The Capitol Riot: Grand finale or trailer for what to come?

The Capitol Riot:  Grand finale or trailer for what to come?

                      B.Pal :   1/7/2021

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 I love democracy for its drama and cacophony. It’s a reality show with a consequence for our future.  Most of the Indian Americans like me enjoy the boisterous spectacle of the oldest and the largest democracy. Despite differences in color, level of poverty and education, we are united in our spirit of freedom of expression and in our hatred for oppressive Govt even if they are elected!

To understand what happened yesterday in Washington DC, we have to carefully understand why increasingly, politics is so polarized. We have to understand the genesis of the “Alt-right” and “Ultra-left” movement and why so many people around us are feeling democracy is failing them.  Why is political belief becoming so acrimonious that even in our local community we have started hating our neighbors?

This was not the way of life in the 80s and 90s. I grew up in a small non-descriptive village town of India where irrespective of political affiliation, the bonding of the neighborhood was strong. This was the same in the USA in the 80s and 90s for most of the suburban communities.  Then both in the US and in India, over the last two decades, we have witnessed mind-blowing political polarization which resulted in so much hatred even among the neighbors, batchmates, family members, friends and so on. Forget about race relation in USA and Hindu-Muslim riots in India.   So I should  start by asking this question- what happened in the last twenty years so that politics become so divisive? So far apart that we can’t even talk to each other with civility?

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I tend to believe this has to do with the growth of social media and the internet. Prior to the Internet era, there were only a handful of media outlets controlled by capitalist class. Capitalist class always wanted less polarization in politics as that serves the best interest of business. And thus they tightly controlled the media narratives between left center to right of the center- a very narrow invisible centrist lane in between.  With the advent of facebook, twitter ,  Youtube, media was no longer in the control of political elites who had a good symbiosis relationship with business class since the foundation of the republic.  Hunger for power is just as lusty as sexual obsession.  Since 2007, we have seen meteoric  political growth of the new leaders who are not born into political families and  who didn’t have a chance in the old paradigm. Think of Barack Obama in the 2008 primary. While Hillary was spending massively in mainstream media ( because she was funded so well compared to Obama), Obama was using facebook groups to build his organization. In those days, I was a volunteer for the Hillary campaign and when Hillary tested her first defeat on Jan 3 Iowa Caucuses we came to know about a Black senator, Barack Obama. Even Edward was more visible in mainstream media. Obama was nobody and we thought it would be a cake walk for Hillary! So I immediately turned my attention to the Obama campaign and realized his volunteers were very active on Facebook while the Hillary campaign had very little idea of how to use it effectively. Hillary was old school, tied to an old capitalist class and she was depending on the old paradigm of mainstream media generated hype. Obama campaign  showed social media has changed politics forever. His war cry that US politics needs change reverberated in FB and reached to more people. But he was a gentleman, idealist and romantic. Therefore his eight years didn’t produce any significant change despite him doing the right thing by bringing sweeping change in the US education system. But neither teachers nor Republicans were with him. He messed up with Obamacare and  many of his so called socialist-like actions actually ended up helping big corporations while killing small business.

When Obama won in 2008, Democrats also swept both the houses. Capitalist class which so far had a good leash on politicians of both sides, found Obama presidency threatening for two reasons.  For the first time, there was a President who didn’t need to listen to them. Secondly when a party wins a significant majority in all three branches of Government, political class becomes more powerful than business class. That is also undesirable for business.

So a relentless campaign was launched against Obama to disown his victory by terming him Marxist, Socialist etc. Koch brothers poured billions of dollars to start the tea party movement as they too realized without a grassroot movement another grassroot movement can’t be challenged on its own terms and turf. We won’t understand what happened yesterday in Capitol, if we fail to understand these two important developments fueled by old style oil capital in 2009-2011

a)       Disowning a legitimate victory of Obama by terming him Marxist, anti-American etc…

b)      Intense counter social media campaign to build Alt-right movement to take on the grassroot organization of Barack Obama. Thus personality like Steve Bannon was born to counter growth of ultra left messiah like Michael Moore or Robert Reich ( BTW- I subscribed to all three of them  to educate myself on how these otherwise brilliant people are fueling more polarization in our society by their selective narratives devoid of any critical thinking) .

 This was a total misapprehension by American capitalism. Obama was a centrist and all of his actions led to the  booming of the big capitals and failing of small business.  In fact his educational reform was absolutely necessary for American capitalism. A country’s economy can’t survive by importing engineers from India and China forever.

 

 By 2012, Obama was quite comforting to American capitalism. He has been proven to be harmless to them and in fact a good friend of Big Techs. Google, FB, Tesla  and a range of OTT platforms will be grateful to him for a number of reasons. By then the GOP had also gained the control of both the houses.  They didn’t need to fear a centrist lame duck president.  But the Alt right movement which started with double hatred against socialism and people of color, didn’t stop. By then it has gathered its critical mass so much so that it had already eclipsed the original republican party.

