Mother Jones's Anti-Asian GOP Piece (and the Truth)

As a California conservative, I know many Asian-Americans in
office, Republican or Democrat.

And there are plenty of Asian Republicans, even though that
ethnic group compromises 3% of the American population (and yet is the fastest
growing minority in the country, too!)

The Mayor of Gardena, Paul Tanaka ran for LA County Sheriff
earlier this year, but barely made it into the Top-Two runoff because of a
negative press hammering links to LA County Jail scandals (without evidence). In
Torrance, two Republicans, business owners Alex See and Leilani
Kimmel-Dagostino, threw their hats into a sixteen-ring circus for city council.
Despite the growing diversity of the city, an all-white council still oversees
the heart of the South Bay.

When reading up on Rhode Island’s political scene. I had no
idea that there were Asians living in New England (please forgive this backward
sentiment), and that one of them would be running for a statewide office: Cranston
Mayor Allan Fung, now running for Governor of Rhode Island.

Mayor Allan Fung

And he’s a Republican.

Another Asian conservative activist in the state, Dexter
Liu, told me about his strong advocacy for the Second Amendment. He endorsed Fung for Governor not because of his
Asian heritage, but because of his strong stance on the issues, including gun
ownership.

I could not agree more. Every political candidate should be
judged on the content of his character, not the color of his skin.
Conservatives are interested in individuals, in rights, and values. Identity
politics, ethnic cat-calling, and prejudice politics are not a strong point for
free market advocates. Nor should they be.

Unfortunately, integrity on the issues left the Republican
Party unarmed to deal with demographic changes in this country. Democrats
happily stepped in to play the identity politics ploy, reaching out to ethnic
groups, and distilling class warfare into racial clashes. This
divide-and-conquer tactic worked so well, that today 90% of blacks vote Dem,
along with 70% in the last Presidential election.

As for GOP outreach to minorities like Hispanics and even
African-Americans? Little to none. During President Gerald Ford’s Administration,
the National Republican Party toyed with a Hispanic outreach Committee, then shut
the concept down. Bad idea.

Today, Republicans are reaching out to all colors, recognize
that people of color are indeed people of color, but without defining them that
way. Conservatives are learning that you can play the identity politics game,
just to disprove the notion that limited government, individual liberty, and
constitutional rule apply only to “white folks”.

The latest minority outreach iteration? The Asian Republican
Coalition, which convened recently in Washington DC.

Unfortunately, illiberal hit pieces like Mother Jones and Huffington Post want to spin the “all-white GOP” fraud, as if to
expose a prejudiced desperation to score points with minority voting blocs,
just for easy votes.

Mother Jones Magazine

From
Mother Jones, reporting on the Asian Republican coalition:

Yet, the Asian
Republican Coalition appears to be in an awkward position: It seems unable to
find many people of Asian descent to endorse or support its cause.

The MJ piece did acknowledge that minority coalitions do
endorse non-minority candidates because the candidates’ views and values are
sympathetic to their own, or the venues have a large Asian population.

Then:

But when [The
Coalition] held its kickoff party, apart from Ying the scene reportedly was
full of white politicians and consultants. "We have a very broad
definition of what constitutes the Asian American community," the group's
vice chairman, Thomas Britt, told Vice. "The Asian Republican Coalition is
open to all Americans, including Asian Americans and those of us like me who
are not ethnically Asian but have spent 20 years living in Hong Kong."

What is wrong with a strong group of politically-minded
individuals who want to broaden their party’s appeal, regardless of their
color? The League of Women Voters routinely invites men to join their group. Besides,
one meeting does not determined the final ethnic make-up of any group.

This link
showcases the many Asian-Americans running for office throughout the country.
Even in my state, Indian-American Neel Kashkari is running for office, and the
GOP outreach is expanding.

In the latest edition of Human
Events, California’s National Committee Representative Shawn Steel focused
on four Asian-American candidates in his Orange County, CA enclave too:

All four of these
candidates are Asian American women who immigrated legally and have spent years
developing leadership skills in their local communities. All four are
conservative. Their emergence as a new, serious political force toward changing
the GOP stereotype.

Stan Tran

In Rhode Island, not only Chinese-American Allan Fung, but
also Stan Tran (a California native, too!) ran for the First Congressional
District against David Cicilline. Despite his loss, his presence on the ticket
affirmed the GOP outreach to all Americans, not just European descendants.

Historians, especially liberal ones, should also note that
Asian-American politicians joined the Republican Party early on. The first
Asian-American elected to the US Senate, Republican Hiram Fong,
represented Hawaii for nearly two decades (also the first Asian-American to
seek the Presidency).