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Accept the Truth Then Judge the Candidates Before Casting Votes

11/26/2022

Dr David Wordman

The next mid-term election is just a few days away when you read this article. This mid-term election is very important because it not only may change the color map distribution of the 118th Congress as every mid-term election does more or less but also may determine the outcome of the 2024 presidential election because of the turmoil of the past two presidential elections in 2016 and 2020 the voters experienced. We have lots of domestic and international issues challenging our political servants but there are three key issues that may cloud voters' judgment this mid-term election, possibly dragging voters into a bipartisan turf war by voting purely according to the color of the district rather than the quality of the local candidates. There are always some turf war phenomena especially after a national district remapping following the centennial census. But the problem is getting worse as our election campaigns have become focusing more on so called “opposition research and tactics” which tend to generate fake and negative news (significant Ad dollars) rather than dwelling on candidates' qualifications, abilities, achievements and visions for serving the public office.

Whether one is a Democrat, Republican or Independent, it is important for you to step outside a red-blue color district map to clear the thoughts and accept the truths of the important issues. There are many of them such as abortion, gun control, immigration, healthcare, etc., but the following three major issues are important because they are relevant to the essence of democracy, our very election system. Hence, we must clearly understand them and accept their truth and then judge your candidates’ positions and focus on your candidates' true merits. The three major issues are:
1.Russiagate and its verdict (relevant to our election system and campaign practice)
2.Truth of the January 6th Capitol Event (relevant to our constitution and civil rights)
3.Position on Russian-Ukraine war versus domestic economic plan. ( relevant to our future and value system)
As a voter, we need to accept the truth of these issues, clearly understand our candidates’ position and value system then judge on their qualifications and merits.

Russiagate was the headline news before, during and after the 2016 presidential election. The 2016 presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russia were accused of collusion in the election. American presidential election influenced by a foreign country is a very serious matter. After six years of investigation by the Justice department, FBI and investigation of the FBI and the Fed government, the truth is getting clear. Robert Muller, Special Prosecutor finds no collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia. Following Muller, John Durham, investigator then appointed as Independent Special Counsel, investigated the Russiagate mess over 42 months have cleared the following: The Hillary for America campaign organization did create a joint venture to produce false information against Trump (Christopher Steele’s Trump dossier and fake secret communication through Alfa bank were revealed). Although indictments on individuals were not as successful (some acquitted and some plea bargained) but the case became clear to show the serious effects of “opposition research” that had destroyed the integrity of democratic election and voter confidence. We hope that these kinds of negative (criminal) political campaign will never be repeated again. As voters, we must accept these findings and apply to the judgment on the mid-election candidates and their parties.

The Jan 6th committee is another important issue triggered by the 2020 presidential election. Whether an election was stolen was more a critical issue than a squashed protest or violence in the Capitol. Hong Kong's violent protests were praised with false arguments when compared to the much milder protests in Washington. Civil rights and patriotism should be universal values with no double standards. We can use a case involving 18-year old high school student, Bruno Cua, who is a great builder of tree houses in Milton, Ga to call our attention on the election issue. Cua was allegedly seen standing in the Senate chamber of the U.S. Capitol along with a handful of others. In his defense his lawyers said, Cua was an impressionable 18-year old in the middle of working to graduate from high school when he was arrested. The prosecutor suggested that he was genuinely inspired by former President Donald Trump and his unproven ‘intent’ on violence. Both prosecution and defense agree that Cua was influenced by the social media and changed his course of life. More than 250 people have been charged with storming the Capitol. Are they all more guilty than the media which make sensational even fake news? Before the coming mid-term election, shouldn’t the voters clearly understand and accept the truth of this major issue and how media played in fake news. The voters must examine their candidates' position on this issue and whether the candidates partook in fake news generation rather than present their qualification and deeds for the voters to make their choice.