 

By the next election of 2016, we saw those  important changes.  Republican party old guards lost the control of its own base. So victory of Trump beating all the GOP heavyweights was not surprising at all.  Trump was having  Democratic membership till 2012.  Being seasoned in media and reality shows, he appeared as a new messiah of the ALT-RIGHT movement.  He realized the anger of white males who have been left out due to globalization, immigration and the rise of big retails.  He has channeled those angers into his campaign and emerged as their cult hero.  There is practically no difference between the rise of Hitler and rise of Trump.  Except Trump has been humbled by the powerful US constitution and its provision against the emergence of dictatorship. 

When Trump came to power, he legitimized the Alt-right movement which exuberated his base. They believed Trump was working for him.  And he was.  But Obama didn’t have this fortune. His base eroded in the second term . Obama received less votes in 2012 both by absolute and by percentage. Whereas Trump received more absolute votes compared to his first term. It’s another matter he had to face a candidate who could unite the entire democratic party only because of the “Trump” presidency. Otherwise, it was almost impossible to beat Messiah Trump.  He not only retained his fanbase, on second term, he also added a new section of support-specially business owners.  His frustration is obvious. Despite keeping the base intact and increasing many middle of the road support, he lost.

He was disillusioned to believe the election has been stolen. But blame his poor Math skill.   Simply because in his very first term he was not supposed to win but he did win as ultra-left Dems didn’t show up to vote  thinking Hillary is Killary and as corporate vice as Trump. This time, as much as they hate old Joe, they did show up. And Trump has no appeal to the new generation which voted against him in overwhelming percentage.  It’s this simple math that sealed his future. Nobody cheated. Fact is, he would have lost in 2016 if the entire Dem base would have turned up against him as it did happen in 2020.

 

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To understand why Trump was entirely disillusioned and hallucinating since he lost the election, we need to revisit the  genesis of the Alt-right movement.

So what is the ALT-Right movement?  

They go by various name-Tea parties, underground patriots etc. There is a common theme that binds them-which is loss of Americanness due to invasion and influx of “immigrants” “leftists” “Chinese” “Asians” and so on. Listen to some of their videos. They think the US is invaded by the “Satanic force” of multiculturalism brought in by the immigrants from unknown foreign countries.

 If you travel miles after miles in the heartland of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky – you will notice almost every home has a placard of Trump-Pence. You won’t find even an iota of blue there.  Unfortunately as it is, the new democratic party is a Urban phenomenon which is  totally disconnected from the US heartland. As the US urban population has grown fueled by the immigrants, multiculturalism and inclusiveness have become part of daily life in most of the US cities.  During 2004-2008, I had to travel all over the US, mostly in the rural areas.  Rural heartland is still 100% white, very traditional and still believes in many of the old American ways. Just like a good old  conservative Christian family. In this part of the US, I have witnessed terrible apprehension towards the fast city lifestyle.  They find little difference between aliens and immigrants of color. BTW, they are not bad people. They are great people. They are viewing the advent of multiculturalism as an invasion on their traditional way of life.

No, they are not jobless uneducated white males. Many of them are highly educated and talented. It’s just that they believe their old American way of life is great as much as many Indians believe old Indian style Dharmic living is best for them.

Most of them are disfranchised working class white American men who have been marginalized due to globalization. Chinese have stolen their manufacturing jobs and Indians have hijacked their service jobs.  But whom would they turn to protect their living ? Both Democrats and Republicans are in favor of outsourcing of manufacturing and service because that’s what is the wish of  the capitalist class of America. Anything against outsourcing is a lip-service.   So their anger was growing quite unnoticed in undescriptive Facebook groups, Youtube channels, Radio shows etc. But till the arrival of Trump, they had no mainstream leader who could take their voice to the election.

 

The way disfranchised Indian Hindus embraced Mesiah Modi in 2014, otherwise ignominious Alt right found their new Prophet -Donald Trump. Being a businessman in New York and indulged in lavish lifestyle, Trump shares no common value or character with his own base.   But being in the Media, he is an able and effective communicator. Alt-right movements were desperate for a leader who would listen to their Alt reality  not 10% but 100%. GOP leaders were so far giving lip service to them because they were fearing being too close to Alt right nuts will deprive them of election funding. After all, corporations and businesses only like centrists.  Trump had no such dilemma as he didn’t need an external fund to run for the presidency. Instead he found symbiosis love with Alt-right base who are full of crazy ideas and conspiracy theories. After finding this political gold mine of gullible people (although their grievances may be genuine in the aspect of unplanned globalization ) , Trump clearly wiped out his republican opponents in a matter of a few months. The whole Republican party, the grand old party of Abraham Lincoln, the greatest politician of all the time, became hostage of Alt-right groups, conspiracy theorists and all kinds of nonsense. Political decency, centrism, civility-everything that we know off, simply vanished from the Trump campaign. Although most of the GOP politicians loathed Trump, they had to hug him and become his lickspittle because by then not a single Republican candidate can win without support from the Trump base. It is still that way today and there lies the biggest danger of  America.

