The 2024 presidential race gets more exciting each day.
Now 37-year-old entrepreneur businessman Vivek Ramaswamy has entered the race as the newest Republican candidate.
Whether this political novice has a chance at winning the highest elective office in the land remains to be seen. But for sure he has something to say and contribute.
And worth noting is now the first two candidates to announce following former President Donald Trump’s entering the race, Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley, are children of Indian immigrants.
I requote the statistic I cited last week that “more than half of America’s start-up companies valued at $1 billion or more” were founded by immigrants.
Inside our country, a vast left-wing culture has risen to power, peddling a message that ours is an evil, racist country that can only be fixed by seizing power and force-feeding “woke” values onto all our institutions.
But these successful first-generation offspring of immigrants raise the important question: If our county is so horrible, why is there no place on earth where more want to come and gain the privilege of citizenship?
And when they come, they know what to do. They study, work and follow the path to great success, which is only possible in a country that is free.
At age 37, Ramaswamy’s resume includes degrees from Harvard and Yale, founding and leading a successful biotechnology start-up firm, founding an investment firm that focuses on traditional goals of profitability and merit, and disavowing the politically correct ESG agenda, which has captured so many of the largest investment firms. And authoring two hard-hitting books, “Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam,” and “Nation of Victims: Identity Politics, the Death of Merit, and the Path Back to Excellence.”
Ramaswamy is showcasing his own life as proof that the American dream is alive and that the real threat we face is the “woke” culture that wants to turn our free nation over to left-wing politicians to force their agenda on everyone and have taxpayers pick up the bill for the trillions spent doing it.
There is a reason why the nation is now staggering under massive debt and growing at a rate one-third more slowly than the average for a half-century after World War II.
Growth comes from productivity; productivity comes from efficient use of capital; and capital is used efficiently only when businessmen and entrepreneurs can invest as they wish, according to their best economic judgement.
The takeover of American business by politically correct ESG standards — environmental, social, and corporate governance — is destroying our efficient use of capital, per Ramaswamy.
If a business causes clear environmental damage, it should be responsible. But climate change science is not at all clear, and forcing firms to make decisions based on what is ideology rather than science hurts all of us. We must stop, he says.
Similarly, businesses must be free to make their own decisions who they hire and the values they choose to support. We cannot have business hamstrung by an agenda set by left-wing politics.
The way to help more minorities succeed is not government-mandated affirmative action, but demanding excellence from them as from everyone else. This is the social agenda — classic American freedom — that will work for everyone.
But I wonder what Ramaswamy means when he writes, “We must restore merit for who gets to come to America” and, “we must embrace merit in who gets to succeed in America.”
If we have freedom, merit will arise on its own because it is what a free society demands. We certainly don’t need merit itself being defined by those with political power.
Vivek Ramaswamy is for sure a model success story, and every American will benefit by knowing about it and hearing what he has to say.
Star Parker is president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education and host of the weekly television show “Cure America with Star Parker.”
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Not all business is honest, he has big plans to inflict on the public, I say ‘dump his pockets’ and do some right-now background checking and candidate vetting so we don’t end up having to impeach him later…
I ask sincerely — which is the “woker” choice: voting for the old rich white guy or the young brown guy? It sounds like this fellow doesn’t want people to vote for him!
How can anyone that went to an ivy league college be trusted to not be a communist professor indoctrinatedsnowflake?
I love the snotty comments ..all i am sure of is voting Democrat so far has not been good for the country.
All the white kids that put all whites into the same category, by your own judgement look in the mirror whitey. There are poor whites. Not all blacks are this or that. A successful black man got rich the same way the rich white man did.Black or white if you live off others money, you are too lazy and think the world or govt. is your new mommy and daddy. Anyone of color has opportunity. Barrack O’bama didnt sit home on his ass. He went to college and applied himself.When you say all whites are this or all blacks are this…its still judging by color. Those that hate discrimination seem to be the most prejudiced.1st amendment is meant for a person from any group or individual to speak. If you dont want to hear it, others might, you choose not to hear it .But you have no right to decide what i have to say. Your speech offends someone. You are not the speech police. Noone decides what i say or what you say. Freedom gives you the right to change the channel, walk away, quit reading and go cry. If your feelings are hurt too bad…go hurt someone else feelings that dont matter to you.Dems like to shut people up that dont agree with them. Repubs have always tolerated speech from both sides. KKK sucks and so do bastards that destroy others property or hide behind a name.BLM no kidding…everyones life matters. But the organization has some domestic terrorist just like the implanted disruptors on Jan. 6th.
