China?

The Olympic games in China has opened a window that we can use to see inside the real China.

It is enough to cause a Republican's heart to soar when they see all that the Chinese government does to involve itself in the daily lives of its people.

What controls! The power to control the population by limiting the number of children allowed to be born, curtail industry when they temporarily want to limit the smog, limit internet access, driving, cell phones, news and newspapers, approve religion, business, education, and the list could go on and on.

I know it was the desire to show to the world how far they had come in modernity and prosperity that led China to apply to host the Olympics in the first place, as it probably is with any country applying. Pride in all they have accomplished and all that, but something else has begun to be shown as well. We now have seen a government that tries to manage the private lives of each of its citizens to an unprecedented degree.

Unprecedented? That may not be true because there have been regimes that have tried--the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, Cuba, the U.S. under George Bush, and others, I am sure.

It is incredible that to be conservative today means to have a paranoid view of the intelligence and wisdom of the citizenry. You'd think that the be a conservative rightist would mean to protect the Constitution, the rights of individuals, free and active thought, and privacy. But, no, to be a Republican in good standing today apparently means just the opposite. It means to control what people see and do, to control the news--and if you think that is not true consider that the administration stands adamant in not allowing the newspapers or TV networks to show the flag draped coffins of our military returning home from our wars.

It means to be hateful of different ideas, suspicious of conflicting thought. If it is not the party line, it is not allowed. If you disagree--perish the thought--you will expose yourself to economic and political recrimination.

Privacy is not a right, they say, but the present administration demands it themselves. Department heads are not permitted to talk freely to the press. Where's "Deep Throat" when you need him?