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However, this is not the end of the story. We saw mindless violence and riots by Black Lives Matter  (BLM) in the summer of 2020 over murder of George Floyd.  Just like Republican party has been hijacked by disfranchised alt-right groups, Democratic party is on the verge of being hijacked by ultra-left groups led by Bernie and AOC.  Despite they are on the opposite spectrum, they have the same line of political philosophy if you can skin them out and look at the flesh and blood. Like Alt-right, ultraleft is also a staunch believer of victimhood theory. They are hijacking the mind of youths and other minorities to indoctrinate them against American capitalism. Their “America '' is an armpit of poverty, racism and sexism created by rich white male.  Wealth is evil! But they are not Marxist/Leninist. American left progressive movement is run by  God loving Church going people who find their inspiration of equality and hatred against wealthy people from the Gospel of Bible.  Das Kapital, Marx, Lenin, Mao are alien in American left. Unlike Indian lefts, who are totally disconnected from the religious tradition of the soil and embraced a totally foreign (Russian) ideology, American left movement is a homegrown Christian spiritual movement.

Even the Alt-right group is also a Christian spiritual movement.

In my understanding, both the groups are different Christian faction groups who are trying to build a spiritual-resistance movement against disruptive and cruel capitalism.  Even if their grievances are genuine, like any other religious resistance movement, their ideology is not based on facts but on fictions, rumors and distorted facts.  Conspiracy theories.  There is no rationality out there.  

Sandwiched between these extreme factions of Christianity and political spectrum, we are at a crossroad to be overrun by these extreme political groups. Seize of the Capitol is just a trailer of the future.  Neither side can bring any good to the United States and its citizens.

However, American capitalism has to play its role to show it does care for the American people and profit over people and the environment  is not acceptable. As long as American people will find they have to pay 10x more for a medicine that is available in Canada at a fraction of cost, they won’t trust the American political establishment. If they find, their jobs are lost because of an overseas Indian or Chinese, Alt-right and ultra-left groups will continue to find new recruits.

It is easy to blame those who stormed the Capitol. But no one can deny the vandalism at the Capitol is a reflection of total loss of faith in American political establishment.

Six year ago, I was visiting a workshop in Pennsylvania. As soon as I entered into it, I realized there was a time when more than hundreds of lathe machines were running and milling the parts. When I visited, barely two CNC machines were running, and the rest of the lathes were gathering moss and rust.  The dilapidated condition of the workshop made me very sad. They lost their business  to China thanks to the WTO treaty signed by Clinton.  Then Bush favored even more outsourcing and more globalization.  Obama promised “Change” but did nothing to protect them.  And they have hopelessly seen how demand for their products evaporated by dumping of Chinese goods.

Will you blame them if they have lost hope in American political establishment to do any good for them?  Every president promised, none delivered anything for them. So what is their alternative other than to join Alt-right or Ultra-left?  Did mainstream American politics ever listen to them?  Did it ever work for them? At least Trump listened to them and the devil deserves  his due.

I am not upset or dismayed over the seizure of the Capitol. I am more upset because most of us are not realizing more and more people are losing faith in American political establishment because it is not working for them. 

Puneet for Lt Governor of VA- Asian Americans must support him rising above party affiliation and ideology

 I was so delighted when Puneet declared his campaign for Lt Governor race of VA. Remember in this Congress or in the past Governor race, so far all the Indian candidates are second generation Indians. Puneet is an exception. He is a first generation immigrants just like me and yet he has made to top of US political echelon.  And it matters a lot since he is highly aware of South Asian affairs. If elected, Puneet will be first Asian American Lt Governor in Virginia. 

  I am  asking all the Asians to vote for Puneet, not just because he is my friend, or an Indian or  an Asian.  I am asking to vote for him, to empower his rise in US politics for a very genuine and deeply concerning reason. I have seen firsthand how he has worked tirelessly in DC politics  to protect the rights and safety of religious minorities in South Asia. He can be the voice of all religious minorities of South Asia in American politics.  I recall many evenings in his house in McLean  where Puneet has explained to me how different minority religious groups have approached to him and he has been successful to persuade the senators to write to the head of the respective countries urging the protection of the religious minorities. 

You may ask, why then Lt Governor race?  He could run for Senate which oversees external affairs.   But I do believe he made the right choice to run for Lt Governor race because given both the incumbent VA senators are democrats, Puneet needs to get his footing across the length and breadth of the state first. VA senate is divided and with a thriving Asian community in  the state, he can play a very critical role

We inherited a fractured, wounded and divided South Asia left by the British Raj where countries have been partitioned based on religion. Today lives of millions of Hindus in Bangladesh and Pakistan are in danger. Even Shia, Ahamedia and Christians are struggling in Pakistan. Tamils are persecuted in Srilanka.  Condition of minorities in India is no better-we all know situation is rapidly deteriorating in India as well.

Over the last one decade, I have seen Punteet has represented persecuted minorities from South Asia and has taken their voice to Senate and Congress. 

It is extremely important to empower Puneet in VA politics which has a very high Asian population. 

He has been a hardworking businessman. He knows the pain of small business owners as he belong to them. He has also seen how Indian H1B workers are suffering and  as they have no guarantee of getting green card even after 15 years of waiting.  In  US,  there is  voice for illegal immigrants because of active participation of Latino community. But there is no voice for the legal merit based immigration of Indians, millions of whom are stuck in "country based quota" system.

