How one minority became the rising stars of politics

Indian Americans are the second-largest immigrant group in the United States. They're also one of the most successful. That includes the election campaign; Kamala Harris, Usha Vance, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy. Freddy Gray is joined by Shruti Rajagopalan, economist at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. They discuss the buzz around Indian Americans in politics, and ask why they're so disproportionately successful.

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[thomasthomasphilp]

Indians, Chinese and Non Muslim Asians focus on education and success.

[msriram]

Kamala was raised by a Tamil Hindu mother from an orthodox family. She has retained virtually none of her Tamil Hindu culture that her ancestors practiced. Her rise has nothing to do with being Indian but more about personal opportunism. Vivek also of Tamil Hindu background is a better example of being an American but not abandoning his Hindu roots.

[rchavali]

This lady forgets Indian parents starve to give their kids education. Guess she is still is living the privileged life.

[Salma]

Omg the caste system again? Research has shown that Hindus migrated at much lower rates than other Indian groups. Indian Christians even had their immigration process streamlined by churches. Same for Indian Muslims.

Why ignore that it's Hindus from India that do well across the world. It's Hindu values through and through

[ramakarupaiah]

Pls understand that caste has no effect in indian hindu performance in usa
However a lot of indian Christians were given entry into and scholarships in us university bcos of their religion

[amitshelat]

Interviewer doesn’t know anything about new India. Narendra Modi comes from a lower caste, still he became a prime minister for the third time

[kategrant]

This lady should stop using the word CASTE

[boomamaheswaran]

OMG!! This lady brings out the caste system again!! Such nonsense!! Whoever came to the US, UK etc are people who work very hard and bring with them good values and ethics with them..

[nnbg]

Kamala Harris has nothing Indian about her. I say that as an Indian origin person.

[thefirstShreyas]

Clarifications. Caste is an European concept. The Indian traditional society prior to Islamic invasion had economically mobile castes. People like doctors priests teachers philosophers... Anything that need deep knowledge were brahmins. But in Indian society the brahmins had no land or wealth, but were supported by the ruling class, kshatriya. This ruling class was rich and powerful and engaged in protecting society from invaders. In contrast were the vaishyas who too were rich and powerful based on size of their business enterprise, but they did it for the self and not for the sale of society as the kshatriya did. Lastly the shudras did the work that didn't require intellect or motivation. People who took a paycheck to get the bare minimum done. Correspondingly they were neither rich wealthy nor landed. In each lineage you could have all four castes and in a lifetime you could change your caste. Example you're a politician, a ruling class member, but hit bad luck and now drive a taxi. Or the discoverer of GFP did a PhD and was a brahmin, but drives a taxi today, becoming a vaishyas or shudras.

Long explanation because the concept is misunderstood.

Understandably a rich powerful person does not want their son or daughter marrying someone who doesn't know how to handle wealth or who will bring infamy. So endogamy occurred, but was not a rule. Consequently, if you were in the lowest caste you had less opportunity and likelihood of socio economic mobility.

Finally, post British the people who were and are still most adept and studying and learning, learned English and got economically better. The lowest castes lost further opportunities.

Modern economy combined with breakdown of the Hindu economy since the start of invasions means the caste system still works and is practiced exactly how it is practiced in the West, ie rich tend to marry rich, middle class terms to marry middle class, poor tend to marry poor, with exceptions.

So Indians who migrated out of India were already in the middle class but more highly qualified than American counterparts. They could therefore in a generation become a power group in the US. In contrast the poorer Indians migrate to the middle east and become indentured workers.

Summary: invoking caste in this discussion with defining it and it's background will confuse the non Hindu non Indian Americans.

[knaraya]

I am one of those Indians who moved to the USA in 1975 to pursue advanced degrees in Engineering. I was fortunate to be educated in English, and get selected into IIT, with an opportunity to excel in tennis as well. Many folks think that I was privileged due to my caste. This is actually incorrect. My parents were very poor Brahmins who succeeded in India because of sheer merit, but suffered discrimination precisely because they were Brahmins and my father was repeatedly denied promotions because he was considered upper caste ( a kind of reverse discrimination as it were). I graduated from IIT, completed my post-graduate studies in the US and achieved a moderate success in the US through my merit and became a US Citizen. My wife and children achieved success in their careers entirely due to their merit and we were never granted any favors in the US, in sharp contrast to illegals in the US who now get handouts of various kinds.

[rationalthinker]

Post cast based reservations in India, Brahmins were targeted, marginalized, hounded and their knowledge wasn’t valued in India !! So they moved wherever their knowledge valued !!

[manivannanchokkalingam]

hindu 🕉 indians value education over wealth accumulation, it is a cultural thing & ancient genes

[Solar]

its NOT Indian Americans, it is Hindu Americans.

[ColoGamerpro]

I hope we all know that it doesn't matter who is in the 'top job' because this is a systemic problem -- greed. We have allowed many of our economic sectors, to take advantage of the American people. It's disgusting and frightening for the future of our country. My wife and I will be retiring in the next two years n another country.
We are absolutely worried that SSI will no longer be funded. we'll have to rely on his pension, a 403 (b) and a very prolific Investment account with my Stephanie Janis Stiefel my FA. Our national debt is bloating and expanding every month. Our government needs to get spending under control and cut the federal budget.

[woofwoof]

Education is Elite ! Most of British era Elites she describes were Clerks.

[RameshKilaru]

Caste has nothing to do with coming up and migrating to US. Not sure why this speaker is bringing this up.

[milliesinha]

Loved the discussion. I agree with her 100%. Hope Donald trump wins. As an Indian American also a die hard democrat for decades, I have no choice but to discard the party for its useless and harmful immigration policies and ultra liberal focus on unimportant social issues.

[anitaroy]

Ms. Harris has not identified with her Indian heritage until votes were needed. She has developed her career as "Black woman".

[ryanthyag]

I think Hindus are successful due to discipline and priority of their family values