Many Russian immigrants to the "red borough" of Staten Island are flocking to the Republican Party, saying that the national Democrats' "socialistic" policies remind them too much of the top-down oligarchy they fled in their native land.
"We decided we had to support this (Republican)club," said Businessman Arkadiy Fridman, a former Soviet Army officer who came to the United States in 1992. "They are very close to our political and business vision."
In the wake of the national GOP's big wins this year, when the party took back control of the House, Republicans everywhere are more confident that their bedrock message of smaller government and lower taxes will resonate with American voters.
Fridman said that the Democrats "are going in an absolutely different direction," focusing on "income redistribution" and rich-versus-poor "class war."
"It's too socialistic," said Fridman, head of the non-profit Staten Island Community Center and president of Citizens Magazine, a public affairs publication. "It's very painful for us to see."
It still remains to be seen whether the new crop of Republicans in the Congress will live up to the lofty standards they set for themselves at the election. I will remain optimistic, but will be watching them closely.
ReplyDeleteSomething I wrote back in August as to a close friend of mine and on this very subject.
ReplyDelete"A good friend of mine here in Vegas is from the old Soviet Union. He was lucky to get out years ago and loves his new country dearly. When we talk about this, he always asks the same thing. “Can’t we as a country see what we are doing to ourselves? Can’t we learn from past history? Could it be that we as a country now do not believe in our own principles?
He asks this and states as follows. “I lived the horror in Russia. I’ve seen what Marxist Socialism can do to a people. I have seen it rob the will to succeed and in fact the will to live! When I lived there, the U.S. was the beacon of hope. Now, I fear that the “I wants” of our country have lost track of that.”
He went on to say that the leadership he is witnessing now is every bit as deplorable as where he came from. He sees the beginning of the same lies, the same anti-free speech rhetoric and the same despite for free will now, in this country, as he did then. Funny, isn’t it? A lecture from someone from another country who loves our country more then her native born citizens! In all reality, it’s a harsh indictment on this Anti-American administration and it’s sheer ignorance of our basic principles.