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U.S. officials are up in arms over China’s crackdown on the large number of people who are protesting the Chinese regime’s harsh rules and regulations to combat Covid. They are lecturing the Chinese on the importance of freedom of speech and telling them that they should leave the protestors alone.
Notice, however, that there is a significant omission from the U.S. critiques — criticism of the communist regime’s measures to combat the virus that the Chinese people are protesting. The U.S. critiques are entirely focused on the right to protest the measures, not on the measures themselves.
There is a good reason for that silence. The reason is that the Chinese tyrants and U.S. officials agree on the anti-Covid measures.
Mask mandates? Check!
Vaccine requirements? Check!
Mandatory lockdowns? Check!
Travel controls? Check!
Vaccine passports? Check!
In other words, to combat Covid, the United States employs the same tyrannical measures that the Chinese Reds employ. The only difference is that here in the United States, people are free to protest this healthcare tyranny while in China, they aren’t. Either way though, people end up with the same healthcare tyranny.
I find that pretty funny.
The Chinese crackdown on the protestors provides an important lesson for us libertarians here in the United States. The Chinese regime wields omnipotent power over the citizenry. The Chinese people are not permitted to own guns and, therefore, the Chinese regime knows that there is very little possibility of violent resistance to its tyranny or a violent overthrow of the regime.
So, why not simply let the protests go on? What’s the risk, given the omnipotent power of the Chinese regime over the Chinese citizenry?
The answer lies in the power of ideas on liberty. The Chinese tyrants are not dumb. They understand that ideas on liberty can suddenly sweep across a nation, inflaming the hearts and minds of the people. No regime, no matter how powerful, can withstand hundreds of millions of people who are suddenly inflamed with the desire to be free. That’s why they have to shut down those protests.
Here in the United States, we libertarians are free to disseminate ideas on liberty. The problem is that our fellow American aren’t interested, at least not so far. They are still too deeply wedded to the welfare-warfare state way of life that has destroyed our freedom. They’d rather have “security” than liberty. They falsely convince themselves that such “security” really is liberty.
But one never knows what tomorrow will bring. Things can turn on a dime. As those Chinese tyrants know, ideas on liberty can suddenly bring about a great awakening and ignite a desire for liberty within the hearts and minds of hundreds of millions of people.
And that’s why we libertarians must continue to fight for the restoration of American freedom, not just because it’s the right thing to do but also because sound ideas on liberty can ignite the hearts and minds of our fellow Americans and lead our nation out of its welfare-warfare morass and to freedom, peace, prosperity, health, and harmony.