Although Russia-Ukraine war is far away from the U.S., it is impacting the world. It was crystal clear that the root of the issue is NATO, whether or not it presented national security threat to Russia especially when the new Ukraine Administration favored the policy of joining the NATO. NATO is supposed to be a defense alliance against aggression. The U.S. invests significant amount of money annually in NATO for the collective defense of NATO nations. Trump had questioned the value of NATO to the U.S. in 2021, the U.S. contributes directly 811,140 million dollars, the largest, to the total NATO budget of 2.5B Euros. Of course, we do enjoy the influence that we exert in Europe because of that. However, when Russia-Ukraine war broke out (Russia felt threat and Russian speaking Ukrainians suffered oppression versus Ukraine felt threat and wanted to join NATO), it created a crisis in Europe. The NATO and U.S. support of Ukraine diminished the chance for peace talk and resolution, in fact, it elevated the risk of having a nuclear war after the Russian gas-pipe line and Crimea bridge were bombed. Is continuing support of Ukraine worth the risk of a nuclear war? Is it a good idea of focusing on foreign affairs with possibility of creating military conflict rather than focusing on our domestic issues, infrastructure, inflation, rising debt and economy? Shouldn’t voters ask our political candidates where is their focus and what are their solutions to domestic issues rather than using foreign issues such as Ukraine and Taiwan to blur voters' attention?

In the coming mid-term election, only a few days away, let us clear up fake news and accept the truth. Let us ask our public office candidates the real tough questions on how to build up America and make our lives better.

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Comments on US 2022 Midterm Election Results

11/19/2022

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Dr. David Wordman

Under the bipartisan election competition-rotation system in the United States, the four-yearly presidential election is the focus of competition for power, while the mid-term elections (middle of the presidential term) re-elect some senators, all congress representatives, some governors, state legislators, and judicial personnel. It has become a competition between the ruling and opposition parties to use their two-year achievements to win more government seats. If the president's performance is good and his or her poll approval rating is high, the ruling party led by the president should be able to increase seats at all levels. Traditionally, this rarely happens. On the contrary, the President usually loses congressional seats. When Biden was elected president in 2020, Democrats controlled the House (238: 197) and the Senate (50:50) but the vice president (Kamala Harris, Democrat) could add a vote to break a tie (51:50). The President's control of the Senate and Congress is, of course, a great help in passing legislation, key personnel appointments and budgetary funding. On the contrary, the president may become a lame duck, and the entire administration may be restrained by Congress, the appointments of the cabinet, the request for additional budget, and any proposed bill may all be boycotted by Congress. The president may be forced to change policies or make compromises. Therefore, the mid-term elections in the United States are of great importance, more so when the country is encountering more difficulties. The mid-term elections become opportunities for the common people to sound the alarm and express their dissatisfaction by selecting people who can turn around the bad situation or even turn the tide by replacing the president in two years. This kind of mechanism is indispensable in the democratic political system, although its effect is not always positive. First, the national issues are too complex, and the people's understanding of them is very different, therefore, it is not easy to integrate and achieve a consensus of understanding among a large population. Second, the life experiences of candidates are very different with little rigorous screening. The voters’ selection is mostly influenced by superficial skills (oratory, attitude, appearance) and money (campaign funding, fundraising, PR). Therefore, when we look at the mid-term elections in the U.S., we must have the above understanding in order to appreciate the results.

The current national condition of the United States is in the most difficult time since WW II. The U.S. has gradually developed into a superpower in the world following the U.S. victory in WW II. Although facing the communist Soviet Union, the U.S. suffered the least damage and gained the most advantage through WW II. In addition to its vast land and resources, her post-war economic development quickly made the U.S. the world's largest economy, thus making her capable to lead the world in economic development and promoting post-war recovery. It is undeniable that the U.S. has indeed helped many countries to recover, including Europe and Asia, especially Western European countries such as Germany, and East Asian regions such as the Philippines and Japan, which have received the most funding from the U/S., later making them American allies. The Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union lasted for 40 to 50 years. In the end, the Soviet Union’s economy and the Union collapsed (1990), and the U.S. became the world’s greatest power. However, at this time, the U.S. had changed its economic structure, focusing more on finance and investment-related service industries, and favored only defense and military-related technologies, so that other small and medium-sized manufacturing companies gradually moved out of the country to be a part of the global supply chain. However, in the global economy, hard workers generate more and fast economic growth. For example, Japan and Germany used to have rapid economic growth, but that threatened the no. 1 economic status of the U.S. The U.S. suppressed Japan’s economic growth with a forceful agreement (Plaza Agreement). However, the U.S. economy had a slower growth rate compared with that of emerging countries, such as China, Brazil, India, etc., hence the U.S. economy was relatively weakened from 40% of the world economy to less than 20%. At the same time, China's rapid growth maintained into the 21st century (>17% of world GDP) making the U.S. felt pressured. The U.S. cannot force China not to grow like Japan. Biden's China policy followed Trump's trade war and sanctions against China with even increased pressure on her allies to target China, which naturally forced China to resist and retaliate. With the impact of the Coronavirus epidemic in recent years, the death toll in the U.S. exceeded one million, which gave a heavy blow to her economy and increased her domestic crime rate. On the foreign policy front, the U.S. lost Afghanistan and its leverage in the Middle East. Today, the U.S. is suffering from a 7% domestic inflation rate putting her in the most difficult time since WW II. The performance record of the Biden Administration is not as good as the press would lead people to believe, so this year's mid-term election will flip Congress with high probabilities.

