撇开是否会得到总统竞选提名不谈，如果民主党人不再觉得移民的选票是理所当然囊中之物，那就是胜利。
这在几年前是不可想象的：目前争夺共和党总统候选人提名的候选人中有三分之二是印裔美国人，可该社区占美国人口的 1.3%。（中国移民在哪？他们在微信中激烈战斗中。）
前南卡罗来纳州州长 Nikki Haley 或商人和反“觉醒”专家 Vivek Ramaswamy 赢得总统提名的可能性似乎微乎其微。尽管如此，他们的候选资格本身就具有重要的象征意义。他们戳穿了美国是一个不断受白人至上主义幽灵威胁的种族主义国家的侵蚀性神话。他们凸显了为什么来自世界各地的奋斗移民社区需要一个替代民主党的选择，民主党对身份政治的痴迷破坏了使美国伟大的优点和公平竞争的原则。
印裔美国人对选举政治有多重要？美国人口普查局估计印度裔人口有 440 万，但只有大约 290 万是公民。一半人生活在六个纯蓝州——加利福尼亚、新泽西、纽约、伊利诺伊、华盛顿和马萨诸塞——他们的选票在这些州或全国选举中不会产生太大影响。
尽管如此，印裔美国人无疑正在变得越来越有影响力。在过去的三十年里，他们的人口增加了五倍多。 2021 年，印裔美国人在新入籍人数中排名第二 (7%)，仅次于墨西哥裔美国人 (13.9%)。他们有望很快超过华裔美国人成为最大的亚裔美国人群体。
在竞争激烈的州，印度裔美国人开始变得更加重要。在弗吉尼亚，他们几乎占人口的 1.8%。在密歇根州、宾夕法尼亚州和佐治亚州等摇摆州，他们的比例在 1.2% 到 1.5% 之间——足以在激烈的竞争中打破平衡。
迄今为止，与一般亚裔美国人一样，印裔美国人坚定地支持民主党。亚裔美国人法律辩护和教育基金的一项调查估计，72% 的印裔美国人在 2020 年大选中将票投给了乔·拜登。印度裔美国人在国会的代表人数已从 2013 年的一名增加到本届国会的五名，都是民主党人。
这可能在一定程度上是因为很多印度裔美国人恰好生活在蓝州，那里的社会常态是左倾。超过四分之三的人受过大学教育，所以这一人口统计数据偏向民主党。媒体和精英大学的印裔美国人可能会认为，在他们的领域取得成功需要鹦鹉学舌地模仿左翼关于种族、性别和性的谈话要点。
但是，如果有人应该认识到“国家主导经济”的危险和目前定义民主党的“种族受害者崇拜”，那就是印裔美国人。他们可能不承认这一点，但许多人移民是为了逃离祖国的社会主义政策和有毒的身份政治而来到美国。印裔美国人蓬勃发展并得以成功的原因，是民主党种族受害者崇拜的对立面原则，即对功绩的信念、奋斗的文化，以及将人作为个体而不是群体成员来判断的传统。
黑莉女士在她的竞选公告视频中指出，“即使在我们最糟糕的一天，我们也很幸运能生活在美国。”她的话是针对所有美国人的，但对印度移民及其后代来说尤其如此。印裔美国人家庭收入中位数为 14万2,000 美元，是美国所有族裔中最高的，是印度人均收入的 60 多倍。
简而言之，地球上最幸运的印度人生活在美国。像所有移民一样，他们有责任确保这个国家不会失去使他们繁荣昌盛并使美国成为人类历史上最成功国家的原则。
无论是隐含还是直接，黑利和拉马斯瓦米都在他们的竞选活动中强调了这一点。黑莉女士断然宣布美国不是种族主义国家。拉马斯瓦米先生发誓要废除平权法案，该法案通过奖励种族而不是能力和努力工作来削弱卓越和美国的竞争力。
不足为奇的是，左派的反应变得异常混乱。在 MSNBC 上，每日专栏作家瓦贾哈特·阿里 (Wajahat Ali) 指责海莉女士“利用她的棕色皮肤作为对付可怜的黑人和可怜的棕色人种的武器”和“洗白白人至上主义的谈话要点”。
现在说黑利和拉马斯瓦米是否会扩大共和党基础还为时过早，但前景一片光明。 2020 年，26% 的印裔美国人和 29% 的亚裔美国人投票给唐纳德·特朗普，高于 2016 年的 14% 和 18%。2021 年，州长格伦·扬金赢得了 33% 的亚裔美国人选票，部分原因是反对民主党推动的对著名高中的种族盲目测试的强烈反对。今年早些时候，锡克教徒律师 Harmeet Dhillon 积极争取取代 Ronna McDaniel 成为共和党全国委员会主席，这表明共和党正逐渐对更大的宗教多样性持开放态度。
最终，黑利或拉马斯瓦米赢得共和党提名并不重要。如果他们能够确保民主党人不再将移民视为理所当然，那么他们就已经为其国家做出了贡献。
A Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy Victory
Nomination aside, it’s a win if Democrats can’t take immigrants for granted anymore.
