ETHNO-POLITICAL LOBBYING ANTI-AMERICAN
by Joe Trovato

UW Badger Herald, WI
litical_lobby.php
Oct 24 2007

Ethno-political interest groups have long been a part of
American politics, and their lobbying efforts have often forced
self-interested legislation with no regard for the overall good of
the country. Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi gave into
such political lobbying efforts last week when she threw her support
behind a House resolution aimed at labeling the deaths of Armenians
a century ago at the hands of the Ottoman Empire as genocide.

Of course this lobbying goes beyond party lines, and all parties
are equally guilty of playing this game. Unfortunately, these
ethno-political interest groups have woven themselves seamlessly into
American political culture. Is it not time to move beyond this? When
will Americans simply be "Americans"? When will we stop referring to
ourselves as African-Americans, Mexican-Americans, Italian-Americans,
German-Americans, Armenian-Americans and so on? It is time that we,
as Americans, stand and say that we are Americans, one distinct group
unto ourselves. These quasi-ethnic classifications just breed animosity
and unnecessary division. All they do is reinforce differences between
our fellow countrymen and put up walls that build stereotypes and
lack of trust between ethnicities.

Very few of us who claim this hyphenated status of Americanism have
ever even been to the country of our supposed ethnicity, yet somehow
we still try to identify with it. There is nothing wrong with being
proud of your heritage, but most of us are several generations removed
from the countries we claim to have direct connections to.

What makes us distinctly American is that our ancestors have all
come from different places. In this, our differences are what we have
in common.

Ask an American what his or her ethnicity is and you will most likely
get a laundry list of heritages the person claims to be. Why aren’t we
simply Americans? This supposed ethnic pride that most of us, unless
you or your parents were direct immigrants, have no real connection
to, is partially responsible for the rise of ethno-political interest
groups. These lobbying groups are largely self-serving, and they
bridge both sides of the political aisle.

The detrimental nature of ethno-political lobbying on American politics
manifested itself last week in the House committee resolution regarding
the Armenian genocide. While Ms. Pelosi’s motivations behind advocating
this legislation are unclear, the political ramifications could have
been catastrophic for U.S. foreign policy and the U.S. military.

Conveniently, key Democrats in Congress, namely Ms. Pelosi, have
brought up the

100-year-old question of whether or not the Ottomans committed genocide
against the Armenians in World War I. Ms. Pelosi just so happens
to have a large Armenian-American population in her constituency in
California, which also has an ethno-political lobbying organization
known as the Armenian Assembly of America. This lobbying group is
now pushing for U.S. recognition of the genocide during the World
War I, and in turn, the Democrats are using it as a political tool
to push our forces out of Iraq. Pelosi is no doubt appeasing her
Armenian-American constituents.

The goal here is a liberal attempt to destroy the important
Turkish-American partnership that supports the American war effort
in Iraq, and a key piece of the puzzle has manifested itself in
ethno-political lobbying. Thus, in a way, an Armenian-American
lobbying organization is attempting to dictate American foreign
policy and destroy one of the few Muslim alliances the U.S. has in
the Middle East.

The ramifications of an action such as this would be costly for
American foreign policy in the region for years to come. Not only
could this jeopardize the immediate support and supply of coalition
forces in Iraq, it could also eliminate one of the few American allies
in a region so vital to U.S. interests.

I don’t mean to single out liberals with this example. Conservatives
are just as guilty of catering to ethno-political interests. This
is merely a recent and relevant example of the power of these
organizations. Conservatives have often yielded to Israeli-American
lobbying interests, which has resulted in a strong Israeli-American
alliance. This has had an untold number of consequences for our image
and relations to the Arab world. Even if the U.S. wanted to withdraw
its support from Israel, Israeli-American lobbying organizations
would fight tirelessly to make sure that didn’t happen.

These are just a few examples of the influence of ethno-political
lobbyists. The power wielded by these organizations is a scary,
but unnecessary, evil. If Americans would put down their supposed
ethnic allegiances and just consider themselves "Americans," these
organizations would be irrelevant and a much smaller threat to our
political system.

Joseph Trovato (jtrovato@wisc.edu) is a sophomore majoring in
journalism and political science.