Concurring (From the Left)- Two China's-Not One

I have recently read Mr. Carden’s article “Two Chinas- Not One” in his blog the Carden Chronicle’s. 

I have known Mr. Carden for many years.  He sees the world from a much more conservative view point than I do,  I am a self-described liberal,  I am sure he is not.  Despite the fact that on many levels our politics are very different, it is amazing how much common ground still remains.  This is true of our view of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).  In this article, he calls for standing up to the People’s Republic and for the recognizing of the Republic of China (Taiwan).  Let me look at his reasoning and try to determine if there is common ground in this area.

The article states a list of reasons  why the Republic of China is far more deserving than the People’s Republic of China to receive benefits from doing business with the US.  He lists the fact that it is a democracy, this seems to be tough criteria for the United States to apply in the world we find ourselves  today.  The US has to ask itself if this is something that we should support on its own merit, too many times we are faced with the choice between a pro- United States dictator or a Democratically chosen Jihadist government.  The article also goes on to argue, Taiwan being capitalist should be considered in its favor.  Capitalism is not a philosophy that creates friendships, it puts countries in competition.  Mr. Carden then goes on to describe conditions in the People’s Republic of China both currently and historically, and this is where Mr. Carden and I find our common ground.  The People’s Republic of China has a long track record of being on the wrong side of human rights. The PRC is a place where workers have no rights.  They work six days a week in poor conditions and work 12 or more hours a day.  There is no such thing as overtime in the PRC or the right to collective bargaining.  The PRC also has a horrible track record on women’s rights. For decades the People’s Republic had a one child rule.  Yes, abortion was legal in China, but not because they believe in a woman’s right to choose.  No, it was very much the opposite, a woman could not have a second child in the People’s Republic, they are forced to kill their unborn child without any say. And just months after PRC reverses policy on one child, they go after Guo a lawyer once recognized as a champion for woman, the PRC in February of this year closed her NGO after 20 years of providing legal service to poor woman in Hong Kong.  Woman’s rights have always been on attack in the PRC. As the article states there is also no freedom of speech or right to dissent in the PRC, those of us who were alive have no trouble remembering  the scene at Tianaman Square. For those who were not alive the Peoples Republic of China attacked protesters at “the gate of heavenly peace” killing hundreds and perhaps thousands.  It is estimated that over 10,000 people were arrested for doing nothing more than peacefully protesting.  The People’s Republic also does not give its people the right to worship freely as they choose.  Even removing democracy and capitalism from the list laid out by  Mr. Carden it is still a very large list of reasons to oppose the PRC.

Workers’ Rights, woman’s rights, the rights of a free press, freedom to worship or not worship how you please and the right to peaceably disagree with your government are lynch pins of the progressive or liberal agenda.  The People’s Republic does not just limit one of these but all of them.  As a liberal I agree with Mr. Carden and say it is time we quit doing business with the People’s Republic and also that we formerly recognize Republic of China.  It is very simply the right thing to do.  And as Mr. Carden states PRC will react, and taking a stand will cost us something but America has never been afraid to stand up and be counted on to side with what is right.

The “Two China’s- Not One” article goes on to say we should give the jobs that are currently in the PRC to the Republic of China.   While this is not a bad idea, after all Taiwan is a friend of America and is in a very strategic place for US interest in the region. I think this misses an opportunity to address another issue.  Both those on the right and the left believe in doing something on the subject of illegal immigration from Mexico.  Whether you believe in a limited amnesty program or building a wall and beginning deportation, they are treatments to the problem but are not the cure.  Mexico needs a growing economy that puts its own people to work.  Many immigrants from Mexico do not want to leave behind families and home to work in the United States but the lack of quality jobs forces them to do so in order to provide for their families.  If we took the manufacturing jobs that are currently taking place in the People’s Republic and moved them to Mexico we could significantly bolster the Mexican economy and help create a Mexico that can employ its own people.  The question many might ask is how much will this cost the American consumer.  Or to put it another way how much more will my Arizona Cardinals jersey or a new DVD cost if we do this.  Surely Mexican workers would make more money a Chinese worker?  I originally thought I would have to make the argument that yes it would cost more but it is a small price to pay but the truth is when researching this question, I found some interesting information.

