[COLUMN] Let the games begin, in China

When the U.S. Congress returns from its summer recess next month, it will debate a matter of utmost urgency and importance: a resolution to boycott the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

I realize that a snowball in the deepest bowels of hell has a better chance of fulfilling its destiny to smash some unsuspecting soul in the face than this bill has of ever becoming American policy. However, in American politics never say, "Never." Stranger things have happened.

Still, it is extremely unlikely the United States will boycott the 2008 Olympics.

Nor should they.

However, it is instructive to look at the arguments the supporters of an Olympic boycott are making.

With the Olympics a year away, three bills were introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives calling for a boycott. One of the bills, sponsored by that crackpot, U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., calls for the boycott solely on the grounds of the tragedy in Darfur, Sudan, as though China, by itself, is responsible for, and capable of ending, the crisis.

The other two bills, however, are sponsored by U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., (Is there something in the water on the West Coast?) and have several co-sponsors. His two bills are essentially the same with some minor variations. They call for the boycott of the Olympics based in part on Darfur, but also on the Chinese government's human rights abuses.

I find it ironic that politicians in a country that imprisons more of its population than any other country in the world believe they have the right to lecture other nations on how to treat their people.

Last week, I listened to an interview with U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, R-Mich., who happens to be a co-sponsor of one of Rohrabacher's resolutions.

McCotter rambled on about Chinese human rights abuses. Yet, while denouncing human rights abuses in China, McCotter has continually voted to limit freedom in this country. He voted for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, as though the government has any business in the personal lives of people; he voted to make permanent the provisions of the PATRIOT ACT, one of the worst violations of freedom since the 1798 Alien and Sedition Acts; he voted for a constitutional amendment to prohibit free speech by making it illegal to desecrate the U.S. flag; etc.

Additionally, in this interview, he said the United States should go so far as to restrict trade with China until it improves its human rights record. In essence, he wants to restrict what American consumers can do with their money based on what he thinks is right or wrong, presumably because we are too stupid to make that determination ourselves.

Then, to defend his trade position, he said the United States is a nation, not an economy, which shows that he understands neither statehood nor economics. The United States is a nation because it is an economy. Governments are created to protect our liberties, which generally means we have the right to conduct our business without undue government interference. If I want to buy Chinese goods, what business is it of the government's?

None.

I mention McCotter's record because it becomes pertinent when you think about what his votes do. These votes restrict the freedoms of Americans. In essence, these votes are human rights violations. When the Congress restricts a freedom, it commits a human rights violation because freedom is the only real human right under which all other human rights fall.

While it is true that the United States imprisons a larger percentage of its population than China does, I will not go so far as to say America's human rights record is worse than China's. It certainly is not. China does, indeed, have an atrocious human rights record.

Still, that has nothing to do with the Olympics. The Olympics are about sports, not politics.

If Water, Rohrabacher, McCotter, et al., wish to boycott the Olympics, they are free to do so. However, they do not need to be crushing the dreams of America's finest athletes because of their holier-than-thou attitudes when it comes to China.

Already, the glaring light of international attention has done more for human rights in China than a thousand blustering windbag politicians could ever do.

Let the games begin.

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category | Column
author | Lucente

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