I’m Voting for POTUS and not LOTUS. I’m Voting for MLK Jr.’s Way and Not the BLM Way
- It’s not perfect, but the U.S. is the closest any nation on earth has been to a utopia. This election, I’m voting for America.
I am a Mom and I wear many badges — first generation immigrant, Indian-American, American Hindu, Woman of color and more. There is a litany of issues in this election, and I’ll touch upon the ones bothersome to me.
The riots, arson, looting and killings perpetrated by Antifa and Black Lives Matter (BLM), backed by the Democrats, the media, corporations, celebrities, academicians, and other social justice warrior types have touched a raw nerve. Violence is violence and condoning it, is wrong. It doesn’t matter whether it is right-wing/left-wing, white/black, or Republican/Democrat. I’m not a big fan of riots. I’m not a fan of terrorism either. And what else am I not a fan of? Ethnic cleansing.
In India, it’s not just Muslims who can be victims. Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and even Jews (2008 Mumbai terror attacks) can be victims. India has welcomed Muslim refugees from Afghanistan to Myanmar, European Jews during the holocaust, Buddhists from Tibet and centuries ago Zoroastrians fleeing religious persecution in Iran. And yes, Hindus, despite being a majority, have been refugees in Modern India as well.
Democrats choose to be ignorant about this.
On the contrary, Democrats at the highest levels empower and engender terrorism with their statements. For, e.g. they supported the, now defunct, Indian law ‘Article 370’ which for decades was the foundation for ethno-religious apartheid in Indian Kashmir. It’s time to name and shame these Democrats , particularly Indian Americans like Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Rep. Ro Khanna and Rep. Ami Bera. Some of these Congresspersons sit on Foreign Affairs committees. If they could look at a map, they would see that Afghanistan, Northern Pakistan and Indian Kashmir are contiguous. And if they knew anything about Foreign Affairs, they would connect the dots that American funding of the Islamists in the 1980s to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan percolated to Indian Kashmir via Pakistan resulting in the ethnic cleansing of Hindus and Sikhs in 1990.
And then there is Kamala Devi Harris. Kudos to her for making it this far in the race. Her first name means ‘lotus’ and her middle name means ‘Goddess’ in Sanskrit. After all, her mother is of Indian origin. Yet, in her public and political life, she has always referred to herself as a Black or African American woman, even though she is less than 50 % Black. (Her father too claims to be a descendant of a White slave owner.) Perhaps she is following the lead of Barack Obama, who refers to himself as Black and African American despite having a White mother. It’s strange that their mother’s DNA or ancestry or ethnic group is of no significance to both of them and is shunned even if it was the mother who primarily raised them. Obviously, the perks and privileges of ‘victimhood’ trump ‘motherhood.’ And now for the sake of political expediency and Indian-American votes, we hear about her Indian roots. It is a sorry spectacle to see a lot of Indian-Americans swooning and fawning over her “Indian-ness.”
Likewise, other American minorities take a good look at facts and ask some hard questions.
Blacks: Yes, Black Americans lag behind other groups on most metrics. Is it systemic or structural racism? If that were true, America would not have had a “Black” president from2008–2016 or a “Black” vice-presidential nominee in 2020. Sixty ethnic groups have a household income higher than White Americans. That list of 60 groups contains people from every continent and part of the world. An African group (Ghanaian Americans) has a higher household income than White Americans. Black Americans, sadly, rank 94th on that list. If America were racist, White Americans would be at the top of the list, not brown-skinned Indian Americans. Here’s what I think — An immigrant landing in America is automatically energized and geared to succeed because the only thought in her/his head is — “America is the land of opportunity, and I will make it big.” Unfortunately for Black Americans, Democrats continue to brainwash young Blacks into thinking — “America is a racist country, and I can never succeed.” This is the mental prison in which Blacks grow up. This thinking leads to Blacks comprising a disproportionate share of the U.S. prison population. Instead of “Defund the Police,” how about a “Black to Blue” movement so that Blacks can account for a disproportionate share of law enforcement staff as judges, or Police Officers? Such a transition will lead to respect and deal a death-blow to racism in this country.
Hispanics/ Asian-Americans/European-Americans: Most of these immigrants have fled communist or socialist regimes to start life afresh arriving with nothing or little more than a suitcase. They have to ask themselves whether they want to see America become the country from which they immigrated. What is the future they see for their children?
