Am. CEOs always knew it's unfair to YOU

Some Asian Am. were surprised to realize, after reading 80-20's Washington Post ad, that
"Asian Americans have the least opportunity to enter management and the slowest rate of progress towards equal employment opportunity, despite having the highest educational attainment."

After realizing those facts, they think: "Glad that 80-20 dug up the data and publicized them. When my CEO finds out about it, he/she will, out of a sense of fairness or outrage, be acting to correct it. My career future is now looking brighter."

Unfortunately, wrong!

The American CEOs knew such statistics LONG BEFORE 80-20 dug them up. They were well aware that "Asian Americans have only 1/2 the average chance in private industries to rise to the management, 40% the chance in the universities and 1/3 the chance in Federal government." Their "Human Resources Managers" kept them well informed of such national averages. The companies/universities simply follow the national averages in order to be "out of the trouble with EEOC."

How did I know about this situation? When I was a trustee at the Univ. of Delaware I called for such statistics and were so surprised to find that the U. of D's averages, broken down to races, tracked exactly the national averages. The same was true in almost all American institutions as 80-20 supporters began looking into the situation in their own places of employment, after reading 80-20's Washington Post ad.

Hence, if you ask for such data in YOUR company, if shown, the data will be right at the national averages shown in 80-20's Washington Post's ad below.

The very low glass ceiling over Asian Ams was NOT an accident. It was carefully managed by American institutions to be that way. YOU will continue to face the lowest glass ceiling, unless the national political system demands a change to equity as it did for women, Hispanics and blacks.

When your superior heap praises on you, there could be a knowing smirk in his head that says, "This guy may be competent in his job but he is politically ignorant and too timid to ever make waves."

Object lesson? Don't ever rely on others' sense of fairness or outrage to help you out. Rely on your own sense of fairness and outrage to demand equal treatment through the political process that this presidential election is all about.

All earlier generations of American immigrants, be they Irish, Polish, Italians, Jewish, and Hispanics, used the political process to gain equal treatment. Asian Ams are no different. None of us, as an individual, is powerful enough to cause that change. But united as a group, acting during the presidential election, we do have that power.

Don't bury your head in the sand. Face the irrefutable statistics shown below. Think about your children's future and act!

View the full-page Washington Post ad at
http://www.80-20educationalfoundation.org/projects/equalopp_washingtonpost_wpad.asp

Respectfully yours.

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

July 4th and Patriotism‏

On July 4th, we celebrate the blessings of liberty which we enjoy as Americans. Let's all display a flag, shall we?

Patriotism is "love and devotion to country. The questions are how we love it and how we express our devotion."

There is a great article in Time magazine by Peter Beinart on patriotism (July 7 issue). I can't do it justice by summarizing it. Nevertheless, I'll try with the aim to entice you to read the article itself. He wrote and I paraphrase liberally:

American patriotism wears two faces. Conservatives prefer the patriotism of affirmation. Liberals choose the patriotism of dissent. Conservatives think that being born into a nation is like being born into family. You love it because it is yours. Liberals think patriotism is a struggle to narrow the gap between American ideals and America's reality. To conservatives, the devotion to America must come first, struggle to improve it is secondary. To liberals, America must earn our devotion by making good on its ideals.

Both brands of patriotism have defects. Celebrating America too unabashedly risks becoming self-righteous and turn patriotism into nationalism. However, loving America purely because of its ideals could lead to switching allegiance to other nations too easily.

America needs a mixture of both brands, because love of country requires both affirmation and criticism.

Many Asian Americans are personal embodiments of this ideal mix. We give America our primary allegiance*. At the same time, we are engaged in a great struggle prodding America to fulfill its core value -- equal opportunity for all Americans.

Please display a flag. July 4th is affirmation time.
Comments are welcome at http://www.80-20educationalfoundation.org/politicaledu/posterboard.asp

Warmest regards,

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

* What if a naturalized citizen still has strong feelings for his/her old country? That is quite OK, so long as he/she gives first allegiance to America. America is a great and wise nation. It knows that people who can forget their old country over one naturalization ceremony could easily forget America the next moment.

Asian versus Am. View regarding Politics -- easy quizzes

Do you hold an Asian or American view regarding politics?
Take 4 easy quizzes.

1) What a presidential election is about:
Asian View: To vote for the best candidate according to national interest, although what national interest is could vary widely according to individuals.
Am. View: To maximize one's own self interest or enlightened self interest.

2) Standard for judging if Affirmative Action (AA) is good/bad?
Asian View: The standard is whether AA serves the national interest, although what national interest is may vary widely from "need to correct historic wrongs" to "meritocracy is supreme." Am View: what is best for one's own self interest or enlightened self interest.


Digression

Question: If the above representation of the American view regarding politics is correct, how could the US survive if most Americans are for their self interest, enlightened or otherwise?

Answer: America applies the principle of market economy to politics. That is, let every individual/group/community maximize his/her/its own interest. The struggle between different interests will create the "checks and balances" which shall serve as the "invisible hand" guiding the conflicting interests towards the the best interest of the nation.

Question: Is there evidence that American politics is centered upon "self interest comes first"?

Evidence: When obsolete military bases are to be closed to eliminate waste, every senator/congressman will state: "Obsolete military bases should be closed, but not the ones in my state/district, because they are still serving vital functions." Why? Because in American politics, one is expected to take care of self-interest first.

Question: Any evidence that educated Americans hold the same belief?

Evidence: President John Adams said, "It is not true, in fact, that any people ever existed who love the public better than themselves." President John F. Kennedy referring to the heroes in his book "Profiles in Courage" wrote, "not because they 'loved the public better than themselves.' (but) because they did love themselves -- because each one's need to maintain his own respect for himself was more important to him than (a list of other needs)."


3) View towards a political action committee e.g. 80-20 PAC:
Asian View: 80-20 seems politically effective in fighting for the rightful concerns of the Asian Amercian community, but 80-20's approach to politics is so different from the politics practiced in Asia.
Am. View: How can a small minority of recent immigrants like the Asian Am community not have at least one organization like 80-20? How else is the smallest immigrant minority to defend its rights in the rough and tumble world of politics?

4) Attitude towards High Officials:
Asian View: High officials are like parents to whom we should respect & devote. Many Asians subconsciously expect high officials to whom they've donated generously to "take care" of them when they are in real need. They expect the officials (acting as parents) to come to their aid (suffering as children in need). Is such an expectation realistic? Not in America!
Am View: Officials, high or low in ranking, are public servants who are subject to reward or punishment by American citizens who are the bosses. They expect law to be applied equally.

Concluson: While being proud of our Asian heritage, when it come to politics, do as Americans do.

For feedback, visit http://www.80-20educationalfoundation.org/politicaledu/posterboard.asp

Warmest regards,

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

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.

- - - - - - - --

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!