{"id":108230,"date":"2020-10-31T14:46:22","date_gmt":"2020-10-31T21:46:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=108230"},"modified":"2020-11-01T05:46:57","modified_gmt":"2020-11-01T12:46:57","slug":"presidential-election-2020-voting-decision-for-sri-lankan-americans-in-the-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/10\/31\/presidential-election-2020-voting-decision-for-sri-lankan-americans-in-the-usa\/","title":{"rendered":"Presidential Election 2020 &#8211; Voting decision for Sri Lankan Americans in the USA."},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>Anjalika Silva<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<p>With\na Sri Lankan American population in the United States now lingering between the\nthird and fourth generation, the time has come to face one of the most decisive\nelections experienced by native and naturalized citizens with voting rights in\nthe USA.&nbsp; The choices are easy and plain\nto those who follow the facts and closely examine priorities for the country\nand its people. &nbsp;Above all, we have a\nresponsibility to uphold higher values than what we have experienced in the\nlast four years.&nbsp; It is imperative to\npick the right reasons for making choices because this election is unique in\nthe use of twists in the truth, vindictive actions and false unproven\nallegations, personal financial motives, and plans to destroy democratic rights\nof the people that can take the country on a journey of no return. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fascism\nis staring in the face of the United States with the growing lean towards\ndictators, and the expanding empowerment of race based heavily armed white\nsupremacist militia dragging the country back to dark ages.&nbsp; Nothing said to the country can be withdrawn\nas sarcasm or jokes after it is spoken.&nbsp; &nbsp;Words are also to be spoken with\nresponsibility in public speeches spoken to the country.&nbsp; Their words translate to assumed approval of action\nwhether good or bad, whether it kills people in the process or incites\nviolence.&nbsp; The ultimate responsibility\nmust be with the leaders whose words incite.&nbsp;&nbsp;\nThe mantra of white supremacy is frighteningly Neo-Nazi type and\nendangers nonwhite minorities including immigrants like us.&nbsp; Even one life lost is one too many.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\nanti-immigrant sentiments are so strong that it seems like the established\npolicies to welcome diverse groups to the country &nbsp;with a welcome from the Statue of Liberty and,\naccountability to all international conventions are on the brink of being ignored.&nbsp; The FBI has warned that the greatest security\nthreat faced by the US is not from foreign terrorism but more from domestic\nterrorism that defy factual truths. The number of armed militia groups have\ngrown rapidly in the last four years.&nbsp;\nThey are free to carry assault weapons that belong in wars, in public\nplaces because Trump has the support of, and approval of the gun lobby.&nbsp; With elections, weapons have been banned at\npolling stations due to the fearful threats that have crept into politics.&nbsp; Weapons can be carried only by law enforcement.\nWe have yet to see what happens on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, a historic day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Priorities\nin a democracy is to evaluate whether the democracy is preserved by our voting\nchoices.&nbsp; Any country with democracy is\naware that democracies are hard fought.&nbsp; &nbsp;In doing so, one must examine the value of the\nability to vote and how it can be preserved for future generations. On top of\nthis basic value to be preserved is the peoples wishes and choices made for the\nbetter good of the country and its people who elect representatives to steer\nthe country in the right direction.&nbsp; The\nUnited States cannot survive with an isolationist policy that is the mantra\ntoday.&nbsp; We live in a global community\nthat requires participation of all countries. Biden advocates bringing back\nunity within the country and with international allies. This is in shreds in\nthese four years with citizens and allies in friendly nations worldwide no\nlonger able to look at the US as a beacon of hope and a leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Four\nyears of a Trump administration saw some destructive policies that do not sit\nwell with reasonable and intelligent voters.&nbsp;\nThe Trump base was supported mainly by non-college educated white men\nwho did not consider or understand important factors that played a part in the\nglobal standing of the United States. Understanding global interaction between\ncountries is beyond the understanding of some of the base that drove the agenda.\nPolicy decisions were made mostly by Twitter and with abuse of Executive orders.&nbsp; Basic needs of humans as citizens can be\nfunneled to include healthcare, education, jobs and equal racial status, equal\njustice.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With\nimmigrants like us, race relations are critical, and so are other basic values\ntied to administration determined policies.&nbsp;\nCurrently policy takes shape determined by future votes for re-election\nand not the needs of the nation. Encompassing all of this is respect for human\nlife and acceptance of all beings regardless of color, creed, national origin,\nor religion.&nbsp; With the Trump\nadministration, those of us who brought value with our choice to emigrate to\nthe US were dismissed with disparaging name calling.