I caught this article Why don't we ever hear about the Asian-American vote?down at Slate which makes reference to the press release I got sent out about LEAP and one quote struck me in particular:
Finally, as if demographics and geography and message weren't challenging enough, there is partisanship. Or, more precisely, lack thereof. African-American voters break heavily toward Democrats; Latino voters (with the exception of Cubans) are also largely Democratic. Asian-Americans, meanwhile, can't make up their minds. About a third of them are Republican, a third Democratic, and a third unaffiliated. This last group consists largely of immigrants—more than half of Asian-American were born overseas—who often won't develop party loyalty for another generation.I may go off on a little tangent here, and while coherent, probably not as easy to follow as a DWTS Warren Sap Quickstep.
Who says we have to all vote one way? Do we have to be one mindless collective for or against?
I mean if you're white (where you already transcend race) you get to be as diverse as you want to be and still get noticed, but there seems to be this idea - and especially in that quote from the Slate article (and in other areas of it) - that we best get it together, make up our minds like good little workers, and make it as easy as it can be for politicians to round us up and get our vote en masse, and if we don't - we apparently either aren't being heard, or don't have reason to be heard, or just aren't making a difference, and I can't help but find fault in that thinking because in a lot of ways it boils everything down to race - and that's as absurd as people who believe creationism should be taught as a science.
I'm a part of the Asian American community - obviously - but I'm also an individual who's going to vote based on my beliefs, what a candidate stands for, and in many ways where I am at a particular point in my life (because sometimes what you want from your government can depend on what phase of life your in). I'm not going to vote a certain way just because Group A, Group B, and Group C might in the Asian American community - and like I've said above, if you're white you're not expected too, but if you're a person of color, you are.
Like I said - this is kind of a tangent post (and I blame some of it on the Bourbon that I put into my coffee) - but bottom line is that contrary to what Slate and others may think - I do think we have influence, I do think we make a difference and while it can always get better (and you better get your ass out and vote) - sometimes it has nothing to do with what we're doing, but has everything to do with what other people aren't noticing.
Word to my malted.
