Are Gov. Officials Our Parents or Servants?‏

Believe it or not, in America
GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS ARE OUR PUBLIC SERVANTS.
Therefore, we, the citizens, have the right to "hire or fire" them. That is what our elections are mainly about.

However, many Asian Americans subconsciously think of
government officials as their parents,
owing to the Confucian philosophy that is popular in East Asia. Confucius' humanitarian views are very wise, but he didn't know about democracy, American style. That part of the Confucian ethnic has caused our community great political harm.

Want to check out our conjecture? Take the following fun quiz.

A FUN QUIZ: Does your "average" Asian Am. friend

1) ask for accountability from government officials?
2) ask for deeds instead of sweet words from government officials?
3) highly value a photo with a high ranking government official?
4) buy tickets to a fundraiser for an official, simply because a friend is pushing tickets, without asking for that official's record of service to our community?
5) get somewhat turned off by 80-20 which advocates to "reward or punish" government officials?
6 ) think it may be illegal for 80-20 to advocate a bloc vote against an official or a presidential candidate?

If your answer are
1) No,
2) No,
3) Yes,
4) Yes,
5) Yes, and
6) Yes,
think how ridiculous your "average" Asian Am. friend's behavioral pattern actually is when you replace the words "government officials" in the above 6 questions with "public servants?"

Remember please: GOVERNENT OFFICIALS ARE OUR PUBLIC SERVANTS. We ask for deeds and accountability from them. We need to apply "carrots and sticks" to induce them to perform.

Your feedback to this newsletter will be welcome via http://www.80-20educationalfoundation.org/politicaledu/posterboard.asp. Please consider forwarding this newsletter to your Asian American friends.

Best regards,
S. B. Woo
President, 80-20 Educational Foundation, Inc.

PS Sen. McCain is traveling across the nation to reach out to what he described as the "forgotten people." At the same time, 80-20 has mounted a HUGE effort to reach out to Sen. McCain regarding the grievance faced by Asian Ams. as stated in 80-20's questionnaire. We shall keep you posted, whether Sen. McCain responds positively.

How 80-20 Has Empowered Asian Ams - Part II

80-20 has empowered the Asian Am. community in two ways. One was to empower us with equal opportunity to rise to our maximal potentials*.

The other is to empower our community's spirit. Of the two, the second is paramount. Here is how.

Times were that our community considered elected officials as our parents -- a feudal tradition in Asia. We respected and feared them. We were often subservient to them.

Six years ago, a well-known Asian Am. political leader publicly and proudly asserted the following. "The ONLY way Asian Ams. will become equal citizens of America is if we serve top government officials' election/re-election needs (i.e. give money) with such devotion that they will be moved to help us back." That subservient mentality made many rich Asian Am. individuals display pictures with top officials at home which they "bought" with huge amount of money with NO return benefits for our community.

80-20 advocates the diametric opposite.

80-20's position: In a democracy, officials are public servants regardless of their ranks. We, as voters, are the bosses. If the officials share our rightful concerns, we reward them. Otherwise, we punish them!

However, talk is cheap. Other enlightened Asian Am. organizations have advocated similar principles.

Where 80-20 is unique: 80-20 goes beyond talk. 80-20 demonstrates to YOU how the above principle works in America's elections.

In the current election, 80-20 has firmly pressed the presidential candidates, including Sens. Clinton and Obama, to make iron-clad commitments to give us equal opportunity, if elected. To see the signed commitments, visit
http://www.80-20initiative.net/news/preselect2008.asp .

That was how 80-20 has empowered our community, indeed all of us, in spirit. We changed from a subservient mentality toward elected officials to that of a good boss. **

Please do your part. Forward this newsletter to your friends & relatives. To give your feedback, visit our poster board at http://www.80-20educationalfoundation.org/politicaledu/posterboard.asp.