A study by the Hunt Institute for Global Competitiveness at the University of Texas at El Paso shows factory wages in Juárez are among the lowest in Mexico, and plant manager salaries are among the highest. When compared to manufacturing wages in China, Mexico is now 40 percent cheaper.

The jobs can be moved to Mexico without labor costs skyrocketing.  If the US does move the manufacturing taking place in the Peoples Republic of China it is an opportunity to raise wages and create jobs in Mexico which is the best long term approach to dealing with illegal immigration into the United States.  I believe doing so would not only send a strong message to the People’s Republic but allow us to address a critical issue effecting the United States at home.
The United States has failed to stand up to the People’s Republic for far too long.  It is time to support Taiwan and Mexico and call out a repressive regime for what it is.  And this is an area that Americans can find common ground and reject gridlock.

Concurring (From the Left)- Two China's-Not One

A Change in Format- Encouraging Civil Discourse and Debate

Since 2003, I have hosted maintained and written the Carden Chronicles. For that time, I have

maintained the site providing my personal view on politics, world events, the Court and other stories that are current in the news cycle. In addition I've done stories that are often more investigative in nature.  In 2007, I chose to move the Carden Chronicles to the Blogger platform. Since that time I have been privileged to have over 130,000 "views" of the articles I have posted.  In general, I can say the majority of my readers lean politically to the right, and in many of my articles I am perhaps "preaching to the choir"

However since before the November election,  I've noted various stories in the media that have had me "concerned."

There have been stores about unrest, about the chaos with the US election, and about other elections going on throughout the world. In addition we have seen a variety of uprisings such as the attempted coup d'état in Turkey.

What caught me as unusual, is that some of my friends on both sides of the aisle- Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives, have all noticed the same thing. On Facebook in particular I have seen several posts from people I highly respect on referring to and comparing today with 1914 and the "Guns of August" or the time between World War I and World War II. I have seen a great deal of anger expressed, and unexpressed. What I have not seen, is good civil discourse on the issues that are plaguing the world today.

As such, I have decided to use my blog, the Carden Chronicles, as a forum for dialogue and discourse; a way to encourage civilized conversation about politics, The Court, the Executive, Legislative, and world events. I have invited some new authors to join me on in this endeavour.

The authors I have asked to join me, represent different political views, some moderate, some liberal, and of course the conservative viewpoint.

Like the greatest Court and our land, the articles presented will not just have an opinion, but concurring opinions and dissenting opinions. My hope is that through this we can create and use this site as a forum for civil discourse; a forum for expressing opposing view points; a forum where we find perhaps we are more alike than we are different.

To all readers who have been following me over the years, I hope you will not be disappointed and will continue to follow this site.

To our new readers and to our new authors, I bid you welcome. I encourage your feedback your comments and civil discourse and debate.

A Change in Format- Encouraging Civil Discourse and Debate

Scapegoating Russia to Deflect The Public

The US Government and FBI says a Russian Group was trying to hack the DNC since well before September 2015.   The FBI warned the DNC several times in September 2015 that they were being targeted.

Now supposedly this was all to help Donald Trump.  The problem with the story is that there were still a dozen or more candidates on the GOP side at that time.  So the Russians somehow knew in June-August 2015 when the first attacks started, that Donald Trump would be the nominee of the GOP out of 17 candidates?  The Russians knew before the first primary or caucus that Trump would get the nod?

Really? That was very insightful of them.  They knew who would drop out and who wouldn't and when.

Of course Matt Stone and Trey Parker did a South Park episode of Garrison as Trump last year- Maybe South Park is also connected to Russian Intelligence hacking ops?!

Or maybe the hacking was just hacking meant to embarrass the US, and the DNC's systems were broken into before the RNC's.

The attacks against the DNC were the oldest in the book, phishing attacks- the email you get from a hacker that says your bank account has been accessed, please change your PIN here.  This type of attack has been around for forever in the IT world and people are constantly warned of this type attack.  The DNC said we are a poor non-profit, we can't afford all the security systems we need- except there are plenty of freeware tools they could have used.

The one thing we HAVEN'T heard- that any of the emails were fake or that the data was wrong.

We have heard the Russians tried to hack the DNC to help Trump (when there were 17 candidates on the GOP side) and we've heard the MEDIA should not have published the emails, because the media knew they were acquired "illegally". We didn't hear the President say that about the illegal acquisition of Donald Trump's tax returns though.  We also have yet to hear that the information in the emails, such as pay to play at the state department was wrong or faked.