Jewish Americans: Trump is portrayed as being an avatar of Hitler. This even though his son-in-law and daughter are both Jewish. He was true to his word when he moved the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He has achieved the unthinkable with the Abraham accords and peace deals between Israel and 3 Arab Muslim nations viz. UAE, Bahrain and Sudan. In the game of Cricket, this is called a hat-trick. The previous peace deals happened in 1979 (Egypt) and 1994 (Jordan). The middle-east has been yearning for peace for the last seven decades, and things seem to be moving in the right direction.
Muslim Americans: Trump is touted as anti-Muslim and Biden as pro-Muslim. Let’s see if that is true. Bush caused the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama (with support from Biden, Hillary and McCain) was responsible for the catastrophic mess in Libya and Syria. These four nations account for 500,000 deaths. In the past 20 years, Libya and Afghanistan have become failed states while Iraq and Syria are hobbling along. And what is Trump’s scorecard? 1. Zero Muslim nations invaded or destroyed; 2. Peace between Israel and UAE/Bahrain/Sudan; 3. The Serbia–Kosovo economic normalization agreement. 4. We would have had a peace deal in Afghanistan as well, but the Democrats sabotaged it with rumors of Russian bounties.
The Democrats and media also lied about the so-called “anti-Muslim” ban. This law was to review and if need be, restrict entry by individuals from 7 nations viz. Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. It was not because they were Muslim but because there was no proper way of verifying the credentials of travelers from these countries. Muslims from all other nations of the world were free to travel. Is it a good idea to vet people before they enter the country in case there are potential terrorists? Perhaps Muslims should ask the parents of the 132 children killed in the APS attack in Pakistan in 2014 for the answer to that question.
The American media (CNN, NYT, WaPo, HuffPost, etc.) have conditioned a large number of Americans to behave like Pavlovian canines. The moment they hear the word “Trump”, some people automatically spout terms such as — “racist, nazi, xenophobe, Islamophobe, homophobe, transphobe, white-supremacist, fascist, bigot, and sexist.” So when the media (or FBI and CIA) makes statements about Russian / Chinese / Iranian influence, it is laughable.
Practically the entire American media is anti-Trump, and even the English language media in other countries is anti-Trump. Given the misinformation campaign and censorship by the mainstream American press plus the global English language media abetted by the social media and technology companies (Facebook, Twitter, Google etc.) the Russians, Chinese or Iranians don’t stand a chance of influencing the elections.
The Democrats are in the pincer grip of two groups. One group, the older vanguard, is intensely bitter about the destruction of the USSR and the dream of a global Communist utopia. The other group is the smartphone generation which has enjoyed all the fruits of capitalism and has never experienced socialism and communism. This group thinks that socialism and communism are the panaceas to all forms of economic and social discrimination.
History seems to have come a full circle. In the 1920’s we had the far-right National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP) aka Nazis. In the 2020’s we have the far-left Socialist Democratic American Party (SDAP). (Perhaps we should call them “Sodzis”). Just like Hitler’s brownshirts and Mussolini’s Blackshirts controlled the streets, the SDAP have their storm troopers viz. Antifa and BLM. The Nazis wanted to grab power using the Beerhall putsch; the Sodzis had their Russiagate. Who knows what’s next?
The Democratic Party is critical to democracy in America. Democrats have a lot of heart, and there’s a lot of work to be done. The party has to move back to the centre-left. The party must work in a bipartisan manner instead of trying to win elections they have lost in the past. It has to promote compassionate leaders like Tulsi Gabbard and Andrew Yang instead of rabble-rousers. In the meanwhile, this election I’m voting against riots, looting, arson, and terrorism. I’m voting against socialism and communism. I’m voting against identity politics, pandering, cancelling, wokeness, nepotism and corruption. I’m voting against virtue signaling billionaire/millionaire financiers, social media and tech tycoons, celebrities, and sportspersons who constantly wag their fingers at us. I’m voting against endless wars.
It’s not perfect, but the U.S. is the closest any nation on earth has been to a utopia. This election, I’m voting for America. I’m voting for MLK Jr’s way and not the BLM way. How about you?
Dr. Srilekha Reddy Palle earned her Doctorate in physical therapy from Boston University and her MBA, with a focus on healthcare administration, from the IIBM Institute of Business Management. Currently, she also serves as Vice President of National Capital Healthcare Executives. She also volunteers with the Vincent Ferrari foundation to provide rehabilitation care in rural community hospitals across India. She was the past president of Durga Temple of Virginia, the largest temple in the Washington, D.C. area. She is the current political director for American Hindu Coalition and believes in community service and community engagement. She is the Vice chair of campaigns and elections in the Fairfax Republican Committee and is politically active with the Trump campaign.