Respectfully yours,

S. B. Woo
President, 80-20 Educational Foundation (EF)

* Go to EF's Poster Board to see its last email -- "How 80-20 has empowered Asian American - Part I." It talks about "A rising tide raises all ships." Indeed, 80-20 empowers even those Asian Ams who oppose 80-20.

** Note that a good boss always respects and understands the difficulties of his/her employees. However, if an employee doesn't share your rightful concerns, then fire the employee.

How 80-20 Empowers Asian Am. Community

A lot of organizations talk about empowering Asian Ams. In varying degrees, we all try to. Here is how 80-20 UNIQUELY empowers Asian Americans.

Direct empowerment:

(1) The next Democratic Presidential Nominee gave iron-clad commit- ments to help us achieve equal opportunity in workplace & to be Federal judges. To see the commitments, visit http://www.80-20initiative.net/news/preselect2008.asp

How it empowers us: The number of Asian Am. managers will double from the current 500,000 to 1,000,000 in about 10 years. The number of Asian Am. Federal judges will double or triple in about 4 years.

(2) Our 3 to 1 bloc vote for Sen. Clinton, whom 80-20 endorsed*, shocked America's political establishment. It was a stronger bloc vote than that of the Hispanics.

However it empowers us: Henceforth, our rightful concerns when taken up by 80-20 will get a fair hearing from America's power elite. Does 80-20 have proof for having such a claim? Yes. here is a recent example.

CNN did an unbalanced 2-minute report explaining why Asian Am. voted 3 to 1 for Hillary. 80-20 led a petition to ask CNN to a more balanced report. CNN nicely consented. See the new 2-minute CNN report below. Just click on the link: http://www.80-20initiative.net/success/media_mainstream_080215cnn.asp

Indirect empowerment & those who benefited recently

1) Asian Am. political leaders
For example, those Asian Am political/community leaders who negotiated with 80-20 on behalf of Senators Clinton & Obama were empowered by 80-20. Surprised? The first question 80-20 asked of those leaders was whether they had the full power to negotiate. If not, why bother negotiating? Inevitably, those leaders were then thusly authorized! In future elections, big name politicians will court them more, knowing that our votes count.
2) Scholars in Asian American studies
Their studies/views will be more sought after by Am's political elite including the media. The power elite realizes that given a politically cohesive Asian Am. community, it needs to understand our community more. Our government will surely fund more studies of Asian Ams.
3) Asian American ethnic media
America's power elite will now want to maintain a relationship with our media. They or their surrogates will begin to seek meeting with the editors of ethnic papers. Soon, our presidential candidates may begin advertising in our media just like they had with Hispanic media.

Every example given above actually happened recently.

Conclusion: A rising tide raises all ships. YOU, whatever you do, will be empowered. When our community has more managers, Federal & state officials/judges, and gains more clout with America's political elites, all Asian Americans will directly & indirectly benefit.

Respectfully yours,
S. B. Woo President, 80-20 Educational Foundation

*80-20 could have endorsed Obama, had Obama reply with all yeses but Clinton refused.

Feedback: http://www.80-20educationalfoundation.org/posterboard.html.

Political Secrets VIII: How did 80-20 build a 3 to 1 bloc vote?

Q: How dare 80-20 claim credit for building a 3 to 1 bloc vote?

There are 3 million Asian Am. voters, you don't have an email list to reach 75% of 3 million voters, do you?

A: Blacks have voted about 9 to 1 for the Democratic presidential nominee for decades. Jewish Ams deliver a 8 to 2 bloc vote. Neither the black nor the Jewish community has large email lists. That is not how a bloc vote is created.

Q: So how did 80-20 create a bloc vote?

A: Have you ever attended large meetings with tens or hundreds of people? At these meetings, if 20% or more of the people speak enthusiastically for a given idea and provide good reasons while the opposition is weak, 80% of the people will end up voting for that idea. So 80-20's email list is used to create that critical mass of enthusiastic supporters and arm them with good reasons in voting for a given candidate. After that, their daily interaction with other Asia Am voters, aided by commercial ads paid for by 80-20, will naturally produce the bloc vote. Hence, most of the Asian Ams. who vote for the candidate endorsed by 80-20 may not even have heard of 80-20. That is how a bloc vote is built.

