Jack of Harts

Young Kim is one of the people you probably haven’t seen much of on the news. She was born in South Korea and her family immigrated to the American territories when she was a teenager. She went to college in California, worked in the banking and manufacturing fields, and even started her own clothing company. She has starred in her own TV and radio shows that talk about Korean American affairs, and has been part of the California Assembly for the last four years.

She was just elected to represent California’s 39th congressional district in the Federal House of Representatives. That makes her the first Korean immigrant to Represent California. Some people tack woman on to that when describing her, so that may be a required addition to the word salad. Gotta love checking boxes for politics.

Now why is she interesting? Well, she is a fiscal conservative according to what I’ve read, though has many socially moderate views as well. She supports DACA but not Obamacare, lower property taxes but not sanctuary cities, and supports forgiving student loans for those suffering from financial setbacks. In short, she looks like someone who could reach across the aisle and work with her fellow Representatives if they are in a working mood.

Also, it doesn’t hurt one bit that she is a righteous immigrant. She was born in an allied nation and her family came here looking for a better life. She grew up, she worked hard, and she won election to become a Representative of her new home State in the United States Congress. This is the story of America in one person, the hopes and dreams that all of us have for everybody who wants to come here.

It doesn’t matter if you were born here to a great family of wealth or came in on a boat with the clothes on your back. You can educate yourself here, you can start a business here, and you can represent your people in our State and Federal legislatures. Heck, you can even become Governor. Or First Lady. No President though. That requires being born here in America, because our founders didn’t want someone subject to a foreign jurisdiction to run for that office, don’t you know. Short of that though, everything is wide open here.

This is America. The land of opportunity. This is what we celebrate.