This is the sordid case of  democracy. It doesn't run by how genuine & rightful is your need but how much you have been able to push your voice & concerns  to US  representatives. That's why Puneet's election for Lt Governor matters. It is of outmost necessity for 1.8M strong Indian American to contribute to his campaign so that plight of the Indian immigrants can be heard louder in US politics. 

Please contribute to his campaign in the following link :

https://www.puneetforlg.com/

Dismantling of America or rebuilding of American core values ?

I have seen Occupy Wall Street.

That failed as expected since drama is not a political movement and like every drama, such theatrical show also can sell tickets only for limited nights.

Then came Women March against Trump. In some sense, it was historic. But again it made no political impact. One may argue, we have elected more women, liberal firebrand feminists in Congress in 2018. But bare truth is swing in Congress is a cyclical phenomenon. It didn't create any impact.

Black Lives Matter has been a theme of protest on and off. In general, had this been a movement of the black people, it would have been genuine. But as expected, liberal hidden communists of the United States have penetrated into this movement and it has now turned into a "Revolution Against the Founding Father of America". Statues of George Washington, Ulysses Grant and Francis Scott Key have been vandalized and thrashed to the ground.

Without the leadership of George Washington, Patriots would have capitulated and there would be no United States of America. Without Grant, today United States would have been split into two and slavery would have continued for long time. His leadership in Civil War was crucial to free the slaves. That didn't count. Not enough said liberals because he got married into a family which owned slaves. It's heinous historical crime. So even statue of Grant has been toppled. And not to mention author of our national anthem, Francis Scott Key. It doesn't matter poor Key brought several legislation to control punishment against the slaves. All that mattered, he didn't agree with abolitionists. His crime? He wanted to humanize slavery because that's what he thought as best political option of his time! He was not progressive enough-said the liberals! That's crime enough to replace our national anthem- star spangled banner because it is written by Francis Key.

And now today, American tribes have demanded statues of American presidents in Mount Rushmore have to be demolished. Because America symbolizes the extermination of native population. May be tomorrow, they will demand change the name of "America".

But I am not one of those who believe dismantling of America has begun. American value is believing in a positive purpose. A dream to dedicate your life for a purpose. We are a nation of many heroes of blood and flesh. Small ones who have excelled in their own pursuit of "values" and made positive difference for the lives of the others.

Of course there is a growing divide of wealth and middle class is struggling. Healthcare system is broken. We are ripped by our Govt, Corporate and many crooks. But we can solve all of our problem within our framework of democracy. That requires dialogues, ideas and good leadership. Not vandalism. Not radicalism. We need to be innovative and constructive to solve our problems. Not destructive.

Presidential election is nearing. I am sure, people have to decide. Which side they will stand for now. Dismantling of America or rebuilding of American core values ?

Death of George Floyd - Case for racism or flawed criminal justice system?

                                                                             A.
Murder of George Floyd is gruesome, despicable and barbarism.  But violence and vandalism following his death deserves equal condemnation.  However much bigger question to ask- if we do not want to see such murder by police again- what is the path forward?  At end, we want end of brutality and excessive force used by police.

   Is pressing the case of Racism right way forward ? Or we need reform in police force?

   I am not at all convinced this case can qualify as racism. FBI is investigating and eventually we will know the truth. But no one can deny, the killer officer Derek Chauvin has used abusive and objectionable force in the past at least sixteen times, And in neither of the cases he was disciplined after investigation ? Why? Shouldn't that be the most fundamental question to answer if we really want to stop police brutality? Why so much of ballyhoo over racism ignoring the most fundamental ?

  Also there is an inherent flaw in which we view "security and policing" in our society. Imagine this. Derek has worked as a bouncer in a Night club for last sixteen years. This was his part time job since police is never paid well.  Owner of the club clarified  Derek was her most trusted security despite she recalls she has reprimanded him for his high handedness with customers several times. She would loose business for rude and tough behavior of Derek right? So why still she continued to employ and trust Derek? And that club attracts a lot of black youths. Why should she risk him as security if Derek is inherently racist  bouncer ?

  Isn't the same question we should ask Minneapolis Police department? Why they failed to issue a single disciplinary action after sixteen cases of excessive force were registered against him?

  Owner of the night club and Minneapolis Police department basically took decision based on same mindset. For them "policing" "security" is viewed as "confrontational force" and not as "counselling personals " which may use force as last option. This is where there is a great difference of attitude and law in police force of Western Europe and USA.

Use of force in any modern society should be minimal. In US, by protocol, every police officer will be arresting the suspect first, neutralize him/her and then they start interrogation. This is done for safety since anyone can carry gun.  Dark shadow of second amendment can be found here as well. A society lives by the force will die by the force at the end!

This outdated approach of US police force is defunct in 21st century.  Crime is always associated with psychological issues of the criminals. Most of the time, criminals loose bigger perspective and meaning of life. This is true for criminal of all levels.  Therefore to reduce crime, dialogues with the criminal and understanding his/here mental state and addressing that professionally should be the most effective method. More than punishing them, we want redemption of the criminals in humane way. Most of the Western European countries have taken this route and they have been successful. If you treat a criminal with more force, and dump him/her as a fallen one, they will stick to more crimes and violence.

