relality) that all people have a tribe or two and discriminate against others.
But the line of the post is to "Recruit some new leaders out of the campus Christian movements." Amen to that!
Nov '11
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
Great post...I particularly want to affirm BrentB67's call for an end to identity politics. (The kind of thinking that made me a 'two-fer' - disabled and female - during my collegiate and job-hunting days.) How demeaning it all was.
Fragmenting the body politic any further by engaging in 'someone who looks like me' tactics seems a bit short-sighted. Someone who thinks like me - whether h/s looks like me or not - and can communicate that, is a daily prayer request.
May '11
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
Nanda Panjandrum: Great post...I particularly want to affirm BrentB67's call for an end to identity politics. (The kind of thinking that made me a 'two-fer' - disabled and female - during my collegiate and job-hunting days.) How demeaning it all was.
Fragmenting the body politic any further by engaging in 'someone who looks like me' tactics seems a bit short-sighted. Someone who thinks like me - whether h/s looks like me or not - and can communicate that, is a daily prayer request. · 6 minutes ago
To play devils advocate, identity politics is considered important by liberals because they state that in life, identity matters. For example, you need anti discrimination laws because people discriminate. How would respond to that?
Sep '11
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
The distinctions among Asian regional ancestries are well noted, though I'd avoid the term "Triad."
If older Asian-Americans are highly deferential to credentialed academics, that's a problem -- for them! Younger ones eschew ivory tower isolation, extract useful knowledge and contacts from school, then get out and excel in the real world.
But regardless of ancestry they are 21st Century young Americans. Most will choose science over religious doctrine, and reject ideologies identified with sexual repression.
Yes, Republicans should elect the occasional deep thinker with a Pat Moynihan-type pedigree (and street smarts) to publicly demonstrate our gravitas -- to anyone not already watching Krauthammer on Fox.
But we also need to communicate with more charisma, empathy, and humor to an electorate reached mostly via television and new media.
It wasn't a lack of intellectual heft which lost us the election of 2012. It was a freak storm, a media-saavy President who appeared "all over it," and the kind of voters who cast ballots in the campaign's final days based on impulsive, emotional reactions to the tragedy.
Whether some of those were Asian-Americans, I couldn't guess.
Nov '10
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
I might point out that Bobby Jindal, despite his Catholicism, does come out of the campus Christian movement. It is most definitely not an exclusively Korean phenomenon as AIG contends. There are also very large numbers of kids of Chinese descent in those groups -- to the extent that I would guess that Chinese was the predominant ethnicity in a couple of the groups I have passed through. May I reiterate that it would be a good start to see if someone could get a book making an intellectual Christian case for conservatism into Intervarsity Press? In my day there were lots of books being promoted through Intervarsity that were very left-oriented.
Aug '12
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
Dear Sophist- Great post! I especially like the "Come and Take it Flag". We live near Austin.
Aug '12
Re: Why "Asians" Aren't Republicans: Response to Rob Long & Charles Murray
This post is very heartening.
I've found the whole X group are really socially liberal but fiscally conservative rather tiresome: it paints a picture of people who understand that on the one hand we are sliding off a fiscal cliff that will destroy prosperity of our society but on the other gay people can't get a marriage license so on the whole the gay marriage license is more important. This picture seems rather absurd to me and posts like this provide a much more sensible theory.