ditor Note:"OCA-STL Column - a monthly column with topics that concerns our community. We'll also accept any appropriate questions or topics that you want us to discuss. They can be forwarded to Eling Lam atcommunications@oca-stl.org"
The results of 2006 midterm election may not be surprising to you. You could be either happy or upset, but more important question is: what do all these mean to Asian-Americans? Here are some thoughts on this question.
1. CNN did exit polls for all 33 Senate races. However, only 3 of the 33 races have sufficient number of Asian American voters to qualify for explicit listing. These three states were:State VA NJ CA% of AsAm voters 3% 3% 6%
This result was a tad surprising. Where was New York or Chicago in this picture? Well, if this was right number, it showed that Asian Americans did not have enough voting power across the country. So those who did not vote need to come out and vote. It would be nice to see these numbers, in terms of either number of states or percentage of votes, increase in 2008 presidential election.
2. May we use this occasion to ask why elected officials are normally not as helpful to Asian Americans? It may be partially their fault, but it may also be partially our own fault. Asian Americans tend to worship elected officials, instead of treating them as public servants. Maybe this has something to do with our culture where government officials "dictate" people's lives. For example, as B. S. Wu indicated, in 1985 he was the highest elected official at the state level in continental USA. He knew how he was treated -- given utterly unhealthy adulation. Thus, this is a part of our culture that we may need to change in the context of the American society. If we keep worship them and they will take advantage of it. We elect them and they should work for us, period.
3. The ultimate limitation on Asian American political clout is the political maturity of our community. Again and again, we realize the importance of ethic unity by setting side our own unique differences. For example, by voting as a block and showing that Asian Americans have the voting power to reward or punish a political party, we have greatly strengthened our political clout. It means that we are close to getting both political parties to pay attention to our rightful concerns. |