By Sadanand DhumeFollow
March 2, 2023
Here’s something that would have been unimaginable only a few years ago: Two out of three candidates currently vying for the GOP presidential nomination are Indian-Americans, a community that’s 1.3% of the U.S. population.
The odds that either former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley or businessman and antiwoke pundit Vivek Ramaswamy will win the nomination appear vanishingly small. Nonetheless their candidacies carry great symbolic value. They puncture the corrosive myth that America is a racist nation constantly threatened by the phantom of white supremacy. And they underscore why striving immigrant communities from all parts of the world need an alternative to the Democratic Party, whose obsession with identity politics undermines the principles of merit and fair play that make the U.S. great.
How much do Indian-Americans matter to electoral politics? The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that people of Indian origin number 4.4 million, but only about 2.9 million are citizens. Half live in six solidly blue states—California, New Jersey, New York, Illinois, Washington and Massachusetts—where their votes don’t make much difference in statewide or national elections.
Nonetheless, Indian-Americans are undoubtedly growing more influential. Over the past three decades, their population has more than quintupled. In 2021 Indian-Americans comprised the second largest number of new naturalizations (7%) after Mexican-Americans (13.9%). They are on track to overtake Chinese-Americans as the largest Asian-American group.
Indian-Americans are beginning to matter more in closely contested states. In Virginia they’re nearly 1.8% of the population. In the swing states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia they account for between about 1.2% and 1.5%—enough to tip the balance in a tight race.
Thus far, like Asian-Americans in general, Indian-Americans have solidly backed Democrats. A survey by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund estimated that 72% of Indian-Americans voted for Joe Biden in the 2020 election. Indian-American representation in Congress has grown from one in 2013 to five in the current Congress. All are Democrats.
This may be in part because so many Indian-Americans happen to live in blue states, where leaning left is the social norm. More than 3 in 4 are college-educated, a demographic that skews Democratic. Indian-Americans in media and elite universities may understandably believe that parroting left-wing talking points on race, gender and sexuality is required to succeed in their fields.
But if anyone should recognize the dangers of a state-dominated economy and the cult of ethnic victimhood that now defines the Democratic Party, it’s Indian-Americans. They may not acknowledge this, but many emigrated to flee the socialist policies and toxic identity politics of their ancestral homeland. The strong presence in America of opposing principles—a belief in merit, a culture of striving, and a tradition of judging people as individuals rather than as members of groups—has allowed Indian-Americans to flourish.
Ms. Haley pointed out in her campaign announcement video that “even on our worst day we are blessed to live in America.” Her words were aimed at all Americans, but they are especially true for Indian immigrants and their descendants. The $142,000 median Indian-American household income—the highest among all ethnic groups in the U.S.—is more than 60 times India’s per capita income.
Simply put, the most fortunate Indians on the planet live in the U.S. Like all immigrants, they have a responsibility to ensure that this country doesn’t lose the principles that have enabled their flourishing and made America the most successful nation in human history.
Either implicitly or explicitly, both Ms. Haley and Mr. Ramaswamy underscore this in their campaigns. Ms. Haley has flatly declared that the U.S. isn’t a racist nation. Mr. Ramaswamy has vowed to tear down affirmative action, which erodes excellence and American competitiveness by rewarding race rather than ability and hard work.
Not surprisingly, the reaction from the left has been deranged. On MSNBC, Daily Beast columnist Wajahat Ali accused Ms. Haley of using “her brown skin as a weapon against poor black folks and poor brown folks” and “to launder white-supremacist talking points.”
It’s still too early to say if Ms. Haley and Mr. Ramaswamy will widen the GOP base, but the prospects are promising. In 2020, 26% of Indian-Americans and 29% of Asian-Americans voted for Donald Trump, up from 14% and 18%, respectively, in 2016. In 2021, Gov. Glenn Youngkin won 33% of the Asian-American vote, in part because of a backlash against a Democratic push against race-blind tests for admission to prestigious high schools. The Sikh lawyer Harmeet Dhillon’s spirited bid to replace Ronna McDaniel as Republican National Committee chairman earlier this year shows that the GOP is gradually becoming more open to greater religious diversity.
In the end, it doesn’t matter too much whether Ms. Haley or Mr. Ramaswamy win the GOP nomination. If they can ensure that Democrats can no longer take immigrants for granted, they will have done a service to their country.