The GOP: Not a Club for Christians - Jonah Goldberg - National Review Online

(Jonah Goldberg)

(NRO) In the scramble to make the GOP more diverse, a lot of people are looking at Asian Americans, who many believe are a natural constituency for the party. I would love it if Asian Americans converted en masse to the Republican party, but the challenge for Republicans is harder than many appreciate.

President Obama did spectacularly well with Asian Americans, garnering nearly three-quarters of their vote. This runs counter to a lot of conventional wisdom on both the left and the right. On average, family income is higher and poverty is lower among Asian Americans than among non-Latino whites. Entrepreneurship, family cohesion, and traditional values all run strong among Asian Americans, and reliance on government runs weak.
And yet Asian Americans — now the fastest-growing minority in America — are rapidly becoming a core constituency of the Democratic party.
I’ve joked for years with my Indian-American relatives and friends that they are the new Jews because their parents bury them in guilt and overeducate them. It turns out it doesn’t end there. Sociologist Milton Himmelfarb observed that “Jews earn like Episcopalians and vote like Puerto Ricans.” Well, Indian Americans earn like Jews and vote like Jews.
And maybe for similar reasons. The comparison to Jews is instructive. Perhaps the most common explanation for the GOP’s problem with Asian Americans is the party’s pronounced embrace of Christianity, which turns off many Jews as well.
According to Pew studies, barely a third of Chinese Americans are Christian, and less than a fifth of Indian Americans are.
“Whenever a Gujarati or Sikh businessman comes to a Republican event, it begins with an appeal to Jesus Christ,” conservative writer Dinesh D’Souza recently told The New York Times Magazine. “While the Democrats are really good at making the outsider feel at home, the Republicans make little or no effort.”
My friend and colleague Ramesh Ponnuru, an Indian American and devout Catholic, says the GOP has a problem with seeming like a “club for Christians.”
That rings true to me. I’ve attended dozens of conservative events where, as the speaker, I was, in effect, the guest of honor, and yet the opening invocation made no account of the fact that the guest of honor wasn’t a Christian. I’ve never taken offense, but I can imagine how it might seem to someone who felt like he was even less a part of the club.
A few years ago, Robert Putnam, a liberal sociologist, reported this finding: As racial and ethnic diversity increases, social trust and cohesion plummets. “Trust (even of one’s own race) is lower, altruism and community cooperation rarer, friends fewer,” Putnam found. “People living in ethnically diverse settings appear to ‘hunker down’ — that is, to pull in like a turtle.”
The villain isn’t racism or bigotry or anything so simple. The phenomenon is much more complex. Indeed, it’s not clear why this happens, but it’s clear that it does. Economic inequality and cultural attitudes do not matter much. “Americans raised in the 1970s,” Putnam writes, “seem fully as unnerved by diversity as those raised in the 1920s.”
Part of the explanation stems from the fact that people with shared experiences and cultures draw strength from working together, whereas with strangers, language often becomes guarded, intentions questioned.
The GOP is not a Christian club, but there’s no disputing that Christianity is a major source of strength and inspiration for many Republican activists. This is nothing new and, generally speaking, there’s nothing wrong with this. The abolitionist, progressive, and civil-rights movements were all significantly powered by Christian faith.
As someone who’s long argued for theological pluralism and moral consensus on the right, I think it’s nuts for the GOP not to do better with Asian Americans, particularly given how little religion has to do with the policy priorities of the day.
Twenty years ago, conservatives started referring to Judeo-Christian values in an effort to be more inclusive. The challenge now is to figure out how to talk in a way that doesn’t cause decent and dedicated Christians to pull in like a turtle, while also appealing to non-Judeo-Christians and the nonreligious. That’ll be hard, requiring more than name-dropping Confucius or Krishna.
— Jonah Goldberg is editor-at-large of National Review Online and a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. You can write to him by e-mail at JonahsColumn@aol.com, or via Twitter @JonahNRO. © 2012 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

Top All-Time Donors, 1989-2012 | OpenSecrets

LEGEND:   Republican    Democrat    On the fence
	= Between 40% and 59% to both parties = Leans Dem/Repub (60%-69%) = Strongly Dem/Repub (70%-89%) = Solidly Dem/Repub (over 90%)

