Sunday, December 7, 2008

Racist Louisiana Republicans? Not quite.

Last year, Louisiana elected Bobby Jindal, the first Indian-American elected as governor in the history of the United States. Now, they have made another first by becoming the first congressional district to elect an American of Vietnamese descent. Anh "Joseph" Cao and Bobby Jindal both happen to be Republicans.

For a state long stereotyped as hopelessly backwards and filled with racists, the citizens of Louisiana continue to make history and can now claim their rightful standing as the most color blind state in the nation.

2 comments:

Brian Phillips said...

I doubt these election results--nor Obama's election-- will stop those who make their living by decrying America's "racist" culture. They haven't allowed the facts to get in their way in the past, and these facts probably won't slow them down either.

I find it interesting how many immigrants (or their children) achieve remarkable success. I often think they appreciate freedom far more than most "native" Americans.

Brian Shelley said...

"I find it interesting how many immigrants (or their children) achieve remarkable success. I often think they appreciate freedom far more than most "native" Americans."

My best guess from an economics perspective, is that the percieved marginal value of income is much higher and marginal cost of work much lower for someone from a poor country.

Imagine being told if you moved to Country X, worked a 40 hour work week and made good grades in college for 4 years that you could make $2m a year with near certainty. Would you do it? Of course. It sounds fairly easy.

Now imagine living in poor country Y and already putting in a 60 hour workweek, and studying very hard to fight for a $5K/year job. By already being mentally,physically, and socially prepared to put in the work, some of these immigrants can increase their income by 100 fold by moving here and becoming a doctor.