Maybe instead of blaming the Russians for accessing incriminating information, the DNC should be looking at itself and consider the possibility that maybe it shouldn't have been doing things that would be considered incriminating in the first place.

Blaming the Russians at this point is no different than saying it's the Washington Post's fault that Watergate occurred.

Scapegoating Russia to Deflect The Public

Two China's - Not One

It's been a week or so since the President-Elect spoke to the President of Taiwan.  The world has not ended and so far all we are hearing is a US Automaker (unnamed) is going to be penalized.  Besides a lot of drum beating and chest pounding the PRC has little it can do.  


It is time we come to terms with the fact that there are TWO CHINAS (and my post just got blocked in one of them) - the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan).   
The People's Republic of China are communists, and  

People's Republic of China Flag

have in the recent past forced abortions on women who violated the one child policy (up to an including killing full term children just before it took its first breath), suppresses religion brutally, executed God only knows how many in Tianaman Square and is responsible for more executions than old Adolf.  

The Republic of China (Taiwan) is the last hold out of the

Republic of China (Taiwan) Flag

last legitimate government of China led by Chaing Kai-Shek.    When the Mao Revolution came after WWII, the government fled to Taiwan- the last Chinese territory.  This would be analogous to a rebellion in the US. The President & Government flees to Hawaii and continues to call Hawaii the USA while the lower 48 changes its name to the "Associated States of America" - same idea.

The Republic of China, is for all practical purposes a democracy. Many people in that small island speak English. When I visited Taipei, I was stunned at the number of churches-practically one on every corner if not more. The "Bible Belt" seems to have fewer churches than the Republic of China.  The Republic of China believes in freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of the press -unlike their communist brethren across the Taiwan Strait. 

Perhaps even more importantly, the Republic of China believes in capitalism not communism. There is absolutely nothing which we import from the PRC that we could not get from the ROC.
The human rights abuses in The Peoples Republic of China alone should be enough for the United States to stop doing business with them. We have a huge trade deficit with the PRC, and they need our money much more than we need their trinkets. Thailand, Japan, the Republic of China, and many other places in Asia would gladly pick up the business if we stopped sending our money to China (PRC). 

If we were to acknowledge the Republic of China-Taiwan-as its own country, yes the PRC would react. Aircraft orders from Boeing would be canceled. Equipment orders from Catapillar would be canceled. There may be even a ban on the sale of US vehicles in China.
But by acknowledging Taiwan, the Republic of China, as its own government, we would be sending the strongest message that we could. America stands for self-determination, for freedom of speech, for freedom of expression, for freedom of religion, and for freedom of the press- concepts on which our country was founded.

Acknowledging the Republic of China, would cause a reaction from the peoples Republic of China.  Would they launch nuclear missiles at the United States? Probably not. They would shut their doors to us. But the fact still remains, that our trade agreements with the Peoples Republic of China, and the products we buy from the Peoples Republic of China are not being purchased from private enterprise for the most part, they are being purchased from government owned factories. The Peoples Republic of China is after all a communist country. 

We must stop supporting a government that in-prisons

Unknown man stopping tanks in Tienanmen Square

or executes people for having religious beliefs, that in-prisons or executes people for speaking out against their government, that prevents freedom of speech, that prevents freedom of expression-even to the point of having a national firewall to block anything on the Internet they don't like-and that will execute people, for no other reason then what those people think. We saw it at Tiananmen Square. We saw it during the Cultural Revolution.  We saw it during the "Great Leap Forward", where 45 million people were starved beaten or worked to death. Most outshines Hitler, and Stalin, in the number of people he had executed...in fact neither Hitler or Stalin come close to Mao's numbers.  

The difference between Hitler or Stalin and Mao? The country of Germany and even the country of Russia admit Hitler and Stalin committed mass atrocities- and that they were evil men, while the People's Republic of China, bows and "worships" at the feet of Mao, and carries his "Little Red Book" in the pocket over their hearts. 

It's time we stop playing games. It's time for us to call the Peoples Republic Of China what it is, and the Republic of China what it is. They are separate countries. 

There is more than just one China. 

Two China's - Not One