Rank	Organization	Total '89-'12	Dem %	Repub %	Tilt
1	ActBlue	$62,816,969	99%	0%
2	AT&T Inc	$48,860,161	43%	55%
3	American Fedn of State, County & Municipal Employees	$47,977,038	92%	1%
4	National Assn of Realtors	$41,882,616	47%	49%
5	National Education Assn	$41,412,233	74%	5%
6	Goldman Sachs	$38,332,420	58%	39%
7	Service Employees International Union	$38,237,146	75%	2%
8	American Assn for Justice	$35,844,429	88%	8%
9	Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers	$35,233,775	96%	2%
10	American Federation of Teachers	$33,615,766	87%	0%
11	Laborers Union	$32,890,940	87%	7%
12	Teamsters Union	$32,547,028	87%	5%
13	Carpenters & Joiners Union	$31,603,758	86%	10%
14	Communications Workers of America	$31,415,947	92%	0%
15	Citigroup Inc	$29,470,275	49%	49%
16	American Medical Assn	$28,017,311	40%	59%
17	United Food & Commercial Workers Union	$27,986,755	92%	0%
18	United Auto Workers	$27,928,282	98%	0%
19	National Auto Dealers Assn	$27,680,508	32%	67%
20	Machinists & Aerospace Workers Union	$27,579,727	98%	1%
21	United Parcel Service	$26,539,008	36%	63%
22	Altria Group	$25,871,832	27%	72%
23	American Bankers Assn	$25,597,590	38%	60%
24	EMILY's List	$25,253,931	98%	0%
25	National Beer Wholesalers Assn	$24,890,795	34%	65%
26	JPMorgan Chase & Co	$24,469,931	50%	49%
27	National Assn of Home Builders	$24,000,105	35%	64%
28	Microsoft Corp	$23,944,597	54%	44%
29	National Assn of Letter Carriers	$23,702,584	82%	9%
30	AFL-CIO	$22,274,050	82%	4%
31	Morgan Stanley	$22,259,476	44%	54%
32	Lockheed Martin	$22,003,634	42%	56%
33	Blue Cross/Blue Shield	$21,945,254	37%	62%
34	Time Warner	$21,856,943	72%	26%
35	General Electric	$21,309,873	50%	49%
36	Verizon Communications	$21,156,386	41%	58%
37	Bank of America	$20,959,723	44%	55%
38	Credit Union National Assn	$20,504,056	48%	51%
39	FedEx Corp	$19,915,059	40%	59%
40	Sheet Metal Workers Union	$19,677,520	95%	2%
41	Ernst & Young	$19,429,335	44%	55%
42	Deloitte LLP	$19,308,403	35%	64%
43	International Assn of Fire Fighters	$19,164,293	78%	16%
44	Plumbers & Pipefitters Union	$19,050,106	94%	5%
45	National Rifle Assn	$18,838,064	17%	82%
46	American Hospital Assn	$18,554,684	53%	46%
47	American Dental Assn	$18,418,536	45%	53%
48	PricewaterhouseCoopers	$18,311,909	36%	63%
49	Operating Engineers Union	$18,133,174	84%	14%
50	UBS AG	$18,008,348	40%	58%
51	Boeing Co	$17,427,765	46%	52%
52	Air Line Pilots Assn	$17,276,347	83%	15%
53	AFLAC Inc	$16,853,134	44%	55%
54	Natl Assn/Insurance & Financial Advisors	$16,721,024	42%	57%
55	Pfizer Inc	$16,136,118	32%	66%
56	Union Pacific Corp	$15,709,915	25%	74%
57	United Transportation Union	$15,266,460	88%	11%
58	Ironworkers Union	$15,217,474	92%	6%
59	United Steelworkers	$15,128,396	99%	0%
60	Northrop Grumman	$15,058,277	43%	56%
61	Comcast Corp	$14,529,430	57%	42%
62	Credit Suisse Group	$14,500,455	43%	55%
63	Merrill Lynch	$14,496,422	37%	61%
64	National Rural Electric Cooperative Assn	$14,195,321	50%	49%
65	American Postal Workers Union	$14,137,823	95%	3%
66	Club for Growth	$13,945,389	0%	90%
67	Reynolds American	$13,916,753	24%	75%
68	American Institute of CPAs	$13,912,544	42%	57%
69	Anheuser-Busch	$13,656,661	48%	51%
70	General Dynamics	$13,655,151	47%	52%
71	BellSouth Corp	$13,015,350	45%	54%
