Indian Americans: Watch out for Rick Santorum!

[NayaSurya]

I will be voting for Obama, again. Not that i think he has been perfect or even has all the answers. But, compared to the other choices. The man's a genius.

Did anyone read about Jon Huntsman? The man who has a Hindu daughter? Ron Paul groups made a wretched video about her. Because Huntsman was photographed with his daughter at temple with his wife.

This is how Huntsman lost the Republican nomination.

[Seeker123]

� George W. Bush, as president, was pushinghis "faith-based initiatives", and what happened to that? Fizzled outlike wet birthday candles �

Wasn�t he who signed a law that allows religious organizations to draw funding from federal and state budgets. Before him there was a restriction that such of those organizations that get funding should not display any overt or covert religious agenda, and thanks to him, now you could put a banner of �the savior �right on the building front and still you get state funding. I do remember some journos raising serious objection at that time, but the bill was signed into a law nevertheles. So therefore one cant take the man in WH lightly Im afraid,especially a religious nut at that.

Obama expanded Bush's faith based initiatives. Sorry but Hindus are on their own....

http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/election/764
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/presi...ry?id=12180146

[sanjaya]

I will be voting for Obama, again. Not that i think he has been perfect or even has all the answers. But, compared to the other choices. The man's a genius.

Did anyone read about Jon Huntsman? The man who has a Hindu daughter? Ron Paul groups made a wretched video about her. Because Huntsman was photographed with his daughter at temple with his wife.

This is how Huntsman lost the Republican nomination.

Indeed. Jon Huntsman was an interesting character. I wholly disagree with his economic philosophy and dislike his criticisms of the President, but I would have voted for him anyway. Like I said in my initial post, Hindu Americans need to vote the Hindu agenda. And nothing is in greater harmony with the Hindu agenda than raising your Indian daughter as a Hindu while simultaneously de-emphasizing your Mormon beliefs (well, nothing short of actually being Hindu, but nobody's perfect).

I would point out that Huntsman's religious pluralism was likely secondary to the fact that he was the sub-Romney. Here we had another fiscally-conservative Mormon governer running for President. Put yourself in the Christians' shoes: if you're going to vote for such a candidate, it's better to go with the candidate who has already made a respectable bid for the Presidency and who is slightly more committed to Christianity. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure Governor Huntsman's embrace of Hinduism didn't help matters. After all, Christians percieve us as heathens who are going to hell for not mimicing Western culture. However in the early stages of the nomination process it seemed that social issues took a back seat to the economy, and I heard very little from the media about Huntsman's amicable attitude towards Hinduism. Whether you (like all of us on this forum) laud him for preserving his daughter's tie to her cultural heritage, or hate him for raising her outside of the family religion, this sort of thing is unprecedented for a Republican politician, and it should have gotten more press.

It's too bad too. I don't consider myself a fiscal conservative, but he was a respectable Republican candidate whom Hindus could have supported in good conscience.

Oh wait, Hindu Americans lack political clout in spite of our great economic and educational advantages. It probably didn't occur to anyone that a Huntsman Super PAC funded by Hindu American dollars could have bolstered his nomination prospects (not to mention putting Hindu Americans in the national spotlight). I know I promised to try and behave myself, but I'm going to pin this one on Indian stupidity too. Seriously people, get your head out of the math textbook once in awhile. I'm sure Goddess Saraswati will forgive us for attending to matters more important than school.

[NayaSurya]

I agree!

asha-huntsman-4-medium.jpg


What a cutey~!

[JaiMaaDurga]

Namaste,

I would have replied sooner, but I had this paper on the mathematical relation between fractals, artificial neural nets and protein-folding I had to finish..

I understand the frustration concerning political apathy. EM makes some valid points-
having been involved in low-level political positions myself,
it is simply astounding how emotionally immature individuals can devote vast sums
of time and energy toward circumventing or twisting Robert's Rules of Order in such a way,
that petty personal agendas are pursued to the exclusion of the community's well-being.

Also, not to seem an America-basher, but two considerations come into play,
the first certainly heightened by the lack of vocal Hindu participation in American politics at even a local level:
a sadly large number of Americans' knowledge of Hinduism or India consists almost entirely of
("Oh yeah, that Apu guy on The Simpsons, he's funny!")

or

("Gandhi- he was that skinny bald dude with glasses that, like, stopped eating until the British left, or something. What's the deal with the diaper-thing, anyway?")

and, of course, the Kipling-Disney film "The Jungle Book".

Even the more culturally aware Americans (who are not Hindu) often harbor a condescending attitude below the surface,

"Ah yes- marvelous food, those quaint and colorful idolaters!"
...*sigh*

Secondly, although EM makes the perfectly valid point that a strictly popular vote is not necessarily the best system,
I would like to point out that the US system was never originally conceived or designed to elect the President by popular vote;
men such as Hamilton and Adams were horrified at the idea of the "great ignorant unwashed masses" possessing the sort of power
that they felt belonged properly in the hands of the well-educated, responsible gentlemen of means-
"landed gentry" like themselves, of course.

This is why the Electoral College was created- to give the common man the feeling that their vote counted,
but really ensuring that the nation's most wealthy and powerful continued to control the range of possibilities, if not the exact outcome.