Q: Why are some Asian Am. against a bloc vote?

A: Most new immigrants don't realize that in America, every racial and/or interest group advocates a bloc vote. They include the Democratic Party, Republican Party, blacks, Jewish Ams, Hispanics, Cuban Ams, women's organizations, gays, labor unions, corporations…, etc. These groups have practiced bloc vote all along. Persuasion for a bloc vote is not necessary for them. In contrast, 80-20 needs to help new Asian immigrants climb a steep learning curve about American politics. Hence 80-20 must explicitly & repeatedly advocate and discuss the need for a bloc vote.

What if we don't? Our children will continue to face a higher admission standard to elite, schools. Our adults will continue to face a higher "admission" standard to good jobs, e.g. managerial positions and Federal judgeships.

Q: Are things improving owing to 80-20's effort?

A: Definitely. Here are facts that you've personally witnessed in recent months:

11/29/07, 80-20 began to pressure Sen. Clinton with a "Call to Action."
12/11, Sen. Clinton replied with all yeses, while suggesting rightful modifications.

12/12, Sen. Edwards signed with all yeses.
12/31, Governor Richardson signed with all yeses.
12/28, 80-20 began to get Sen. Obama on board with a "Call To Action -- Defeat Obama."

1/18/08, 80-20 held a press conference in SF endorsing Sen. Clinton for the Calif. Democratic primary.
1/31, Sen. Obama replied with all yeses, while suggesting modifications to strengthen his commitment to the Asian Am. community.

Q: What about media attention to Asian Americans?

A: Definitely increasing. "Goggle or Yahoo" to see how many articles have been written in the mainstream media about the Asian Am. bloc vote since Super Tuesday. They lack understanding of the Asian Am. community owing to the long "benign neglect" by both media and political parties. Hence, the initial coverage may even be bad. An example is the CNN's Anderson Cooper report. But under 80-20's leadership we've reacted civilly but strongly. See our petition site:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=tHYZlyz32wF0OLEZacHNWA_3d_3d

Things will improve. A new article in Time Magazine is coming. Another by a news group called the New America Media is coming Support 80-20 EF financially please.
http://www.80-20educationalfoundation.org .

Post your comments at
http://www.80-20educationalfoundation.org/posterboard.html .

Respectfully yours,

S. B. Woo
President, 80-20 Educational Foundation.

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PS: For those who forgot why a bloc vote is so powerful, here is the illustration for the 5th time. :-)

Two candidates run against each other in a political division, which for simplicity is assumed to have two constituent groups only. One group has 1 million votes (8%) and the other has 11 million votes (92%). Candidate A, a novice, courts the larger group, not being aware that the smaller constituent group has the internal political cohesion to deliver a bloc vote in the ratio of 8 to 2 while the larger group does not. When the ballots are open, candidate A wins the larger community by the ratio of 52/48. The margin of difference is 4%. Since the larger group has 11 millions votes, 4% of 11 million votes provides a winning margin of 440,000 votes to candidate A. His opponent, candidate B, is a seasoned politician. She courts the
smaller group and wins that community by a ratio of 80 to 20. The difference between 80% and 20% is 60%. 60% of 1 million votes is 600,000 votes. As a result, candidate B wins the election by (600,000 – 440,000) or 160,000 votes.

8% of the vote is what Asian Ams have in Calif, which has by far the largest impact in a presidential election. 80-20 has designed the above strategy to increase our GROUP political clout since 10 years ago!

Pol. Secrets VII: What An Election Is All About In America

Many Asian Ams. were surprised.

They ask, "How could 80-20 get away with fighting the leading presidential candidates and yet succeed in getting our grievances addressed by the same candidates?"

80-20's secret is knowing what an election is about in America.

New immigrants often mistakenly believe an election is ONLY about voting for the best candidate. However, that's not all there's to it.

