吴仙标答朋友问:打破加州民主党的绝大多数是防止SCA5卷土重来的最好方式吗?


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问: 防止SCA5最好的办法是不是去打破加州议会两院民主党的绝大多数?


80-20促进会主席吴仙标的回答:

你可能记得我以前曾担任过德拉维州众议院的主席。所以你的信件里提到的党派压力对我不是新闻。事实上,80-20的策略就是为了解决你描述的问题。


1)是的,共和党和民主党都会尝试执行党的纪律。

2)不过,两党也知道党派压力比不上一个组织良好的选民组织能施加的压力,尤其是当这些选民群体是由一个经验丰富又资金雄厚的促进会(Political Action Committee)来领导时。这次“停止SCA5”的结果就证明了选民的力量与党派压力比,孰重孰轻。美籍华人赢得了这场战斗,但我们并没有没有完全了解到胜利的真正的原因,

3)两党通常会允许民选官员们按照他们选区的民意来投票,这个既有理论也有实际的原因。从理论上来说,民主就是让民选官员来顺应民意。从实际的角度来看,如果一个政党逼迫其民选官员违背民意的话,这个政党迟早会失去民众的支持。这也是“停止SCA5”活动再次证明的事实。同样,有些人没能得出正确的结论。

4)SCA5的提出不是因为民主党党拥有绝大多数。相反,它是由于亚裔民选官员没有保障亚裔选民的权利。也是因为这个原因,80-20现在要问责方文忠(Paul Fong)。


亚裔政治上比较幼稚,我们比较容易地被两党欺骗利用。你确定你和你的朋友们都没有被利用到吗?请再想一想。谢谢。


吴仙标



英文原文


Q: Because of the SCA 5, a lot of my friends got shocked at the reality and became more active in politics. Here is a problem with Democrat supermajority in CA: If an Asian elected official does not vote along the party line, s/he will be surrounded by party members who take turn try to "talk" and "convince" her/him to vote along the party, sometime these talks last late into night and it is a lot of pressure. It they vote along the party line, we'll un-elect him/her. If they stick to Asian interest, and vote against party recommendation, they will risk losing the party endorsement in the next election. In the end, all those who dare to speak out for Asian will lose, one way or the other. So, maybe it is better to adjust the balance of GOP and Dem and avoid supermajority by any party and make them have a chance to compete with each others.



A: You may recall that I was once the President of the Delaware Senate, so what you described in you email about how a party tries to exercise party discipline is NOT news to me.  Indeed, the 80-20 strategy is designed to counter the situation that you’ve described.


(1)  Yes, political parties, R and D,  will try to enforce party discipline,
(2)  However, both parties always know the power of the party is small when compared with the power of a well organized voter group,  especially when the group is led by an experienced and well-funded PAC.  The STOP SCA 5 testifies to the powers of the voters versus that of a political party.  Chinese Americans have won that battle, and yet our people may not have  completely absorbed the real lessons of that victory, and
(3)  Both Parties will normally let the elected officials vote with a strongly expressed voter consensus.  For both theoretical and pragmatic reasons.  Theoretically, democracy means elected official will normally followed strongly and well express voter consensus. Pragmatically, if a party forces its elected officials to go against public opinion, it’ll sooner or later lose popular support.   This was again demonstrated through the STOP SCA 5 episode.  Again, some of you failed to draw the proper conclusion.
(4) That SCA 5 was proposed was not because the Dem Party has a supermajority.  Instead it was due to the lack of accountability from the AsAm elected officials to the AsAm community.  Hence, 80-20 is punishing Paul Fong to correct that chronic defect.

Asian Ams are politically naive, they can be relatively easily deceived by BOTH political parties.  Are you sure that you and your friends are not being deceived?  Think it over.  Thanks.


S. B. Woo, a volunteer
President, 80-20 National AsAm Political Action Committee, Inc.