Barackface

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Bobby Converting Is Not A Problem

How Indian immigrants could save the Republican Party

Further, could it be just coincidence that both politicians converted to Christianity? He’s a Hindu-turned-Catholic and she’s a Sikh-turned-Methodist. Perhaps they have their legitimate reasons—it doesn’t get more personal than your name and your religion—but the party needs to proceed carefully: There’s a red flag if immigrant candidates don’t appeal to their own immigrant brethren. Indeed, Jindal and Haley have upset some Indians, who feel the candidates can take their campaign donations but had to become something else in order to be accepted by the Republican Party—and by America.

I was born a Hindu. I grew up a Hindu. When I came to America with 200 dollars in my backpocket - 70 of which I blew on my first cab ride from the airport to the college town - I was a Hindu. One year in America I became a Buddhist. This was in the Bible Belt South.

I recommend conversion to the hundreds of millions of Dalits - also known as untouchables - in South Asia. Become a Buddhist, become a Christian, become anything. Stop being a Hindu. I feel like that is the only way to break the back of the caste system.

Nothing that any black person goes through in America compares to what Dalits go through in India. And I have to face that fact, as I remain hypercritical when it comes to race relations in America. The status quo is not okay. Racial equality is not here yet, although we continue to make steady progress.

I note that both Bobby and Nikky are Pujabis. In 1984 there were major anti Sikh riots all across India. If I were a Sikh I might have wanted to dissociate myself from the larger Indian identity once and for all. It was that bad. The minority problem is there in every country. Look at the Buddhist-Muslim thing in Burma, the Buddhist-Hindu thing in Sri Lanka.

I was an Indian in Nepal growing up and I suffered. I was a political minority, though not a numerical one. I identify with the blacks in America because of who I was growing up in Nepal. But also because of the British unfairness at the British school in Nepal I went to. And the racist demonization at the white college in the South I attended that the powers that be happily participated in.

I don't know of any Indian Democrat who is Governor anywhere in America, not in New Jersey where a lot of Indians live, not in supposedly diversity friendly states like New York and California. And I never felt like Bobby was trying to hide his Indian identity, or that he had ever managed to hoodwink whites into thinking he was anything other than Indian. He is married to one. His children are Indian. He takes great pride in his family's story.

One of the things that I find fascinating about Bobby is he is truly conservative. He is hard core conservative like I am hard core progressive. He truly believes. And it is so obvious to me that he is very, very smart.

One has a right to choose one's party, one's political philosophy. One has a right to choose one's faith. I mean, why are we even arguing? That's basic stuff.

Bobby's presence at the other end of the spectrum has, if anything, made me want to take a second look at the conservative philosophy. It has made me want to take a second look at the Republican Party itself. Not that I want to join it - no, hell no - I am a happy Independent, a Democrat till 2008, ironically.

If I were to not see common cause with Bobby, it would be for social reasons. I am for gay marriage, for example. If this were the 1950s, I would have been anti segregation. Being pro gay marriage today is for me the same thing. I don't want to wake up 10 or 20 years from now having been on the wrong side of history today.

But if Bobby were to say gay marriage is an issue to be decided at the state level, I would agree. We could agree to disagree on the issue, but agree on how the country should go about it.

I moved to New York from Kentukcy/Indiana because I was not white. Maybe the gay people can too. For the time being.

I am for a small government. I think I always have been. When you move from an autocracy to being a democracy, you are reducing the size of the government. And I am all for that.

I am for common sense gun laws. The right to go hunting - I am more of a shoot with a camera kind of guy - does not mean allowing for machine guns on easy hands. Makes no sense. But I see the pro gun philosophy as one being for a small government. I am okay with the underlying meaning.

It should be possible to distill the conservative philosophy to its bare essentials, and to apply them to new facts, and come up with new sets of policies that go for social inclusion and economic growth, nationally and globally. Maybe Bobby the biology major at college will do that. But his party has not done it yet. There is work cut out for him.

Bobby Is Going To Run And Win In 2016

The conservative philosophy has to make sense in all income brackets, for all racial groups. It can't be a philosophy to give tax cuts to the super rich with money borrowed from China to be able to hoodwink white guys with high school diplomas for life in the South to come along for the ride.

The party of Lincoln has to go back to its roots and become a party that competes for black votes, not engages in voter suppression.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Cliff Notes

CBO: Letting upper-income tax cuts expire would barely hurt economy

Letting the high-income Bush tax cuts lapse, for example, generates $42 billion in 2013 but hardly hurts GDP at all. By contrast, the defense cuts amount to $24 billion but hurts growth by 0.4 percent

What's in the fiscal cliff?

$7 trillion worth of tax increases and spending cuts over a decade. ..... While that might seem like a deficit hawk's dream come true, it's anything but. ..... "It's too big, too quick, and focuses on the wrong parts of the budget" ..... reductions in both defense and non-defense spending; the expiration of the Bush tax cuts; the end of a payroll tax holiday and extended unemployment benefits; and the onset of reimbursement cuts to Medicare doctors. ...... If left in place, the fiscal cliff would lead to the biggest single-year drop in the annual deficit as a percent of the economy since 1969. ...... But because it would be so abrupt and arbitrary, it also could throw the United States back into a recession next year, when more than $500 billion will be taken out of the economy. ...... automatic spending cuts to commence on Jan. 2 that will amount to $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction over 10 years. ..... $55 billion will be cut in 2013 from projected levels of discretionary defense spending. That translates into at least a 10% cut to every program, project and activity that's not explicitly exempt. ...... $55 billion will be cut from projected levels of nondefense spending, which includes things like education, food inspections and air travel safety. Budget experts estimate the cuts will result in at least an 8% cut to programs, projects and activities .... Income tax rates: Rise to 15%, 28%, 31%, 36% and 39.6%, up from 10%, 15%, 25%, 28%, 33% and 35%.

Here's What's Probably Going To Happen With The Fiscal Cliff

an agreement will be reached AFTER January 1st - so that the Bush tax cuts can expire and certain politicians can claim they didn't vote to raise taxes (silly, but that is politics). ...... the tax cuts for low to middle income families will be reenacted ...... tax rates on high income earners will increase a few percentage points to the Clinton era levels ..... Not only is there no 'bang' event on January 1, but letting the tax rates jump is a way for politicians to then vote to lower them, which is easier

CBO warns of fiscal cliff risk

The biggest threat posed by the $7 trillion fiscal cliff is that it could throw the U.S. economy into recession next year. ..... Congress may choose to avert the cliff in whole or in part ..... The fiscal cliff as a whole, if it went into effect for all of next year, could result in a drop of 0.5% in real gross domestic product, according to the CBO. And that contraction could push unemployment to 9.1% by the end of 2013

My Reason To Drive Off The Roof
Bad Advice From Paul Krugman

Republican Move On Immigration: Most Welcome

Republicans Reconsider Positions on Immigration

The prospects for an immigration overhaul next year improved with stunning speed after the vote, with John A. Boehner, the speaker of the House, who had long resisted any broad immigration bill, saying on Thursday that “a comprehensive approach is long overdue.” Haley Barbour, a Republican elder statesman and former governor of Mississippi, echoed Mr. Boehner, and Sean Hannity, the conservative talk show host — in a startling turnaround — joined calls for measures opening pathways to legal status for illegal immigrants. ...... forcing Republican leaders to wonder if they could ever regain the presidency without increasing their appeal to Hispanic Americans. ...... Latino organizations, business and agricultural employers, libertarian conservatives, evangelical Christians and law enforcement groups.