MATCHING OUR CIVIC VOICE TO OUR ECONOMIC MUSCLE
By Varant Melkonian And Robert H. Setrakian

ing-our-civic-voice-to-our-economic-muscle/
May 18th, 2009

We have, as a community of Americans of Armenian heritage, done
great things.

We have survived genocide, crossed the ocean, and settled here on
America’s shores.

With the blessings of American liberty and opportunity, first, second,
third, fourth, and now even fifth generation Armenians have prospered
and contributed to nearly every sphere of American life: business,
medicine, education, and the arts.

Our level of achievement is matched only by our ambition to accomplish,
strive, and succeed at all we set our minds to. Few can match us.

We have also made our voice heard loud and clear in the civic arena,
but not yet, we must admit, at a level truly commensurate with our
community’s social and financial success.

It’s true that we have, through decades of hard work, earned a
reputation as the powerful "Armenian lobby," tackling some of
the toughest interests in Washington. We have organized ourselves
effectively in Washington, DC and as a far-reaching public policy
network.

Each November, we are courted for our votes and campaign support.

But, as we saw in April, even after all we have accomplished, we are
still a community that can be crossed, a constituency that can be
sacrificed to foreign and financial pressures.

Why?

The easy answer is because our system of government, with all its
profound strengths, is sometimes slow and not always fair. As American
history has shown repeatedly, it often takes considerable time and
effort to align our public policies with our values as a nation. All
true, but that’s only part of the answer.

The tougher answer and the one that matters to us is that we simply
need to grow stronger.

Our civic voice must match our economic muscle.

As has been noted by the ANCA before, if the Armenian American
community were a corporation, the annual revenue we generate would
rank us #65 on the Fortune 500. This is a point of great pride
for a community that only a short while ago was largely made up of
penniless refugees who dreamed of something better for themselves
and the Armenian nation.

We can realize this dream by beginning to harness the vast wealth
amassed by generations of Armenian families to the noble cause of
strengthening our rightful role as full citizen stakeholders in
shaping America’s policies at home and abroad.

These resources will take us to a new level in terms of influence and
impact in the halls of power and beyond, forcing our elected officials
to deliver real results and raising awareness of our cause far beyond
the Capital Beltway, in communities, schoolrooms, and civic arenas
across America.

To get this job done, we’ll need to start by helping hundreds of
young Armenian Americans find government, media, and public policy
jobs in Washington, DC, and we’ll have to dramatically expand our
outreach to U.S. and international media, especially television,
a time-consuming but essential effort that delivers a tremendous
return on investment. Out in the field, new funding will allow us
to send fieldworkers to communities and campuses to train activists
to be effective advocates for the Armenian Cause. Where that’s not
possible, we need to use cutting edge remote-learning and other
technology-based programs to provide local leaders with powerful
tools of civic activism. And this is just the start.

We need to do all this, and more, but we can only grow with the
support of our community.

Only with this support will we have the power, respect, and influence
to never be crossed again.

Let us all do our part to make this a reality by spreading the
word to family and friends about the ANCA Telethon on May 31st:

Editor’s Note: Varant Melkonian is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
of Closet World, Inc.; Robert H. Setrakian is Managing Director of
the The Helios Group.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress