Yukong Zhao
It has been a widely-held myth that ALL immigrants would support the Democratic Party because of its pro-immigration stance. Actually, this is a misperception far removed from the reality. On social media platforms such as Facebook, WeChat and Telegram, tens of thousands of legal immigrants nationwide have formed a plethora of groups to support President Trump and oppose a Biden/Harris Presidency. Based on my estimation, millions of legal immigrants in America want to see President Trump being reelected.
Why do so many legal immigrants like me support President Trump, and reject Biden/Harris Presidency?
First, the majority of legal immigrants do not support identity politics and the “racial struggle” promoted by the Democratic Party. Many of us have endured civil wars and class struggles instigated by communist agitators in our home countries. We have learned hard lessons from these radical ideologies. For example, after the Chinese dictator Mao Zedong took power in 1949, he put China through horrendous “class struggles” for three decades, killing millions of innocent people and driving the Chinese economy into the ground. Only after Deng Xiaoping put a stop to the “class struggle” and implemented Open & Reform, China has managed to develop its economy and improved the living standards of the Chinese people.
America cannot afford to engage in the divisive and destructive “racial struggle.” The racial achievement gap needs to get resolved peacefully through effective policy reforms from both parties, especially the Democratic Party which has failed miserably in engineering meaningful progress for black and Hispanic communities in the cities they run.
Second, too many legal immigrants are afraid of losing our political freedom under a possible Biden/Harris administration. When we immigrated to America, for the first time in our lives, we could enjoy the freedom of speech, and forego worries about political persecution for expressing our honest opinions.
Unfortunately, in recent years, with the acquiescence and even blessings from Democratic Party leaders such as Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the radical left has used political correctness and cancel culture to suppress conservative and any other different opinions. When people lose their jobs for what they say in private conversations, when Twitter and Facebook begin to impose censorship, we are once again reminded of the horrible experiences living in authoritarian regimes.
We know from our hearts: Once different viewpoints are purged, the one-party-rule authoritarian dictatorship will surely arrive. Abuse of unchecked power will soon follow. It is already happening in California. After the Democratic Party reached a super majority in the state legislature, left-leaning lawmakers have managed to pass laws such as ACA5 (now called Proposition 16) to bring back racial discriminate against Asian Americans, most of whom are legal immigrants.
Third, the majority of legal immigrants support law and order and reject the notion of defunding police. Without an orderly society, many nations in Central America, Africa and Asia are suffering terribly from social unrest and violence on a daily basis. During China’s Cultural Revolution, after the Red Guards disabled the law enforcement, millions of innocent people were subjugated to personal attacks and torture. Tens of thousands even lost their lives.
Fourth, most legal immigrants cherish the free market system and are terrified of socialism. Private ownership and free market competition are essential to motivate human beings to be productive and innovative. Socialism, the “noble” human experiment fabricated by Karl Marx, has failed terribly to improve the living standards for the poor. Instead, it has led to tens of millions of deaths and extreme poverty wherever it touches.
Although Joe Biden and Kamala Harris do not explicitly support the Cuban/Venezuelan style of socialism, the policies or social movements they support will surely take America in that direction. Political correctness/cancel culture, defunding police, and socialism are destroying America’s founding principles including the freedom of speech, rule of law, equal opportunity and free market system.
The worst nightmare to us would be: After escaping socialist, authoritarian or anarchistic regimes, we allow America to gradually deteriorate into the kind of nations we escaped from. That is the very reason why we have to organize, share with fellow Americans the invaluable lessons we learned, and forcefully oppose the Biden/Harris presidency.
(Note: Yukong Zhao is a nationally recognized Asian American community leader and civil rights advocate. He is the president and co-founder of Patriotic Legal Immigrants USA, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to defending America’s founding principles.)
Why So Many Legal Immigrants Reject A Biden/Harris Presidency?
