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Why aren’t Asians Republicans?
AEI Ideas ^ | November 26, 2012 | Charles Murray

Posted on 11/26/2012 9:51:06 AM PST by LucianOfSamasota

Last week, I pointed out that there is no such thing as a natural social-conservative skew among Latino Americans. But that leaves open a rejoinder, expressed by several readers: The GOP doesn’t need to get all of the Latino vote, just its fair share. That’s true, and I should have made my point clearer. In the wake of the election, some social conservatives have tried a new version of the old Silent Majority argument, contending that Republicans can continue to make their candidates pass litmus tests on abortion and gay marriage and still win national elections if only it taps the natural social conservatism of Latinos. Exposing that illusion was the point of the numbers I presented.

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.

Let’s start with data from the Current Population Survey from 2003 on some key socioeconomic indicators for adults ages 30–49. (The CPS first started identifying Asians separately from other ethnic groups in 2003).

(Excerpt) Read more at aei-ideas.org ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; Philosophy; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2012polls; asianamericans; asians; trends
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To: ishmac

Another point.....in the universities, the Asians are NOT wasting their time on BS pseudointellectual pursuits such as Feminazi Studies, Marxism 101, Chicano Studies, Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender History and the usual crap.....No... in the universities they are studying useful things like medicine, business, economics, physics, mathematics, science, biology, and engineering-—so therefore I would think they would not be so vulnerable to the usual radical left indoctrination from left-wing professors.


41 posted on 11/26/2012 10:47:54 AM PST by Trapped Behind Enemy Lines
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To: LucianOfSamasota

Many Asians come from more collectivist cultures, so I don’t think it should be any surprise they tend to vote Democrat.


42 posted on 11/26/2012 10:50:37 AM PST by Utmost Certainty (Our Enemy, the State)
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To: LucianOfSamasota

He actually presents zero evidence to back up his ‘thesis’. Only seems to suggest that it must be the case because there’s no other explanation out there.

I think he far too quickly dismisses the Jewish-Asian parallel. Both groups are very aware of being an identifiable minority that succeeds ahead of the majority population. More specifically, Chinese and Japanese have experience in this, like Jews, pretty much wherever they settle worldwide.

Both Jews and the Chinese, especially, also have very leftist politics prominent in their heritage, but I think it is the overachieving minority status that leads them to liberal politics.

While being industrious in building wealth, Asians and Jews both believe their ethnicity or race truly does have above-average intelligence, which means by definition that other populations to some degree have below-average intelligence. Thus, they believe the majority population is at an innate disadvantage in competing with them, and if they are going to keep resentment from spoiling their own opportunity, that resentment needs to be mollified, ideally with an ideology that further soothes injured group identity pride. So backing liberal politics both throws a bone to the less well equipped and it puts them themselves in a kinder, gentler spotlight.

This I think is a tough dynamic to change.


43 posted on 11/26/2012 10:55:02 AM PST by 9YearLurker
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To: Goreknowshowtocheat

Interesting observation.....they are not concerned about tax rates.....because they do everything they can....legal or otherwise.....to avoid paying their taxes. So a pro-business, low tax advocating GOP politician would have no appeal to them no matter what. They want the free stuff and they will find ways to avoid paying the taxes for it.

Truly sad if all true.


44 posted on 11/26/2012 10:58:13 AM PST by Trapped Behind Enemy Lines
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To: longtermmemmory

I think it’s a conglomeration of interests. Their Asian societies they come from are extremely stratified and class based which lends well to the class warfare the left thrives on.

Also they believe they are superior to most the minority groups in the cities and realize that most of the dependent hoards are gonna need taking care of through government help.

They figure why not let the government take from everyone and spread it around to the lesser groups of people so they are satiated.

Then there is always the us versus them - color vs yty thing that’s so prevalent nowadays.


45 posted on 11/26/2012 10:59:52 AM PST by Sheapdog
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To: LucianOfSamasota
asian-americans ? -
like those from:

Afghanistan · Armenia · Azerbaijan · Bahrain · Bangladesh · Bhutan · Brunei · Burma (Myanmar) · Cambodia ·Cyprus · East Timor (Timor-Leste) · Egypt · Georgia · India · Indonesia · Iran · Iraq · Israel · Jordan · Kazakhstan · North Korea · Kuwait · Kyrgyzstan · Laos · Lebanon · Malaysia · Maldives · Mongolia · Nepal · Oman · Pakistan · Philippines · Qatar · Russia · Saudi Arabia · Singapore · Sri Lanka · Syria · Tajikistan · Thailand · Turkey · Turkmenistan · United Arab Emirates · Uzbekistan · Vietnam · Yemen ?
46 posted on 11/26/2012 11:01:12 AM PST by stylin19a (obama -> Fredo smart)
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To: 9YearLurker

Perhaps the most logical of all explanations.

Liberalism is deeply embedded in Jewish DNA.

Always thought Asians were more on the conservative side. This is where I was wrong.


47 posted on 11/26/2012 11:02:19 AM PST by Trapped Behind Enemy Lines
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To: LucianOfSamasota
The last line below is your answer.





Fight Wrongs!



48 posted on 11/26/2012 11:02:53 AM PST by Lady Jag (If you can't make them see the light, let them feel the heat. - Reagan)
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To: RedStateRocker

To clarify- I am answering the question, not making the case, but...

