What should the Republican Party do in order to garner more votes from Indian-Americans?
The Republicans, if they want to get the attention of Indian Americans, need to focus on changing their ideology and approach.First things first, they need to tell Indians (and minorities in general) that they aren't oppressed in this country and they have just as much of a chance of making it rich as anyone else.The Republicans should go ahead with their proposal of increasing H1-B admissions and cutting national quotas for green card applications. Many Indians would like to see their kin advance in this country.Shift away from upholding a Christian identity. 51% of Indian Americans are Hindus and only 18% are Christians so pushing a Christian nation idea isn't conducive to an Indian American vote. Keeping social conservative policies won't be much of an issue for many older Indo Americans as Indians are generally very conservative.Shift from neoconservative to libertarian politics. Since Indo Americans are typically very wealthy and don't like taxes, it's best to keep a business friendly policy that adopts low taxes.Many Hindu Americans also have Hindu Nationalist leanings, so if the Republican party promotes a pro-India foreign policy the way they promote a pro-Israel one, they can easily gain a good 30 percent of the Indian American vote.These are just some thoughts I had about the Republicans and how they can open up to the Indian American populace. Already, the Republicans get some 15% of the Indian American vote in the US, much higher than amongst other Asian American groups. So if they switch their ideology like how it was mentioned above.
Why do so many low-income Americans vote Republican, when it appears the party's agenda favors the rich?
I think it's easier to explain voting patterns by attitude than by income. So-called "low income" republican voters tend not to think of themselves that way. For example, I've often heard my dad, a life-long republican as far as I can tell, describe his youth this way: "It's not that we were poor, we just didn't have any money." And he's not joking. Many Americans who are objectively low-income think of themselves (and in fact are) very self-sufficient. If you don't think you need the government's help, then you probably don't. There's actually a phrase for this attitude in Appalachia -- it's called "mountain pride." The Obama administration has spent millions of dollars to hire government workers to go into low income rural areas to try to overcome this mountain pride and sign people up for government services, and they've been pretty successful -- witness the skyrocketing food stamp enrollments. I'm sure democrats believe that they are helping these folks by overcoming their mountain pride and convincing them to take government assistance, but I'm afraid that they're kick starting a cycle of dependence that will prevent these folks (and their kids) from ever emerging from their low income status. Time will tell.
What ever happend to the Whig party from old American politics?
Anyone else feel the need for a 3rd party in this country to break the stronghold the reps and dems have on american politics. The issues are too complex for the two parties to "just neatly seperate". how bout some ideas as to introducing a third party that could actually gain some ground.