Indian Americans have never been interested in watching Fox & Fox really has never been interested in reaching out to minorities like Indian Americans. The Fox viewer base is just too big to approach with a narrow message. To us, the secret is being Americans first and focus on core American issues that resonate with core America. Frankly, we have not seen any prominent Indian American do that on TV.
Until now. What we saw this week was, we felt, uniquely positive. Watch Laura Ingraham speak with Vivek Ramaswamy on the Ingraham angle. Watch it and you will see how effortlessly their core American-ness washed away his & her racial & societal identities. It was two patriotic & committed Americans speaking to each other in a common mission to unite & move America forward to the essence of America’s Founding Fathers.
In doing so, they focused on making their core American tent bigger, fairer and using that breadth to regain America’s promise. And the opportunity is now. There is a large group of young Americans becoming or getting closer to being adults. Not merely in age but in their drive to making money, building a family down the road. This is a larger wave out there than the one propelled President Reagan to win the White House. That Reagan wave became a confident, patriotic, prosperity-building wave that washed away the malaise of the 1970s. Today’s larger wave can lead us higher & broader to a Confident & Prosperous America consistent with the values given to us by the Founding Fathers.
Watch the clip below and check if you see what we saw & heard.
When did you see Laura so happy? And that is a big deal. During the last two elections, we heard her talk about the Suburban women, a huge factor in a presidential election. She knew instinctively & with her experience that Vivek Ramaswamy would be accepted by that class (that we know nothing about, we might add). She saw that Vivek Ramaswamy will bring a wave of young Americans to the Republican Party who want a fair & equal chance of succeeding in America, the way Founding Fathers promised in 1776.
Check out the comments on the clips of his TV appearances. You will notice many suggesting that Vivek would be their choice if, for some reason, Donald Trump did not run. A huge compliment we think to the Core-American Vivek Ramaswamy. Nothing narrow or local in him like the New Jersey Christie, the limited breadth of Mike Pence, the labored & prepared speeches of mainly Ukraine-focused Nicki Haley.
We also think his campaign got a good & lucky break this week. Ms. Abby Johnson passionately exhorted a large group of attendees to not be fooled. But before she said that, look how she described Vivek Ramaswamy in her clip:
- “… there is a man who is gaining traction right now; he speaks well, he is charismatic; he says the right things; he says so many right things that sometimes I am like may be he is the right guy …. you know what? who he reminds me of sometimes? Barak Obama because he is charismatic; he says all the right things; “
How many political candidates in America can be thought of as the right alternative to Donald Trump by Trump voters and simultaneously remind others of Barak Obama? Only charismatic & truth-speaking Vivek Ramaswamy. He can put across what America needs to become again – a place where every one has an equal chance of success if they hone their talents & work hard to get to where they want to get to.
- Then Ms. Johnson expressed her fears and warned her audience to “not be a victim of Satan’s confusion right now; …. God hates those who are willing to put up idols over him and he will not be mocked“.
First & foremost, Ms. Johnson has absolutely every right to say what she did and she was sincere in what she felt & said. Watch the clip & you will see Ms. Johnson was genuinely troubled because she felt what she had heard about “Hindu” philosophy was in conflict with her religious convictions. There will be hundreds of thousands of people who might have similar fears & that is a human reality.
We think Ms. Johnson did Mr. Ramaswamy a big favor by expressing her religious fears in her calm but troubled manner. We think it is highly likely that one or more candidates that have fallen behind him would attack him for his “Hindu” religion in far more graphic & angry terms. It is something he would have to deal with as Candidate Obama did 16 years ago. And he will do so very effectively, we think, and these attacks would actually add to his positive image.
Actually that is already proving out. Watch & listen to a real question asked of him about his faith by a lady and his answer in the clip below:
- 00:35 -“As a Hindu, could you please share your faith about God & what you think of his son Jesus Christ?“
- The answer is succinct, utterly truthful. He points out that the central thesis of Hinduism says that there is One True God (Creator) that resides in all of us. His answer also shows his knowledge of Christianity he acquired as a student in a Catholic School and how that is consistent with his faith.
- He sums it up by saying “I am not running to be Pastor-In-Chief; I am running to be Commander-In-Chief ; its a different role and for that role, we share the same values.”
- 02:58 – The lady says in response – “I am very impressed with you because I think you act more Christian than most Christians do“.
Look at the viewer responses to the clip above especially the one below:
- @aaronknight1009 – Vivek is like a perfect blend of Reagan and Obama, both an amazing uniting intellect and outstanding communicator, the country needs a leader like Vivek. #Vivek2024
Are you surprised now to hear that Vivek Ramaswamy SURPASSES DeSantis For 2nd Place In Prediction Market, Trump Fans SUPPORT Vivek ?. The clip is a freewheeling conversation about the issues that 2 young men & one young woman think are relevant to the election & why support for Vivek Ramaswamy is growing.
Hearing about Candidate Obama reminded us that African Americans were not the first ones to jump to his campaign. Candidate Obama’s early success was driven by a broad cross section of Americans who liked what he said & wanted to vote for him. As we recall, support of African Americans began increasing as his campaign became successful and finally we all saw a wave of African American support for Mr. Obama.
We expect a similar trajectory for the Vivek Ramaswamy campaign. From what we saw, there was lukewarm support for his campaign among Indian Americans who tend to vote more for Democrat candidates. But as he is rising in stature as a viable Presidential candidate, his support among Indian Americans is rising. And if he actually becomes a candidate, we expect his support among Indian Americans to explode. And that will be a sizable advantage to both him and to the Republican party. In case you have forgotten, it was the Indian American vote that led to Democrat victories in the Georgia Senate runoff.
Editor’s PS:
- Now that the topic of “idols” has to come up, it is critical to understand that the concept of “idol” and that term is NOT “Hindu” at all. It is a British & European term that was thrust by the British upon Hindus. And Hindus don’t have multiple distinct Gods as is commonly believed. Actually the name Hindu is itself an Iranian-Arabic term and not Indian.
- The Foundational Texts are crystal clear that the Creator or Param-Ishvar is One and humans cannot see, cannot hear the Creator & cannot even hope to understand the Creator in full. Knowledge of him is not important but surrender to him with humility & devotion is the ONLY way for a devotee to reach the Creator. The Creator can then reveal a shape, color to the devotees in the manner in which they perceive the Creator. And that is the way the devotees can view a tangible view of the Creator.
- The shape & visual attributes of each such revelation is termed as a Murthy or Moorthy – a tangible representation of the Creator. No Indian language ever uses the term “idol” because that would be sacrilegious. Each edifice, painting, sculpture you see in temples is a Murthy, a tangible representation of how the devotees of that temple perceive the Creator. In other words, there is ONLY ONE Creator/God that different devotees perceive in different ways with different properties.
- A request – Unless you wish to deliberately insult or humiliate the Sindhu Dharma, kindly STOP using the insulting, actually disgusting, term Idol.
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