Various Asians II

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esterday, I spoke to the issue of affirmative action. And just so everyone knows, it is only my opinion. I am no policy maker, thank God. I don't even speak for some Asians, like Japanese Americans. Indeed, there are some strong Asian voices against affrimative action, like Michelle Malkin. And that is too bad, as I think we all need to speak together in one loud voice.

I am no liberal nut. I am far from it. I was even a registered Republican once--okay, who threw that egg! But I am now an Independent who leans left on social issues and right on economic ones--what the hell is Bush doing to our national debt? Every traditional Republican, certainly every fiscal conservative, would agree that a large debt is bad and we need to get rid of the man responsible for creating it. Billions of dollars for a war against a country with no WMD? Bad intelligence? Wasn't there a document confirming that Hussein had an atomic bomb project going on? Does that mean the Bush administration was deceived by phony documents? Kinda like Dan Rather?

I digress. I will talk about this election later... Back to affirmative action.

Now, many Asians who oppose affirmative action see it as a manifestation of weakness. that through affirmative action, we are getting a hand out, a crutch to lean on. But that is not the point. The hard reality is that the playing field is not level. We all would enjoy succeeding on our own merits, but the truth is we cannot. It is a pipe dream. Some whites may feel that they have been disadvantaged by affirmative action, that they have had occasion to be refused, rejected or otherwise denied a spot in school or a position at work. But the reality is that many minorities alre aso refused, rejected and denied, but not occasionally, but on a regular basis.

Think about it. While there may be a disproportionate number of Asians in college, how many Asians are in the corporate boardroom? You all know that there are tons of Asian Americans working as engineers and lower to mid level administrators at many companies. But they rarely reach upper management. So much for that college degree. How many are policy makers representing regions not heavily populated by Asians like Hawaii or the west coast. People simply tend to vote for people who look like them superficially. If I see an Asian representative or senator from ANY east coast state--one who is voted in because he is an American of like mind not "like skin"--I will begin to rethink my position on affirmative action. But I will not hold my breath.

Ideally, we should be colorblind. We should learn to see beyond the superfical differences from the time we are young. But that simply is not the reality, and so makes affirmative action a necessity.