All I am saying is this: there is a basic belief of conservatism that the greatest good for the greatest number comes from the greatest economic liberty. Friedrich Hayek, Ludwig Von Mises, Friedman, all argue that a system that allows for both billionaires and people in extreme poverty yields overall better results than one in which there is much less of a variation between the richest and poorest. This is not a cultural universal. One can rant and rail about “redistribution of wealth” and equate that with “socialism”, but a lot of cultures around the world don’t see that as an absolute inherent evil that is the start of an inevitable slippery slope towards totalitarianism.

To pretend otherwise is to continue scratching one’s head as to why honest, educated and hardworking people sometimes do not vote Republican. As a preacher I know said “do we really need billionairs while other people are living under a bridge with untreated mental illnesses?”


49 posted on 11/26/2012 11:04:27 AM PST by RedStateRocker (Nuke Mecca, Deport all illegals, abolish the IRS, DEA and ATF.)
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To: Trapped Behind Enemy Lines

Wrong. Yes, Asians tend to, like the Hispanics, have stronger family values.

But the Asians, like the Hispanics, go for the freebies.

As one Chinese told me, who has strong family values, “If someone offers me (freebies), I’ll vote for them.”

It’s the freebies.


50 posted on 11/26/2012 11:07:11 AM PST by OldArmy52 (The question is not whether Obama ever lies, but whether he ever tells the truth.)
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To: Longbow1969
I am a Republican.

But, I will not vote for any candidate who is pro-choice or anti-family.

Republican candidates cannot win without the votes of folks like me.

And, that's the truth.

51 posted on 11/26/2012 11:12:01 AM PST by Oak Grove
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To: LucianOfSamasota

If its true they aren’t Repubs it could be because they are a minority and the media has taught them that Repubs HATE minorities.


52 posted on 11/26/2012 11:13:12 AM PST by Brooklyn Attitude (Obama being re-elected is the political equivalent of OJ being found not guilty.)
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To: twister881

Correct.
Also remember that Hispanics and Asians immigrate their parents/grand parents to come to the USA. The old folks are used for helping the family but not to get a job for the most part.

The old folks brought here are then to score the freebies. Because without job/language skills and no regular employment, they qualify and get the freebies.


53 posted on 11/26/2012 11:13:22 AM PST by OldArmy52 (The question is not whether Obama ever lies, but whether he ever tells the truth.)
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To: OldArmy52

Yo comprendo ahora.


54 posted on 11/26/2012 11:14:59 AM PST by Trapped Behind Enemy Lines
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To: Berlin_Freeper

He’s SO right! If only we make it hard to open a small business, advocate homosexuality and also keep a failed education system on LIFE SUPPORTk well THEN Asians of all stripes will REALLY love us...!

RIGHT ON...!


55 posted on 11/26/2012 11:15:36 AM PST by gaijin
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To: Trapped Behind Enemy Lines

http://www.voanews.com/content/exit-polls-show-asian-americans-backed-obama-by-wide-margin/1540974.html ~ this is the news piece that started the discussion way back when ~ and it refers to a group called AALDEF as a sort of “well, ya’ know, this is all true” group ~ but it’s a CAPTIVE of the NAACP, which itself is an arm of the Democrat party. So, you want to suck down more Democrat propaganda, go ahead, but really guys ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


56 posted on 11/26/2012 11:23:14 AM PST by muawiyah
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To: driftless2
I cannot dislike, or disqualify my Fiscal Brethren that do not share all of my personal values..

Where have I gone so wrong?

In failing to reflect that, if morality goes by the wayside, the economy follows it into the trash. For instance, when men fool around instead of marrying the mothers of their children—the children do less well at school or work. When the statistics are controlled for variables like class, race, age, and so on, the fathers themselves don't prosper as well economically as married men. They are more likely to become drunks, crooks, or drug users, and their lives are shorter. The children of "non-family" men are vastly more likely to become criminals than children who grow up in a household of both their natural parents. These micro-economic disasters can build up to a macro-economic disaster.

(Ironically, the recent book, Coming Apart, by Charles Murray, the author of the excerpted article, documents the morality-prosperity connection in brilliant detail.)

It's also true that moral attitudes in matters of sexuality and family, if they include lack of commitment, exploitation, cheating, and so on, spread directly into business behavior, which is fatal to an economy—since any economy runs on investment and trust.

Fiscal conservatives who are social "liberals" are short-sighted—in effect voting against the future economy in favor of present sexual or drug indulgence. It's not worth the hangover we will all suffer.

57 posted on 11/26/2012 11:31:19 AM PST by SamuraiScot
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To: Oak Grove
But, I will not vote for any candidate who is pro-choice or anti-family.

It's not that GOP candidates will suddenly be pro-abort and pro-gay marriage, they will mostly nominally be against those things. But they will fight less and less on those issues and focus far more on fiscal policy battles. You'll see far more Bob McDonnell types like we have in Virginia. He's a social conservative but didn't run on those issues. He basically gave assurances to the social conservatives that he was one of them and then never mentioned those issues again while campaigning. I think you'll see less and less candidates like Akin.

58 posted on 11/26/2012 11:33:06 AM PST by Longbow1969
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Comment #59 Removed by Moderator

To: Trapped Behind Enemy Lines
Asians do so well in academics and education in general, they over-represented in many of the state’s universities.

There's a lot of your answer right there. They can't make it out of said universities, even the engineering and science programs, without being subjected to a healthy dollop of liberal indoctrination, the gist of which is that America was founded as a racist country, and anyone who talks about restoring and/or preserving the foundations of of it is a racist as well.

60 posted on 11/26/2012 11:34:19 AM PST by Behind the Blue Wall
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