Last year, an extremely instructing event took place in the California town of Glendale, home to one of the largest Armenian communities in the world. It is remarkable since it is a clear example of the fact that the main enemy of the Armenian nation worldwide is neither Turkey, nor Azerbaijan, nor Russia, nor the West, and nor even masons, but political illiteracy, naivety, and short-sightedness. We have already written many times that the first step towards recovery from immunodeficiency is the creation of a national aristocracy and bourgeoisie, which will launch the process of meaningful nation- and state-building. If there is no national aristocracy, then there is no political nation (now we are just a people) and no statehood (now we just have a physical territory that the collaborationists in Yerevan are meticulously surrendering to the enemies). If there is no statehood, then there is no Diaspora (now we have thousands of disparate communities instead). However, let’s try to dig deeper and use a concrete example to identify the reasons for the lack of progress in the formation of a national aristocracy.
Let us start with a brief description of Glendale. Today, it is one of the most prosperous, safest, and most expensive cities in the United States. 184,000 people live in the city, of which 40% are of Armenian origin. California is one of the key states in the federal electoral system, with 52 seats in the House of Representatives (the lower house of Congress) and 2 senators (the upper house of Congress). From 2001 to 2023, Adam Schiff represented the interests of more than 300,000 Armenians living in Glendale (the key city of the district), Pasadena, West Hollywood, and Burbank. Since 2024, he has been a junior senator from California. With his departure to the upper house, the seat of the representative from the 30th congressional district (Glendale, West Hollywood, Burbank, Pasadena, etc) became vacant. There was an almost 100% chance for a politician of Armenian origin to make a career at the federal level.
The Armenian community in California is one of the oldest in the state. But despite its quantitative (electorate and finances) and qualitative (media presence) recourses, it is losing its gigantic political potential from year to year. The last influential Californian politicians of Armenian origin were Republicans George Deukmejian (Governor of the State in 1983-1991) and Congressman Charles Pashayan (1979-1991). It is possible that the leaders of the local Armenian communities were guided by the idea that it is not the politician who matters, but the one who financed him. This is partly true, since sponsors play an important role in the electoral process and the winning candidates are to some extent obliged to fulfil the agenda they need. Otherwise, they risk not receiving funding for the next cycle (re-election). Therefore, as a Congressman, Adam Schiff supported the 1915-1923 Armenian Genocide recognition agenda and other pro-Armenian initiatives.
Tactically, the Armenian community may have won something (although it is also quite controversial), but strategically it definitely lost. Why? Schiff made a career at the federal level using the Armenian resource base. Now he has a direct path to more serious positions, including the post of president of the country. To put it simply, there could have been an Armenian politician in his place.
Immediately, we note that Armenian Republic has no claims to Senator Schiff, on the contrary, we urge politicians from the Armenian community to follow his example. Yet another issue is that federal-level politicians strive to diversify their sources of influence. Schiff, who has warm feelings for the Armenian community, will be no exception, as new levels open up new flows and commitments. No politician of non-Armenian origin will think too long when the choice arises between the interests of the Armenian community and, for example, the military-industrial complex. And this is quite natural, which is why the Korean, Mexican, African-American, Chinese, Jewish, Polish and Irish communities finance and promote their representatives in the world of big federal politics.
Let us return to the elections from the 30th California district in 2024. So, among the 15 candidates for the primaries, there were 2 Armenians – Jirayr Ratevosian from the Democratic Party and Alex Balekian from the Republican Party. This fact alone indicates the absence of a serious substantive system even at the level of such a compact Armenian community, since, from a strategic point of view, two Armenians should not run in the same district. It is quite obvious that they will simply divide the Armenian electorate into two parts, take away important votes from each other, thereby giving an advantage to their opponents. Moreover, disappointed by this fact (of two Armenians running against each other), many Armenians will prefer to ignore the elections or give their vote to a representative of another community. In the current realities, when a fundamental transformation of the American political system is taking place (the crisis of the neoliberal system is obvious), the Armenian community had to nominate one candidate – an Armenian Republican, creating the desired image of a Jacksonian politician (the ideological line of President Donald Trump) for him. It would not be difficult for such a person to defeat anyone in these elections. As a result, two candidates from Glendale reached the finals – Laura Friedman from the Democrats and Alex Balekian from the Republicans. Friedman won in the district where the largest Armenian community in the world is concentrated. Now, among the 52 congressmen from California, there are representatives of all the largest ethnic communities except the Armenian one.
This is, of course, not the first such instance. In 2013, Peter Koutoujian, Sheriff of Middlesex County, ran for the House of Representatives from the 5th congressional District of Massachusetts (Middlesex County, part of Norfolk and Suffolk Counties), where a large wealthy and influential Armenian community is also concentrated. As a result, Koutoujian lost to Catherine Clark, who won with the votes of the residents of Watertown, where most of the population is also of Armenian origin. His competitors, Will Brownsberger and Catherine Clark, managed to gain 30% and 14% in Watertown respectively. It should be noted that in Koutoujian’s case, the Armenian community was more mobilised, and the reason for his defeat lies largely in the lack of an effective strategy. But this does not make things any easier, because in the bottom line we have another Armenian with serious growth potential left out of the big federal politics.
Why is all this happening? The answers are the same – the absence of a national aristocracy, the absence of a harmonious, interconnected and interdependent global Diaspora capable of creating an attractive and effective system. The absence of a political nation and a substantial statehood interested in the transformation of disparate communities into a Diaspora. Why cannot we begin the formation of all this? The answer is also simple – the most reputable, influential, and wealthy Armenians around the world (including in Armenia) prefer an easy and carefree life, unwilling to take any responsibility for the present and future of the entire nation. They prefer imitative activities or silence to meaningful work. Both play into the hands of the Turkish collaborationists in Yerevan and their agents of influence in the Armenian communities. We must not forget that it is possible to restore order in the fragmented Armenian world only by picking up pieces in Armenia.