I would also like to point out that historically, the Executive branch tries its best to exert power and influence less by legislative initiatives etc.,
but by appointees, and most importantly, Supreme Court nominees.
They sit for life, or until retirement; what more powerful tool for an agenda, than a Supreme Court Justice favorable to it- potentially years after the POTUS is out of office?

I do like the cow cartoon, in a rueful "how true" sort of way. I have often described the Democrat/Republican two-party system as a choice between Coke or Pepsi..
each shouting loudly how different from each other they are, hoping nobody notices that it's all empty, tooth-rotting, brown, bubbly sugar-water in the end.

The three fields of law, finance and medicine have evolved in such a way as to imitate the obscuration/pedantry principles perfected by politicized religious entities...
law and medicine (like the Roman Catholic Church for most of its history) is chock-full of Latin-
and unlike Sanskrit which has much that cannot be adequately translated into other languages, the Latin was/is kept to keep the commoner in the dark.
The mathematics and terminology used in the financial industry is so abstruse and peculiar to itself,
that no average person could hope to understand it, without devoting long hours to study-
and, at this point, financial software has been written such that its operation is too complex for its own designers and programmers to understand.

Professionals in these fields are paid quite well-
and there are certainly individuals who deserve every cent they make-
but my point is that these systems have evolved to prevent
competent observation by outsiders,
to operate with impunity within their given sphere,
with a strong tendency for rapidly "circling the wagons"
when critical investigation draws near.

Beware of mumbo-jumbo, no matter the source!

Dearest Most-Beloved Maa,
please help keep Your children's eyes, ears, and minds clear..

JAI MATA DI

[Leena]

So they want Buddah and Allah worshipers to get out of the country. I'm assuming that they also mean born Americans who do as well. Being that the US is our native land, where do they expect us to go? Will they provide all of the deportees, immigrants and US residents, the passports, visas, and airfare? And will they find us a home and a place of employment at whatever place we are to be sent? No? Then they can learn tolerance and educate themselves on the different views and not expect people to go against what they feel is right for them.

[sanjaya]

So they want Buddah and Allah worshipers to get out of the country. I'm assuming that they also mean born Americans who do as well. Being that the US is our native land, where do they expect us to go? Will they provide all of the deportees, immigrants and US residents, the passports, visas, and airfare? And will they find us a home and a place of employment at whatever place we are to be sent? No? Then they can learn tolerance and educate themselves on the different views and not expect people to go against what they feel is right for them.

Heh, I know what you mean. I suppose President Santorum and his Majesterium would send me "back" to India, even though I was born here in the US and have spent a cumulative total of less than two months there. I guess it wouldn't be so bad; temples on every block, Hindu culture, and an abundance of fellow Indians is nothing to complain about. Yeah the sanitation and governmental efficacy isn't so great. But the only thing that would truly terrify me about this prospect is that I'd have to eat Indian food for the rest of my life. Maybe it makes me a bad Indian, but do you guys have any idea how much I hate Indian food?

OK I'm mostly joking here (though I really do hate Indian food). But there's a lesson to be learned from all of this. Rick Santorum is a mainstream American politican. Despite being Catholic he draws his support mostly from evangelicals, who comprise a fairly large minority of the US population. This is evidenced by the fact that with their support, he's giving Mitt Romney a run for his money. Evangelicals are not a fringe group. In America it's acceptable to believe that Hindus are going to hell and need to be either converted or deported. That sort of thing is a realistic prospect, so Indians need to get our act together and realize that there are more important thngs than getting into medical school.

In addition to voting against the Republicans at every turn (unless they miraculously eschew Christianity), another thing we can do is contribute to organizations that improve living conditions in India. The reason people emigrate here is that India sucks. It's not that great of a place to live when you don't have running water for part of the day and cops routinely take bribes. But imagine an India that had the same standard of living as the US, where the government was effective, Hinduism was respected, and where people preferred living over the United States. I personally don't have any intention to move to India unless President Santorum chases me away with baptismal water, but nonetheless it's important that such an Indian state exist. A healthy India would be in a position to kick the missionaries out (Santorum-style), ban evangelical Christianity, and threaten the US with political opposition should Indian Americans ever be persecuted by Christians. I see a lot of Indans coming here, counting their blessings, and forgetting about where they came from. Strangely it's my generation that seems to care more about India.

Whatever people say, America is effectively a Christian nation; evangelical Christianity has spread everywhere because it has the economic backing of its home nation. What we really need is a strong Hindu nation to stand against the evils of Christianity.

[Spiritualseeker]

Namaste,

It seems America is doomed to fail. Obama will not get my vote as he continues to take away our freedoms. The same will be done under any of these candidants that are running. I cannot trust any of them as they are ruled by the ruling class. We are very quickly falling and now the US is building up its military presence in Austrailia and Asia to try to prevent China from becoming the Global power. We are stepping on Russias toes with AMD systems in Europe. We are likely to go into Iran soon. All these people are thieves and criminals.

Just my views

Om Namah Shivaya

[TTCUSM]

Santorum has officially withdrawn from the race.

[Adhvagat]

Santorum has officially withdrawn from the race.

I'm sad, I thought you meant he had withdrawn from the human race.

LOL