We should be ashamed as a American that we have maximum number of prisoners per 1000 population. The idea of crime in United State is archaic and outdated. And it is continued this way so that Private prison corporations can profit.  Private prison capital is responsible for keeping the criminal laws archaic. There is a bigger issue of rotten capital here.

  Unless those are addressed diverting this major issue as racism will be counterproductive.

                                                                                        B

 Murder of George Floyd is not a case of racism. As I said, if you profile his killer officer Derek Chauvin, there has not been any case of racism against him prior to this. Yes he was known for his brutal force and high handedness but not for racism. Remember he has been kept as a bouncer of a club for 16 years. A club that is extremely popular among the black youths. No owner will risk a racist security for a club popular among the blacks. So to me case for racism doesn't stand.  Even in last 16 cases he has been investigated for using brutal forces in Minneapolis police department , he has not been charged for racism.

Now whenever, I am bringing this evidence , American liberals are telling me, I am not aware of systematic racism in USA!

To tell the truth, in my experience country of my birth, India is more racist than US. I have also worked with Germans and Japanese. They are more racist than Americans.  Thanks to capitalism, here in the United States we have always upheld the merit and talent of a person first and foremost. This continues to be the case and experience of any Indian in United States with very little exception.  Yes, most of the Indians may have experienced racism or racist slur in parking lot but I have never heard any of my Indian friend ever complained they have been pulled by a police office because of their color or they have been treated unprofessionally.

My concerns for terming this case of murder and failure of criminal justice system as racism are many folds

 (1) It is digressing the attention from need of reform in  criminal justice system. No one is talking about effect of private prison capital and lack of criminal justice system thereof.

  (2)  We are telling our young generation that racism exists in USA. How that is affecting adversely to our  kids? I know it first hand from my son and some of my ex black colleagues. My son is a teen and if a teacher gives him bad grade he suspects it's due to the fact his white teacher is racist. I counselled him many times that he is making a big mistake in his judgement.  I told him irrespective whether he is a victim of racism or not, his thinking that there is a hand of racism behind his failure is totally counterproductive for him. It's true for any student of color.  Because once he starts believing in racism victim card for his failure, for rest of his life  he will not take responsibility for his own failure. There is only way a kid can be a man. When he or she will be able to take responsibility of their own failure. They have to learn from their failure and do better. But they have started thinking society will listen to their victim card play thanks existence of so many left liberal activist groups.


 (3) Look at the recent immigrants from Nigeria and other African countries. They are one of the most successful immigrant community in USA. Graduation rate among immigrant Nigerians is 2.5x times higher than US average rate and median household income is 30% better   How is that possible if there is systematic racism in USA ? I am ignoring Indians who have literally far greater number of leadership position in US.   Answer lies in (2). They pushed their case forward without getting lost in the racism narrative. I have seen many black colleagues with slave ancestry who believe that racism is behind all of their misfortune and they have issues with their further development. Many times, I have counseled them to think forward as blaming others for your misfortune doesn't help. Even if you may be partially correct.

(4)  If kids are encouraged to play victim card, we will be simply ruining their future.  They should learn life is tough. There can be discrimination and tough competition.  Life is tough, uncertain and unfair.  That's the reality. But human beings are capable of overcoming all obstacles- all the discrimination they face. They should have belief in their own ability to overcome any situation. Yes, existence of malevolence makes our lives even tougher and there is a need for political response against malevolence.  But if we  always allow ourselves to blame others for our own failure , our career and prosperity is inherently doomed.  Stoicism taught this two thousand years back  which is the foundation stone of Western Civilization.

 Western Civilization was built around the principles of Stoicism founded by great Greek and Roman philosophers. Christianity destroyed the excellence of Greco-Roman civilization by convincing the people with "victim card politics". It's only during renaissance, classical Greek philosophy was restored and western civilization was reestablished which emphasizes individual excellence through principle of stoicism.  But the very basis of Western Civilization has been under attack from Christianity, Islam, Marxism and now post-modernist liberal movements.  All of them teach to play victim card.  Playing victim card doesn't help any one, any society or any state. It's anti-thesis to great western civilization which has shown material prosperity and liberation of mankind.

Why I will not vote for Bernie

Dear Bernie Army
  I had to write this out. So that you can clearly understand my position and why I think Bernie and his ideals are dangerous for USA.

  I am a Dem Card Holder and voted for Dem President in last two elections. I also voted in last primary where I have opted for Hillary over Bernie.  I am a pacifist. I also do not like US is wasting nearly trillion of dollars in military. But being a technologist I do support R&D in Military techn to safeguard our interest. But that won't cost us more than $100B! I do support free public education and community owned healthcare. By no means, I am a die-hard capitalist. I know what would work in capitalism and what will not. And yet, I am telling you Bernie is the worst choice among all the presidential candidates.

  Please do understand we are going through a radical phase of transformation driven by automation technology.  If you elect a president who has no clue for future, future will dump us. Like the way Europeans have been dumped. Now they are begging money from China. Social welfare killed them. Craddle of modern civilization, Europe didn't deliver internet, semiconductor chips, facebook or Google. We did. Why?