Although the mid-term elections had passed, but due to the close contention of several races, the exceptional volume of the mail-in votes, and winning votes less than 50% requiring a run-off election, the final election results may not be completely determined until December. At this time, the author can only make a few comments for the readers based on the information from the news media:
1. There are a total of 435 members of the House of Representatives, divided as 238 Democrats and 197 Republicans (independents included according to their voting record). All 435 House Representatives are to be re-elected in 2022. The changes in this year's mid-term election may be tallied as of November 10 as 209 Republicans (gained 6 seats) and 191 Democrats (lost 7 seats). The projection is that Republicans may gain 13 more seats making a total of 222, leaving democrats 213 seats.
2. There are a total of 100 senators in the Senate. There are 35 seats (presently 12D and 23R) to be re-elected in 2022. According to the tally on November 10, the Republicans have won 19 seats plus 3 hopefuls (NC, OHIO, WIS) reaching 49 total and Democrats have won 7 seats plus 3 hopefuls (COLO, NH, PA) reaching 48 total. Georgia needs to have a run-off and Nevada and Arizona are still counting. Georgia may decide whether the Senate majority goes to the Republicans (51 seats).

Based on the election results above, one may conclude that Biden will be a lame-duck president. The first thing he will face is the need of raising the US debt limit. If the debt limit is not raised, the US government will be forced to shut down. Republicans are reluctant to expand the government's spending/debt, and will certainly not raise the debt limit easily. However, some people in the media actually described the matter in a sour-grape tone: "US presidents have always lost their congressional seats in mid-term elections. Obama is an example. When the Republicans gain seats, they will increase their internal fights. This is how Obama has slid to a second term." This is wishful thinking that Biden may also slide into his second term.

This column is a serious forum, especially in international affairs, we cannot treat state affairs lightly. Biden and the 118th Congress have to deal with the stoppage of the Russian-Ukrainian war, how to resolve the harmful rivalry with China, and how to turn the relationship into cooperation beneficial to the world. The two countries need to work together to solve the climate change issues. Both need to collaborate in technology development and space research rather than decoupling and confrontation. We citizens have to ask the newly elected government officials to treat state affairs with sincerity and seriousness, not sliding into the next term nor kicking the can to the 119th Congress. Diplomatically, we cannot say one thing and do the other. We cannot say that we want to talk and work with China but also pressure our allies to sanction China with us. Just look at the performance of the G20 versus G7, following the World Expo in Shanghai, China, and the air show in Zhuhai, the U.S. is losing its credibility. While we are sanctioning China in semiconductors, U.S. corporations are attending China’s expo and air show. Shouldn’t we be consistent with our words and deeds? As voters, we must view every election as an opportunity to demand change, progress, and improvements. Let's watch Biden and the 118th Congress.

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Election Politics and Asian American Power

11/12/2022

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Dr. David Wordman

The Western democracy advocating one person one vote and placing individual freedom and rights on the highest pedestal has an intrinsic flaw that is the political system tends to divide the society. The system requires individuals or small groups to unite together by making compromises and trade-offs to form coalition to achieve a compromised objective. In the U.S. the white race has been a dominating majority over the past three centuries, hence they have dominated the political system. Under the white domination and the historical influence by colonialism, racial discrimination persists in America despite of a significant strive made legislatively. The Chinese exclusion Act was terminated in 1943. The United Nation adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. The Civil Rights Act was created in the U.S. in 1964 after the Martin Luther King movement. These legal progresses will not be fully effective until political equality is realized.