&nbsp; Our skin color was denigrated and what was\nnot visible in the form of our education and value was ignored.&nbsp; We were stereotyped and our homelands\ndisrespected using language not permitted in the public domain as s**t hole\ncountries. &nbsp;We came from countries that\ninvested in us and benefited the United States, but we were insulted as if it\nwas a one-way street scraping the bottom by immigration.&nbsp; America gained from us too.&nbsp; We the Sri Lankan American citizens bring\nsolid values and work ethic, education, assets and we abide by the law as a\ncommunity with exceptions of some violations of the Patriot Act by supporters\nof terror who were dealt with the law to some extent when criminal activities\nwere proven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\nchoice to support Biden is not because he is a Democrat alone.&nbsp; The basic choice of a leader for a country\nthat is a democracy is human decency. &nbsp;The US has lost its footing internally in\nterms of race relations and respect for the ordinary citizens who pay taxes and\nwork hard to keep the wheels turning.&nbsp; The\ntreatment of racial, economic, political, and other diverse groups with lack of\nrespect and decency has been the hallmark of the last four years.&nbsp; Speaking the truth, acknowledging education, knowledge,\nand expertise like world renowned scientists received arrogant egotistical\ninsults when they served humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Every\noccupation is a necessity whether it requires education or only skills and\ndesire to work.&nbsp; Healthcare is an issue\nthat has become the foundation on which fear has grown in the richest country\nin the world.&nbsp; With dismantling the\nObamacare that provided affordable healthcare to a third of the population that\nhad no healthcare, the battle for four years has been to remove Obamacare by\nusing the Supreme Court that is also politicized with the long term plan to\ndefer decisions against that of the people to the divided court.&nbsp; Favoring appointees who must pledge loyalty\nto the leader who put them there and not independent decisions guarantees a one-sided,\nself-driven agenda that moves away from a democracy to a dictatorship style.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\nvindictive threat of removal of healthcare from 20 million people is\npreposterous.&nbsp; Education and educated\nopinions have been dismissed in the last four years.&nbsp; With the Biden-Harris ticket, there are some\nrough edges that need to be worked on, but people live in hope that they will listen\nto the people\u2019s wishes and weigh decisions with input from those who bring\nknowledge and experience.&nbsp; One such area\nthat we must work on is a review of the Foreign Policy toward Sri Lanka that\nhas resulted incomplete knowledge that has not done justice to Sri Lanka.&nbsp; We must take responsibility for criticism\nover action that has resulted in less than favorable views except when firsthand\ninformation is shared by us.&nbsp; Work to be\ndone in this regard is staring in our faces and we must move forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Taxes\nare another issue.&nbsp; It is known that the\ntop 1% hold about 90% of the wealth in this country and they manipulate\nfinancial markets that almost throttled the small investor planning for\nretirement.&nbsp; They used to pay 28% in\ntaxes that the super-rich wanted reduced to 25%.&nbsp; Self-serving Trump reduced it further to 21%\ngiving them a 7% drop in 2017 serving himself and his wealthy friends, while he\nhad not paid taxes and cheated the country for 10-15 years.&nbsp; How can one respect this kind of individual\nto make serious decisions for We the people\u201d as stated in the Constitution of\nthe United States?&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This\ngap to give a 7% reduction in taxes was filled with deprivation of people like\nme by taking away tax deductions that ordinary middle class workers and\nretirees were able to claim at the end of a financial year in tax filings.&nbsp; This meant piling a further 7% taxes to be\npaid by working and retired middle class to bridge the gap.&nbsp; We felt duped to lose 7% of the tax\nexemptions we had prior to Trump.&nbsp; With\nBiden-Harris, he has recognized an immediate need to remedy the tax structure\nand restore healthcare. Biden has vowed to and will ensure that those earning\nwages higher than $400,000 pay their fair share. Biden will reduce the burden\non the middle and working class with tax reform that will make the rich pay a\nfair share.&nbsp; Prescription drugs have\nincreased 300% for some of us while the President claims he gave us the lowest\ndrug prices which is not the truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Covid\n19 has been the test for most American voters.&nbsp;\nThe callous politicizing a pandemic with selfish motives to use it for\nelection vote winning, misleading the masses and calling world renowned\nscientists and doctors idiots\u201d hit home to those of us who are educated in\nadvanced science and exposed to biotech environments in our careers.&nbsp; Biden understands the value of contribution\nfrom the experts who know more than a state leader.&nbsp; He respects science and we as citizens have\nthe confidence that when it comes to major issues he will respect the\ncollective opinion of experts and not be afraid to make unpopular decisions,\nenforce policies with explanations that citizens can trust.