The American Forefathers meant for elections to assure democracy. That is, during the election time, even the "weak and powerless" such as the Asian Americans, who are mostly new immigrants not knowing much about politics and not having the money* to hire lobbyists in Washington D.C., can still make politicians sit up and listen to their grievances.

Each adult Asian American has a vote just like he/she who is among the "richest and mightiest." If there is a grievance that most Asian Ams resonate with**, we can deliver a bloc vote. Politicians pay attention to even a small minority such as the Asian Americans that have proven to be capable of delivering a bloc vote.

That is what 80-20 is all about -- to organize our community so that our grievances will be heard during the election time and in that process help make America "a more perfect Union."

But more importantly, that is what elections in America are all about -- giving the ordinary people a chance to have their grievances addressed by the political establishment. If some of the presidential candidates show that they don't share our concerns, then 80-20 PAC*** will lead a bloc vote to defeat such candidates. The real world of politics is just like the real world we see in our workplaces. Its proper functioning depends on carrots and sticks.

Comments are welcome at
http://www.80-20educationalfoundation.org/politicaledu/posterboard.asp


Respectfully yours,

S. B. Woo
President
80-20 Educational Foundation, Inc.

* Actually there are many very rich Asian Americans. However, owing to their lack of interest or understanding of Am. politics, they have mostly shied away from politics or been extremely ineffective. I wish more will soon step up to shoulder their social responsibilities.

** The issue that has hit the resonant cord of a large majority of Asian Americans is their lack of equal opportunity in workplaces and, if qualified, to be Federal judges. Fortunately, most prominent Democratic presidential candidates have already made iron clad commitment to help
Asian Americans achieve equal opportunity, except one -- Senator Obama. Is he too inexperienced to know that equal opportunity is America's core value?

*** 80-20 Educational Foundation conducts political education only. 80-20 PAC leads the bloc vote.

Dawn of a New Era in AsAm Politics is Arriving

The Dawn of a New Era in AsAm Politics

There is an increase in Asian Americans' political savvy and
desire to serve our community. How come? The recent exposure
of the foolishness of our old practices in politics!

Bad Money Exposed By Recent News

(1) Selfish Asian Ams. who have raised money for politicians for their
personal vanity, or commercial interests or political careers have been
repeatedly exposed as suckers who sucked our community's money and
in turn got sucked by politicians. Indeed, many of them, Norman
Hsu and John Huang to name two, got in deep trouble with the law.

(2) Even well-intentioned but politically naive Asian Ams fundraisers have
also been exposed as suckers. A politician's apparent pro-immigrant
stands can change over night. When the fundraisers' over-zealousness in
raising money got exposed, politicians publicly embarrasses them.

(3) Executive Order 11246 that has been enforced for all Americans is not
enforced for Asian Ams. by an Asian Am. Labor Secretary. Visit
http://www.80-20initiative.net/news/preselect2008.asp Click on A. 3.

In other words, our hard earned money when donated in a bad way
to politicians got us nothing but trouble. That is, bad publicity and
discrimination! We must STOP donating in such foolish fashions. When
BAD MONEY dries up, good money will come in.

What is Good money?

When a fundraiser (bundler) asks you to donate to a politician, ask
yourself and/or the fundraiser 4 questions.

a) What deeds has this veteran politicians done to help our community?
Did he/she help win equal opportunity and/or adopt enlightened
immigration policy? If none, save your money. Only deeds deserve
our donations.

b) Does this fundraiser know American politics? If no, save your money.

c) Will this bundler likely use his/her political connections to help our
community? If no, save your money

d) If a novice politician is raising money, will he/she likely share our
community's concerns? Sharing our concerns, not ethnicity, is what
counts.

"GOOD MONEY"is money donated after passing those 4 checks.
Such money will bring our community immense political clout.

A Changing Wind

Asian Am. elected officials used to endorse presidential candidates
without asking what would the presidential candidates do for our community
if elected. All that has changed this year!