Asian Americans were a small population before the above civil rights laws and some immigration laws were enacted. The Asian American population has grown at fast pace in this century from 11.9 million in year 2000 (4.2% of 281.4 million) to 24 million in year 2020 (7.2% of 331.9 million 2021). Correspondingly, the Asian American voter population increased from 4.6 million (2000) to 11.1 million (2022). a 242% increase. From election politics point of view, this is a huge change. A decade ago, when Asian American population is less than 5%, Asian voters were ignored because of their small number and they tend to be evenly divided between the two parties, Democrats and Republicans. In recent years, the Asian Americans not only increased in population but also became more interested in politics due to the following reasons: awareness of racial discrimination, increase of hate Asian crime and specific political policies targeted at Asian Americans, for example the college admission policy tilted unfavorably to Asian Americans and the China Initiative directed at persecuting Chinese American scholars and scientists who may have academic or industrial contacts with China. As a result, more Asian American organizations have begun to speak out on political issues and encourage Asian Americans to get involved in American politics.

A number of phenomena have taken place in the Asian American communities. First, there is more bonding being generated (some through mixed marriages) among Asians from different origins including Chinese, Indians, Cambodians, Vietnamese, Filipinos, etc. in organized fashion. Second, According to AAPI data, there are increasing number of common issues that matter to all Asian Americans. There is increasing and improving voting record from 2016, 2018, 2020 continued to 2021 for Asian Americans. We expect even better in 2022 and going forward. The Asian Americans voter turnout in 2020 was about 11% and 18% less than black and white voters, respectively, especially worse for 18-24 age group. However, this trend is likely to change from 2022 onward judging from recent survey responses. Traditionally, Asian Americans were ignored by both parties, 60% not contacted by democrats and 70% not contacted by Republicans (2016 data), but the latest 2022 data from AAPI showed 52% of Asian Americans have not been contacted by the political parties. One of the purposes of this article is calling out the attention of political candidates and their parties to notice the increasing interest in politics among Asian Americans hence their political power. For example, At least 22 Asian American candidates are running for offices in the November election and next year’s city elections in the state of Illinois. This does not include Asian Americans running in other local races across Illinois. Illinois is the 10th state ranked by percentage of Asian Americans population in the country. In the following, the author calls political parties' attention on a YouTube video, 'World According to Briggs', where Briggs highlighted the top ten states having the highest Asian American population in percentage of state population.

The top 10 states ranked backwards are:

10. Illinois has 6.4% of Asian Americans in state population and 6.4%
          counting Mixed Asian Americans. The total Asian Am population is 810,000.
9. Maryland has 6.9% of Asian Americans in state population and 7.4% counting Mixed Asian Americans. The total AA population is 451,587.
8. Massachusetts has 7.2% of Asian Americans in state population and 7.46% counting Mixed Asian Americans. The total AA population is 451,587.
7. Virginia has 6.9% of Asian Americans in state population and 7.6% counting Mixed Asian Americans. The total AA population is 664,354.
6. Nevada has 8.7% of Asian Americans in state population and 9.43% counting ed Asian Americans. The total AA population is 306,000.
5. New York has 10% of Asian Americans in state population and 10.4% counting Mixed Asian Americans. The total AA population is 1.8 million.
4.   Washington has 9.6% of Asian Americans in state population and 10.3% counting Mixed Asian Americans. The total AA population is 815,223.
3.   New Jersey has 10% of Asian Americans in state population and 10.4% counting Mixed Asian Americans. The total AA population is 923,911.
2. California has 15% of Asian Americans in state population and 16.58% counting Mixed Asian Americans. The total AA population is 6.5 million.
1. Hawaii has 37.6% of Asian Americans in state population and 57.2% counting Mixed Asian Americans. The total AA population is 802,510.

The above statistics should raise the two major political parties' attention, not only about the population growth of the Asian Americans but also their political concerns. Again, there are more Asian American organizations such as AAIP, 1990, 1440, OCA, China Institute, U.S.-ChinaForum, Committee 100, etc. becoming more active and visible in presenting Asian Americans political views. Just cite a few voter survey opinions to emphasize this point:

Two third of Asian Americans plan to vote in 2022 election.
51% of Asian Americans prefer to vote by mail or drop-off.
Political issues ranking among Asian Americans: Healthcare 88%, Crime 86%, Economy 85%, Education 82%, Gun Control 75%, followed by Voting Rights, Racism, Foreign Policy, ….
77% favor stricter gun control, 61% strongly agree and 59% Agree.
Two to one opposes ban on books and teaching on racism.
Media source for Asian Americans, TV 65%, Facebook 32%, Print news 36% and also YouTube particularly favored by Vietnamese.

The above is just a small sample of survey data available upon search. The author urges the Asian American community participate more in political surveys. The author also urges political parties pay attention to these results and the Asian American political power boosted by their economic standing in the American society. After all, this is the only fair way that we can improve our democracy.

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