 Because we, the Americans excelled because of our hard work. Because our forefathers in the country has chased their dreams 24x7 and didn't glue  to video games and then demanded we need a welfare state! Folks, there is no substitute to honest hard work for your health , your existence, your family and your state.

 Every state needs to provide welfare for older and disabled. There is nothing wrong in social security. But if you tell the young and capable, its also OK if you don't work because you will get a welfare check-no one will work. This is the case in Europe.  I have studied in Italy, been in London.  They simply don't want to work harder. As a result no one in their sane mind will start a company or new business in Europe.

Just look at how Euro car giants are now trembling before Tesla! Elon will bankrupt them soon because for last 30 years they were not innovating. Europeans had 3 months of vacation and as a result their R&D produced very little, South Korea caught up with them in 20 years. Tesla knocked them down in a straight blow.  Now what? They can't even lay off their employees. Go to Bangalore, India and you will find, European companies are outsourcing more work to India because they can not compete given their socialist nature. Nordic countries are doing better because they have so much of natural gas and wealth. Else they will also tumble like Greece , Italy and Spain.

I have grown up in state of West Bengal in India in 80s and 90s.  It was one of richest state by then. As socialist took over by rallying against rich and business class, you know what happened next? All the business left West Bengal. The state industrial production slipped from 4th to 20th in a matter of 10 years. Everyone had to leave the state to get a job.

 You know what would happen if Bernie would take over as president ? More and more business will be downsizing in USA. They will move their business to India, China and Vietnam.  More and more people will be losing jobs.  And they will earn social security checks! What you do not understand, hardly 0.1% people are capable of running business.  They work 24x7. They pursue their goals 24x7. Then new business happens.  You drive them out, there will be none to run business in USA. West Bengal faced this bitter reality after socialist took over.  You will face this bitter reality as well if Bernie is elected.

 Social security check is not a replacement of job. Job gives you the dignity of who you are. It is also answer to your existential crisis.

 And there will be another crisis. As majority of population will depend on State benefit, State and its machinery will become powerful. Politically that is a dangerous thing. It will kick start a vicious cycle of poverty.

Political technique of Bernie is nothing new. Jesus, Muhammad, Karl Marx, Lenin- they all used this same technique. Anger against rich class.  They want to remind you again and again that you are victim of political system and greed of  rich people.

I am not saying you didn't face injustice. Life is hard and full of injustice. But that's they way life is and was for time immemorial. Life is meaningful, because we fight against our rough days and we hope to see better days for us and our children. We need a system that rewards our hardwork for that. In Socialism, you get rewarded by state for your political loyalty.  Eventually your life will become dull and you will fail to penury in any socialist system as there is no reward for hardwork.

 There are other straight reasons too. Bernie never did a job. He never did a business. He was a bohemian left. It's dangerous to leave administration to people like him who are inherently void and never become part of any economy.

However, I will not say, you are so stupid that's why you are voting for Bernie. I understand how Christianity and Islam become popular because of their anti-rich stance.  It's easy to get carried away by that kind of propaganda when you do not check basic math and history.  You have been preyed.  You have fallen victim of propaganda.  Like people of state of West Bengal. They had realized the reality of socialism of late.  Lefts are now reduced to only 5% from 54% in that state as people realized they have been fooled by the lofty leftist ideals of equality, no exploitation, social welfare etc.  Same cycle will follow here as well. But I am worried by that time, there will be so much of casualty and damage, it may be irreversible fall for USA.

The way we vote in Howard County - we dice more often than we decide

As I repeated several times in the past, social engineering plan of current administration didn't surprise me because last year, the same group of people led by Calvin Ball were pushing hard to pass the bill for making Howard county a sanctuary. In my estimate, that was even more insane and crazier idea. Our house price would have tanked in addition to dangerous consequence of increasing drug peddlers and prostitution. In fact even that time also political squabble of Howard County made national headlines. New York Times's Sabrina Tavernise made an exclusive story in which I was interviewed ( I am giving the link in the comment) and after that I received many emails from Indian community for venting out the hard feeling of the community against the career democrats who seem to care more about illegal immigrants than legal ones. Many of the fellow Indians are waiting for permanent residency in USA for a long long time ( sometimes more than 20 years for the Indians ) due to weird rule of country quota. Instead of pushing merit based immigration which would have helped both United States and legal immigrants, when Democrats were fighting for illegal immigrants, every Indian American thought enough is enough, and they were enraged. In every party , everyone would speak about how democratic party is failing them!

After Allan Kittleman stopped the sanctuary bill, he was very sure of winning against Calvin Ball. Even I thought so. After all who in their sane mind, will vote for Calvin Ball who tried to brink the Howard County into utter quagmire? I was so confident about victory of Allan, I said no, when his campaign team approached me for volunteering. In fact I told them, Alan will win so comfortably after this sanctuary episode, it will be easy cake walk!

When Calvin Ball won by a margin of more than 6000, I realized, I did a great mistake in understanding how politics works in Howard County. I can bait- all the enthusiastic members of this forum are thinking in next election, present administration will be voted out because of their unpopular redistricting plan. They will be totally surprised if election is held today. And that is why I am posting this piece so that everyone of this forum understands to defeat this insane administration, they need to be lot more organized and actively engaged in Howard county politics.

