Usually I find it refreshing for an immigrant to go into politics. Often he or she brings in different perspectives. It also shows the working of our melting pot. But recent events in Orange County makes me shake my head.
Tan Nguyen is a Vietnamese immigrant who is running for congress in a heavily Hispanic district against incumbent Loretta Sanchez. I don't know why he is running in the first place as he had no chance of winning. Then he decided to mail out a letter to people with Hispanic surnames telling them in Spanish that it is illegal to vote if you are an immigrant and that you can get arrested. The clusmsiness of this attempt to win an election is almost hilarious. It is at least unethical to intimidate people but for an immigrant to try to do that to fellow immigrants is deplorable. I am sure he would be upset if someone does the same thing to the Vietnamese community. He is also an idiot because there was no way he was going to get away with this stupid scheme. I have no idea why he thought he would not be caught.
Of course Nguyen is not the only idiot. Immediately after this came to light people were calling this a hate crime. And these were the Republicans, Nguyen's own party. Angelides, who has no chance of winning the governor's race, goes ballistic and says this is the way the Republican operates. The state attorney general is investigating and officers have searched Nguyen's home and took his computer. While Nguyen's action cannot be defended, this is not the KKK at work here. It is not a sure thing that a crime is committed as I don't see victims here. For illegal immigrants, they shouldn't be voting anyway. And if you are a citizen, why would you be frightened by this nonsense anyway? Having studied for your citizen exam, you would know that you are entitled to vote, so why would you be intimidated?
Yes, Nguyen is a fool and should never hold political office. But all those people who are making a big deal out of it are just as foolish. As the midterm election draws closer there are a lot more important things to debate. This is just about an unethical person doing a foolish thing. Unfortunately it is an embarrassing setback for immigrants trying to enter the politcal mainstream. Well, on second thought may be Nguyen has learned too well from the political mainstream!
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
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Wow, what a mess. I wonder who the heck even asked him to run in the first place? Did they know something about the community that everybody else didn't? This just goes to show that any idiot from off the street can run for office. If he or anyone in his campaign had taken his candidacy seriously, they would have learned the law and not sent out those fliers. I'm surprised that things in California aren't more screwed up. I too love to hear of immigrants running for office. It's good to know that they are following their dreams and trying to make their communities better. I am LBOAYM, and I approve this message.
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