It always amazes me how our country has such greatness and such hypocrisy at the same time. For example, a few months ago I served on a jury in Clearlake. What an honor! I was impressed both by our justice system and the objectivity of my peers. And, last week I visited Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson was both the author of The Declaration of Independence (which I encourage you all to re-read from time to time), and the owner, in his lifetime, of over 600 slaves. Those slaves worked six days a week from sunrise to sunset to maintain Jefferson in his lavish lifestyle. Jefferson was aware of the intellectual conflict, but apparently not motivated enough to resolve it.
A more recent example is President Bush castigating the Chinese for failing to allow individual freedom to its citizens. President Bush lied to his citizens about WMDs and about Iraq being behind 911 to drag us into a war that has killed, if we can believe the boys at MIT, over a half-million people. He is not standing on the moral high ground when he berates the immorality of the Chinese. Interestingly, I had just finished reading a book called “The New Asian Empire.” The author points out that since the Chinese have gone, at least in part, to a market system, they have raised a couple of hundred million people out of poverty. And, currently the Chinese are training lawyers and judges (for the defense of property, not civil liberties, but hopefully the one will follow the other). Additionally, half the things I own are from China, and if they are so evil, how come President Bush, as well as past administrations allow them to import their goods to the U.S.A? Why does the Bush Administration borrow large sums of money from the Chinese to finance the war in Iraq if they are so bad?
China should give civil rights to its citizens. President Bush does not have the moral standing to offer that advice. I wish that we could be what we say we are.
Nelson Strasser
Clearlake