So how could Calvin Ball win after his crazy sanctuary fiasco ? In resolving the mystery we would know what to do next time. Fact is, I can bait even 20% of this forum members didn't know what role Ball played last year to push the county into political disaster.

Most of the immigrants, specially Asian immigrants voted for him in drove without even knowing what political ideology he stands for. Why did this happen? Why Allen didn't get the support from Indian and Asian community ?

This is where Calvin Ball excelled as politician. He really worked very hard to make himself known to immigrant community. I have seen him attending every Indian cultural event. He would be visiting them and distribute cards. He really worked very hard over the years among the immigrants to make his face known.

I met him first time in 2016 in a small party organized by local democrats to watch Hillary vs Bernie debate. He didn't take side but I still remember he came to me, introduced himself and gave his card. After that I saw him at every cultural event organized by different Indian communities. He maintained very good relationship with Indian community organizers. I can't recall any Democrat or Republican worked so hard to be known among the immigrants. You have to understand in Howard County for a long time, immigrants have voted based on whom they know personally and not politically. That's too most of the immigrants even didn't vote. Even my wife told me, since she doesn't know most of the local candidates she won't vote- she didn't like the idea of throwing dart. Most of us, including me faced the same limbo. I voted for Allan and some councilmen whom I knew to be good, but for the rest ( for majority of times indeed) I looked at who are Democratic candidates and I voted for them because I am a Dem card holder. Turn out for local election averaged around 40% and I can tell you most of the Indians, if voted followed the same tactics- when you don't know the candidates, vote for the Dem. So in first place, Republican candidates are not too keen to attend all the cultural events of the immigrants -they think, they will seek the vote politically. It doesn't work among the immigrants-they have to make their face known. And secondly, because of racially motivated comments of a handful republicans at national level, local GOP candidates are never favored among the immigrants. Specially if they are not personally known to the immigrants, by default immigrants would imagine them to be a white racist! I know most of them are not that type but because I met them and known them. Most of the immigrants are so aloof in politics, they will not bother or invest time to know them. Why blame others - even I am not exception to that rule. We all feel, US has given us such a nicer life compared to our country of birth, we will invest time to make even more money and someone else would work to safeguard my political interest!

Frankly I didn't know Allan Kittleman even last year. When I was so upset by sanctuary fiasco, I had to write to him regarding my concern. He wrote back that he would kill the bill. Then I traced back history of both Allan and Calvin. But you see had it not been for sanctuary county squabble, I wouldn't have known Allan and what a nice person he is. And I would have voted for Calvin Ball by default because Calvin Ball made several attempts to reach us. And we met in many functions! I can tell you most of the immigrants made the same mistakes.

So lesson learned. Along the logic and reason that prevailed in this group, it's duty of every member, specially immigrants to do couple of actions

  - Add your neighbors into this group 


  - Discuss the current mess and politicians involved in every party you are attending ..if possible give them some report to read 


     - Circulate the news of our resistance in all the relevant FB and whatsapp group , your wall..


    - Keep one or two banners in your lawn 
     


   

Politics requires more action to reach out, specially at community level when most of the voters are not so well informed. So please do reach out to as many members you can and as many ways you can. Your action to reach out to people will make bigger difference.

Howdy Modi- extravaganza of democracy, but is there anything for Indian Americans ?

Howdy Modi- extravaganza of democracy, but is there anything for Indian Americans ?

-          Biplab Pal, 9/22/2019

Indian Americans are one of the most successful and prosperous group on planet earth. Total net wealth of 4M Indian Americans will far exceed the wealth of 99% Indian back home. They played crucial role in IT revolution for both US and India. Today India has a $160B IT industry which feeds 12M middleclass.  This export owes its existence to Indian Americans who found an opportunity in outsourcing and together with Indian entrepreneurs laid the basics of business since 1990s.

I am not a spokesperson of Indian Americans as they are as diverse as they were in home in their political and personal aspiration. However, being a business person whose future and livelihood depends on $160B IT export and someone who regularly visits all the major cities of US and India I get to see the aspiration and frustration of both the countries first hand. As a US citizen, I am also active in local politics and for business in India, I happen to meet Indian politicians on regular basis. This gives me an wide perspective of how both the countries work. And more importantly what works and what doesn’t work in the largest and the most powerful democracy.  Therefore for an event where two of the premier of both the countries share same stage rooting for same future, definitely I should be delighted. But frankly I am not that optimistic because I do see that politicians of both the countries treat Indian Americans as holy cash-cow who would bring more business without giving us what we need to succeed. Yes, we are creating jobs in the both the countries, but it will be fair to say, politicians of US and India so far gave us a lip service. What we wanted, has never been listened or taken cared of adequately. Sadly that is the ground truth. And while both the leaders boosted of their success for their performance, I couldn’t find any clue how Trump or Modi would take initiatives that would help our Indian American community to create more business and jobs that both the leaders wanted.  