The following co-chairs of "Asian Pacific Islander Americans for Hillary"
have asked Sen. Clinton to reply with "6 yeses" to 80-20's questionnaire to
her campaign i.e for her to give an iron clad commitment to our dire
needs. These elected officials are our heroes/heroines. Their names are:

Judy Chu, member of Calif.'s State Board of Equalization,
Mike Eng, Calif. State Assemblymen,
John Liu, City Councilman of NYC,
Gary Locke, Former Gov. of Washington,
Fiona Ma, Majority Chip of CA State Assembly,
Henry Manayan, Former Mayor of Miltpitas,
Doris Mastui, Congresswoman and National Chair of AAPIs for Hillary,
Otto Lee, Mayor of Sunnyville, CA, and
Ellen Young, City Councilwoman of NYC.

Will Senator Clinton, who wanted these co-chairs to endorse her, share
these co-chair's concerns? We don't know yet. 80-20 EF shall keep you
posted. We are certain that these officials will know what to do, if Hillary
doesNOT listen to them.

Comments are welcome at
http://www.80-20educationalfoundation.org/posterboard.html.

Thank you.

Respectfully,

S. B. Woo
President
80-20 Educational Foundation, Inc. (EF)

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT: 80-20 EF continues to receive generous donations:

Dr. Stephen Ko $1,000, Lawrence and Mary Tom $750
Larry & Sophia Ho $500, Tom & Laura Hsu $500
Eric Chengfen Liu $500, Betty & Brian Ng $250 and
Xinhai and Scott Chai with matching gifts from Adobe and Boeing
of $100.00 each.

Los Angeles Times Article & Cong. Honda's Retort

Another fitting title for this newsletter is " Obligation of Asian Am.
Fundraisers (Bundlers) ."

On 10/19, LA Times published an article on Sen. Clinton's fundraising
entitled "An unlikely treasure-trove of donors for Clinton." For details, visit
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-donors19oct19,1,7444827.story .

It has some good points. For example. could Sen. Clinton be taking
advantage of the political naivety of new Asian immigrants? That is a
point that 80-20 EF has raised before. Remember our email " Don't Be
Suckers" and names like Johnny Chung, Charlie Trie, Maria Hsia, Robert
Lee and Yogesh Gandhi?

Congressman Mike Honda's retort to that article also has good points.
"Could our media be too suspicious about political donations from Asian
Ams?" The media certainly erred in 1997. When John Huang and a few
others raised money illegally for Pres. Clinton and DNC, the media made it
seem like an Asian Am. cabal aimed to undermine our Federal government.
Hard to believe!

However, neither has raised the REALLY IMPORTANT POINT:
What have we gotten back for our political donations?
Among ethnic groups, Asian Ams' political donation is second only
to Jewish Americans. Shockingly, Asian Ams. don't even enjoy equal
opportunity in workplaces yet -- a right enjoyed by all other Americans.
For evidence, visit
http://www.80-20educationalfoundation.org/wpad.jpg
which is a full page ad in Washington Post & carefully documented.

For a brighter future, we must

(1) ask for accountability from our fundraisers (bundlers). The
fundraisers are there when pictures are taken and their personal needs
taken care of by the politicians. They need to be there be there to ask
the politicians to promise to work for Asian Ams' equal opportunity &
in turn hold the politician accountable! If they deliver, we must thank
them for their leadership. Otherwise, such fundraisers are using hard
earned money from the little people to buy their personal glory. We
need to reject them!

(2) also ask for accountability from those Asian Am politicians
who have raised money from us playing up their Asian roots and/or
endorsed presidential candidates in our name. If they deliver concrete
benefits to our community &/or solid promises from presidential
candidates to us, thank them & continue to support them. Otherwise,
hold them accountable & stop supporting them!

Voice your support for or objection to this view at
http://www.80-20educationalfoundation.org/posterboard.html

Respectfully,

S. B. Woo
President, 80-20 Educational Foundation, Inc.