WOKE = LOSER.
That says it all.
Woke IS a Joke and a Bad Joke at that! . . . Personally, NOTHING VENTURED, NOTHING GAINED! . . . We are all Personally Responsible for Our Own Lives!
I’ve meet quite a few people like Vivek Ramaswamy. When I say that, I mean immigrants that have come here with little to nothing, except a will to be free and to have a better life. They all have one thing in common that most Americans don’t have. They’ve come from places where the work is hard and they don’t get anywhere form that hard work. They don’t mind coming here and doing the so called hard jobs because they’ve seen hard work and nothing here compares, plus they keep more of the money they’ve earned and our standard of living is so much better that what they’ve been use to, that being poor in this country is like winning the lottery for most…no wonder so many immigrants with a strong work ethic succeed in this country, it’s a walk in the park compared to what their use to.
It’s a lesson that everyone could learn from, especially the young people of today. Keep your head down, work hard, follow the rules and you will succeed. That’s what has made America great, the ability to do as you want and to be what you want to be. All you need is the will to do so.
To answer the question “But I wonder what Ramaswamy means when he writes, “We must restore merit for who gets to come to America” and, “we must embrace merit in who gets to succeed in America.””
I think what Ramaswamy means is twofold. First free up business so that they are *allowed* to make decisions based on merit, i.e. get rid of affirmative action and the like. That’s an ending to gov’t mandates, not creating new ones. In the drive to be profitable, businesses will choose merit based selection on their own, no need to legislate it.
The other part does involve a legitimate gov’t function, managing immigration. We have a limited capacity for absorbing immigrants, that means prioritizing who gets to come. Right now our immigration system prioritizes two groups, those with family members already here and those who are “refugees”. Ramaswamy just wants to shift the priorities toward favoring those who have something to contribute vs. those who are looking for handouts. Yes, that can be perilous when you have bureaucrats deciding who might contribute, but right now we have those same bureaucrats deciding who is “deserving” in that they are a “refugee”. Of the two, I prefer the former even if it’s not ideal.
In my opinion, the worst scenario for 2024 election is a re-run of Trump vs. Biden. Republicans must come up with a good candidate to win the WH back in 2024 & I would think that the majority of Americans agree we need a major change in White House in order to get this country back on track.
Republican party is divided & must use common sense to unite again.
I would like to see some younger people who have great ideas for the future of this country enter races for elected officials!! We have way too many OLD people is Washington D.C. who are, not only stuck in their OLD ways in some ways, but continue to lead us in the wrong directions time after time!! At the same time, they are giving away old values and morals in favor of radical new ideology without understanding what they are actually causing all for the cause of buying votes for their party!! They don’t seem to care at all about our national debt or the unconstitutional executive orders being put out by the President or the fact that the President doesn’t seem to find it necessary to involve Congress in the process! The current President isn’t the only one to do so but Democrats seem to be worse about it the others as they get impatient to gain control of wealth and power!!
I have listened to him talk on Fox and Newsmax – great ideas. But, he is Hindu according to his bio. How will that affect supporting Christian values? Christians and the Christian foundation of this country are already under attack. We have many that they say they are Christians or good Catholics but we know how they support the progressive left!
He talks a good talk but what about the walk
My choose would be Mike Pompaio as President and Ron DeSantis for V.P. Pompaio has the experience on the world stage, he could groom DeSantis on international matters and give him high profile jobs in the Administration. Then DeSantis would have the experience to run for President after Pompaio’s two terms were completed.
President Trump was the best President in my lifetime. However the Democrats the Rino’s and the Washington D.C. swamp creatures will not work with him to accomplish anything for us the American citizens. The Republicans controlled the Senate and the House for the first two years President Trump was in office and didn’t do much to help President Trump get the legislation he was trying to get passed.
I am impressed with what I’ve seen and heard of Vivek. I still plan to vote for Trump for POTUS, but I would sincerely like to see him involved in Trump’s administration. Will be watching and listening closely in the next few months!