Let me start with criticism of Modi of what he has promised for NRI like us and what is the reality on ground in India. Even today he said, he would reform easy of doing business in India. It’s the same old cliché he promised five years back in his gala show in New York. What is the reality? Did you ever try to open a Pvt Company in India ? It takes enormous amount of time if one of the director is  a foreigner. Even if you are having an OCI card, it means nothing to ED ( Enforcement Directive). Next trouble starts with FDI or foreign direct investment. Normally whenever you wire a money for buying equity in Indian firms, that confirmation that you have personally done it must come from a class officer in your foreign bank which he has to communicate using SWIFT code ( Bank to bank secured communication). Else RBI will not accept. I have personally suffered two years of paper works because my banker even didn’t realize what to do! Even after they did it, still RBI said why that was not done in six month !   First of all, in USA, if an Indian invests, all they care about whether money has been wired. In India there is so much of bureaucracy even today, I would never invest in India had I not been Indian.  After I become US citizen in 2011, I found it is one of the worst place to do business as a foreigner. Compared to that, US is still a top destination for FDI because when we form a company in USA, we can do that online within 24 hours and I will have my business account in 48 hours. In India if there is a foreign director, it takes more than 3 months. Of course, even then you have to pay consultants who will “manage” it for you.

Then let’s look at the import to India. If you are in pure software, of course there can’t be any issue. In sensor business, where we regularly import from USA, including GST and import duty, we pay on average between 40-48% . On US side, on import from India, it was 6% earlier but since Indian administration didn’t listen to request from US commerce department for reduced tariff, it is now at 25%. On top of that, due to GST, it is costing us 18% more to produce in India. Overall, Indian import is 50% more expensive after Modi came to power. This has killed many Indian exporters already. It’s no wonder GDP growth in India has come down to 5% from 12%. It’s not a magic but a systematic failure of Modi administration to pay attention to details in the matter of economics. Instead they were more busy in their ideological politics like NRC or Kashmir to please their electorates.

 Amidst the charade and pomposity that has grappled the imagination of a Hindu nation,  Modi or his administration found no time to discuss with their US counterpart to do something so that bilateral trade improves.  On all of these matters, I must say, US administration has conducted more responsibly while they received lukewarm reciprocation from their Indian counterpart.

No wonder, foreign investors have lost confidence in Modi.

Now I will turn to criticism of Trump Government. H1-B visa is vital to this $160B Indian export.  I am also in favor of recruiting local software talents from USA but let face the bitter truth. Our US school system is outdated and they are not producing as many coders as we need.  Besides Indian middleclass does their job in IT because they have very little option of doing anything else that gives them decent salary. Many jobs in IT are so boring, most of the American kids don’t want to do it.  This being the case, we have no option but to get talented coders from India to USA. That process made America the capital of world IT- all most all software products and innovation still happen from USA. But if that is forcefully eliminated, how IT entrepreneurs would do well in a globally competitive market ? H1B visa rejection stands at 42%.  You want Indian Americans to create jobs in USA- but that is not possible without H1B program being reformed. We are all for local talents but even local talents would need grooming from experienced Indian software engineers.

I discussed only short-term issues. There are other long term  structural issues. We are entering into an age of AI driven automation. We need far more talented coders and software engineers than that we needed earlier. Indian school system is still based on old rots.  It has not been reformed.  It is producing BTech in engineering of whom 97% are unemployable.  Modi Govt took no step in reforming engineering education which is badly needed. No wonder, there is no Indian University within top 300.

We can all dance around hailing democracy and its celebration, but hard fact is China is surging ahead based on its vast public education system.  India has fallen far behind and US is also failing to catch up. China must be a wake-up call for all of us-both the nations. Our leaders must do better in public education system.

Buried in pomposity and paraphernalia of Howdy Modi, we the Indian Americans should not forget there are two critical factors that led to our success. We received very high quality public education in India almost free of cost- something that is being destroyed over last two decades by successive Indian Governments. I may be prejudiced but I have seen, talents always come from needy families. They shouldn’t be deprived of quality education or else even our outsourcing business will suffer. Second important thing that happened positively in our life is American capitalism which doesn’t discriminate based on color and embrace merit over color or race.  Sundar Pichai, had he been living in  India would not have dreamed of running an Indian business  empire which is always run by family dynasty. Therefore, if we understand why we succeeded in USA, we must have to protect the very value of American capitalism which is under threat from American socialists and white supremacists. We also have a duty to spread American capitalism and its positive dimensions in India.  India doesn’t have a capitalist infrastructure and Modi did very little to even recognize the issues other than lip servicing. To realize the great potential of India and its people, instead of adulating Modi, we need to constantly pressurize him for more reform of archaic business regulations so that with improved capitalist framework, India should dream of 15T economy and not 5T economy which I doubt they can achieve even in 10 years given such a poor capitalist framework. It’s a high time Modi should think of scrapping IAS, IFS, IPS etc. altogether and instead recruit experienced MBA professionals to run the country.

Having said all the negative sides, I must admit democracy is wonderful and it allows best talents to be the leaders.  They are intelligent people but more often than not, they take decision to please their vote bank. I hope things will change soon. So far so good, I am proud to be an Indian American-I consider myself very fortunate to be born in India and living in United States.