Noticed a news item about Julie Su, current Sec of Commerce. Got me thinking…
Chinese immigrants were slow to get into politics, but they’re definitely in the game now. Skimming through the list of cabinet secretaries in the 20th century, I see two or three Chinese or Korean names and a couple of Vietnamese names.
All major immigrant groups, plus the original natives, are well represented in recent decades. Who’s missing? Slavs. Russians and other Slavs have been a major immigrant group since 1900. No ski or vich or ov names in the cabinet, with exactly one exception. Abraham Ribicoff, from Polish parents.
It’s possible that some of the other Jews on the list were Russian, but all others have German names. In general, German Jews who came here were rich, while Slavic Jews who came here were poor. Status is innate and permanent.
Our national loves and hates are also permanent. We love countries that attack us (England, Germany, Japan, Saudi, China) and hate countries that don’t attack us, especially Russia.
Polistra's Mill 