&nbsp; Bidens desire to encompass the input of\nexperts in all areas to get the best of the better brains is a sharp contrast\nto Trump who is poorly informed, hardly educated and had to pay someone to take\nhis college admission SAT tests.&nbsp; Respect\nmust be earned and not demanded.&nbsp; Biden\nserved one of the most popular Past Presidents, Barak Obama giving a sense of\nsecurity to people.&nbsp; His inability to\nfulfill some of his policies was due to partisan and deliberate blocking by an\nopposing Republican Senate that vowed to obstruct him even before he\nstarted.&nbsp; The falsehood about Obama\u2019s\nbirth on US soil was Trumps birtharism lies that took more energy away from\nproductive action with proof that was ignored to promote lies.&nbsp; Not only have we lost respect within the\ncountry, but the USA has also lost respect worldwide among leaders and even\nordinary citizens of other countries.&nbsp;\nBiden was Vice President of the country.&nbsp;\nHe knows the norms and the accepted conduct we expect from our\nleaders.&nbsp; He knows what is good for the\ncountry and people and will not be self-serving. His morality is above\nboard.&nbsp; He has lived by the laws of the\nland.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When\nimmigrants came to the USA, it was based on voluntary choice.&nbsp; We are Sri Lankan in origin and familiar with\nour democratic right to vote and make choices.&nbsp;\nAlthough many do not value what our home country provided with the\nfreedom to choose, the free education, free healthcare with built in choices\nthat are available according to affordability, it is comparable to the desires\nof Americans too.&nbsp; However, in the USA\neducation is not affordable, healthcare is unaffordable and until Obama stepped\nin, it was tied to the employer who had the choice to not offer health\ninsurance.&nbsp; The government took its share\nof taxes and social security but there were few guarantees of job security or protection\nfrom healthcare costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With\nBiden, he understands the basic needs of people.&nbsp; As a Sri Lankan American I feel very strongly\nabout the foreign policy toward Sri Lanka after ending the war on\nterrorism.&nbsp; There was not enough force to\nset the tone that Sri Lanka was victorious against the terrorists who were\nlabelled by the US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) as the most brutal of\nall terror groups.&nbsp; The Mackenzie\nInstitute of Canada in a study determined that Sri Lanka\u2019s terrorists stood\namong the top three most brutal in the world that included Al-Shabaab and\nHamas.&nbsp; Yet, the US took a hard line to\nmarch our trained military that lost 29,000 lives in uniform for Human Rights\nViolations.&nbsp; Having been vocal about this\ndiscrepancy needs more support from Sri Lanka.&nbsp;\nThe elimination of over 70,000 civilian lives of all races has only been\nportrayed in half truths.&nbsp; With a Biden\nadministration, Sri Lanka\u2019s foreign relations can be reviewed by educating a\nnew administration with truth and facts that give a balanced picture.&nbsp; It will not come by default.&nbsp; We, the voters of the American system must\nuse our avenues of input to follow up on requests to honor the independence to\ndefend our home country from the same terrorism that is on the radar of the US\ngovernment.&nbsp; Terrorism is terrorism.&nbsp; The tactics are the same.&nbsp; Only the cause\u201d varies and sometimes, with\ncloser look at the so-called cause, it is evident that the cause is only an\nexcuse that is hardly honored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With\na Biden-Harris administration, we as Sri Lankan Americans must do our part for\nthe bridge building between our countries.&nbsp;\nWhen we leave Sri Lanka and become citizens, we must not forget that it\nis not only the affluence and economic success that we enjoy.&nbsp; We must also remember that some of us brought\na high level of education, assets, and our values that we contribute to the\nAmerican System.&nbsp; We have added\nvalue.&nbsp; It is disheartening to note that\nsome Sri Lankan Americans look at the two countries and condemn Sri Lanka as\nall bad.&nbsp; Some Sri Lankans condemn the US\nas all bad.&nbsp; There is no such pure and clear-cut\nclassification.&nbsp; We the people of this\nworld have individual responsibility to contribute with a balance of good and\nbad for the better good of humanity that stretches beyond the labels by\ncountry, politics, race, religion, and economic standing.&nbsp; The world of humans must be built on values\ngood for humanity and not personal gain.&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In\nthis decisive time of the US Presidential elections referred to as the most\nimportant in history, each of us bear responsibility to make the world work and\ndrive it in the right direction.&nbsp; It\ntakes effort beyond words and contempt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Anjalika Silva With a Sri Lankan American population in the United States now lingering between the third and fourth generation, the time has come to face one of the most decisive elections experienced by native and naturalized citizens with voting rights in the USA.&nbsp; The choices are easy and plain to those who follow the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[167,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108230\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}