72	Honeywell International	$12,957,488	45%	54%
73	Exxon Mobil	$12,912,309	13%	86%
74	American Financial Group	$12,845,192	17%	79%
75	National Air Traffic Controllers Assn	$12,793,108	78%	20%
76	DLA Piper	$12,742,738	68%	30%
77	Koch Industries	$12,733,249	9%	90%
78	Raytheon Co	$12,477,116	46%	53%
79	Walt Disney Co	$12,387,688	68%	30%
80	KPMG LLP	$12,272,645	34%	65%
81	News Corp	$12,126,304	58%	41%
82	Chevron	$12,094,048	23%	75%
83	GlaxoSmithKline	$11,949,051	30%	69%
84	New York Life Insurance	$11,928,495	51%	48%
85	Natl Active & Retired Fed Employees Assn	$11,421,000	77%	22%
86	Newsweb Corp	$11,265,071	88%	0%
87	American Crystal Sugar	$11,162,739	61%	38%
88	Wal-Mart Stores	$11,035,658	29%	70%
89	Prudential Financial	$11,013,872	50%	49%
90	American Health Care Assn	$11,001,024	51%	47%
91	Associated Builders & Contractors	$10,942,457	1%	98%
92	Human Rights Campaign	$10,923,766	90%	8%
93	National Restaurant Assn	$10,916,545	16%	82%
94	CSX Corp	$10,753,392	34%	65%
95	American Society of Anesthesiologists	$10,730,437	42%	57%
96	Southern Co	$10,729,229	31%	68%
97	Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance	$10,622,358	39%	60%
98	American Academy of Ophthalmology	$10,509,158	51%	47%
99	MetLife Inc	$10,494,150	54%	45%
100	Indep Insurance Agents & Brokers/America	$10,485,525	39%	60%
101	Saban Capital Group	$10,329,849	99%	0%
102	Associated General Contractors	$10,246,039	14%	84%
103	Eli Lilly & Co	$10,102,026	31%	68%
104	General Motors	$10,084,846	39%	60%
105	MBNA Corp	$10,074,056	17%	82%
106	American Optometric Assn	$10,048,934	58%	40%
107	AIG	$10,028,686	49%	49%
108	National Cmte to Preserve Social Security & Medicare	$9,978,858	81%	18%
109	UST Inc	$9,966,011	21%	78%
110	Securities Industry & Financial Mkt Assn	$9,943,712	44%	55%
111	Freddie Mac	$9,852,850	43%	56%
112	Lehman Brothers	$9,764,341	52%	46%
113	American Maritime Officers	$9,704,231	46%	52%
114	Skadden, Arps et al	$9,433,800	77%	21%
115	Amway/Alticor Inc	$9,246,800	0%	99%
116	Painters & Allied Trades Union	$9,232,945	87%	11%
117	Transport Workers Union	$9,142,649	95%	4%
118	National Assn of Broadcasters	$9,130,796	45%	54%
119	Seafarers International Union	$9,098,465	84%	15%
120	American Airlines	$9,044,045	46%	53%
121	Ford Motor Co	$9,031,268	38%	61%
122	Archer Daniels Midland	$8,946,349	42%	57%
123	National Fedn of Independent Business	$8,838,182	6%	92%
124	National Cmte for an Effective Congress	$8,707,940	99%	0%
125	Fannie Mae	$8,445,831	54%	45%
126	Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp	$8,384,035	31%	68%
127	American Council of Life Insurers	$8,227,335	38%	61%
128	Amalgamated Transit Union	$8,176,618	93%	6%
129	Wachovia Corp	$8,174,130	31%	68%
130	American Trucking Assns	$8,140,790	28%	71%
131	MCI Inc	$8,120,072	46%	53%
132	Aircraft Owners & Pilots Assn	$7,945,766	45%	54%
133	Marine Engineers Beneficial Assn	$7,759,778	74%	25%
134	Bristol-Myers Squibb	$7,504,149	22%	76%
135	Bear Stearns	$7,337,732	54%	43%
136	MGM Resorts International	$6,807,912	46%	49%
137	Enron Corp	$6,577,935	28%	71%
138	BP	$6,362,811	29%	70%
139	Andersen	$6,349,052	37%	62%
140	Vivendi	$5,203,118	68%	31%

Based on data released by the FEC on April 25, 2011.

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