Obama is a traitor to this nation, and is "envious" of the Chinese Communist Dictators form of governance, because that would "make it so much easier" to implement his Marxist goals. His criminal regime, in violation of his oath of office, must be retired; I would prefer impeachment and jail time, but will be totally satisfied with a landslide election for Anybody But Obama in 2012. Only the ignorant, or fully Statist Marxist will vote for this Enemy of the State.

So, you're saying we should be worried about the economy of a country in which all agriculture is carried out by what we'd call hand tools- hoes, and etc., or by plows pulled by oxen?

And, yes, I saw it, first hand, when I was in China, a few years ago. My group drove for hours and hours through cultivated countryside, and although we saw autos and trucks, all the farm "machinery" were hoes been used by hand and plows being pulled by oxen, and the like. There wasn't even one- not one- "cultivator" such as the Japanese use in their terraced fields, much less any bigger or more complicated farm machines. Now, really, give me a break!!!

You may be worried, but I'm not. I'm not worried about China v. US until more people want to leave the US and go to live in China than the opposite, and, believe you me, the opposite is the case, now. More Chinese want to leave China and go to live in the US.

My two bits' worth.

(Mr.) K. B. Charles

Looking at what Socialism has done in those countries which have and do try it, I fail to comprehend the mindset of anybody who would venture to vote for Obama and his scialistic regime. Either they are stupid, or God forbid, I am really stupid.

Excellent article! Thank you for the historical description of China's demise, its lost culture due to the communists take over. How sad when a nation is so oppressed and its leaders so bent on making everyone the "same" that their myopic goal destroys the very thing that makes the country unique. Good thing we don't have that in the USA......oh wait! Class warfare has been the underlying theme of this administration since day one. Left unchecked we WILL find ourselves in the same boat as the Chinese. Then who will feed and support the rest of the world???????? China? Muslim Brotherhood? Soros?

Morning Glory....Wonderful post...

What the Chinese have is government of the people, by the government, for the government.

Unfortunately, the Obama Administration is stretching it's Executive Branch authority to include too much of the Legislative Branch authority. Seems few people care that this administration is working hard at making the USA government of the people, by the government, for the government.

If you agree, please stand up and make it known.

Jim

The downfall of Imperial China was caused by more than simple "Civil Unrest" and was a direct result of the introduction of Opium by the British in an effort to induce Chinese imports.

An excellent, as usual, analysis from Mr. Alexander. The China facade is nothing more than a Potemkin Village which thoroughly enchants the glitterati and those with a dearth of intelligence.

China demographics is the time bomb ready to off. As John Pomfret (WPO) once wrote, China will get old before it gets rich.

Please remember that all the numbers that we have on the Red Chinese economic boom come from . . . the Red Chinese.

After the fall of East European Communism, it was revealed that all the economic numbers reported by those countries were pure fabrications. Lots too many people in this country expressed surprise.

Why believe these Communists?

China may throw off the yoke of Communism and gain some freedom while the US becomes an Islamic Caliphate with a Dictator ala Saudi Arabia.

That is where the present administration is doing the best to take us. Such might be delayed because of a war between the two Islamic factions that is presently brewing, which may lead to lots of destruction because at least two of the countries have Atomic Weapons, Iran and Pakistan, with a third possible in Syria. So we may be breathing some radioactive air due to that conflict.

Meanwhile, we will go over the cliff of debt, and become a second and larger Zimbabwe under the thumb of an Islamic/Socialist Dictator.

@Gulliver Silvagi, your reductio ad absurdum that opium's introduction into China as the cause of the Imperial downfall is simplicity itself.

@K.B. Charles, the Japanese war machine in 1937 to 1945 couldn't overcome those peasants armed with rakes and oxen, so yes I caste a weather eye toward China; their navy grows stronger as ours made weaker by the sacrifice to social engineering, their missle systems grow stronger as ours are weakend through cuts in defense spending, and their economy grows as ours dimishes under the weight of government regulation. And the notion that millions flooding America represents a good thing as opposed to millions of Americans fleeing to China, is blindness to what makes America great.

I have always loved America and the way it was set up to begin with. I am greatly concerned about the changes that I see happening. I don't know what else to do but hope, pray and vote. If we continue on the current path we will become a second and larger Zimbabwe. I care deeply about the Country and hate to watch what is happening. How can we let this happen? Is socialism what the American people want? Maybe somebody should listen to them for a change.

That quote by Winston Churchill, "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery," is no doubt the reason that the Socialist in Charge returned the bust of Churchill to The United Kingdom.

In a 1887 letter, Lord Acton did not quite say that all power corrupts but that "power tends to corrupt." But in the same sentence he writes: "absolute power corrupts absolutely."

117 years earlier, William Pitt's 1770 speech in Parliament was both more temperate and more accurate: "Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it." He does not suggest that power other than unlimited power corrupts by necessity.

It's a pity the more measured Pitt is often ignored for the cynical hyperbole of his followers who shamelessly paraphrase him without credit. The farther we travel from Pitt, the more absolutist the statement becomes, feeding cynicism to an unnecessary and dangerous degree. One must have government or chaos. That the government must be governed is just as obvious and the Founders understood that. "The public cannot be too curious concerning the characters of public men," Samuel Adams wrote and the reason for that curiosity must be that for some, power ennobles while for others it corrupts. We must choose the former and reject the latter.

Napoleon said of China, "China is a sickly giant but when she awakens the world will tremble." Admiral Yamamoto following the attack on Pearl Harbor also said, "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with terrible resolve." Either quotes are pretty powerful of two giant economies. I fear however, Obama is systematically trying to destroy this country. Because I don't believe he is stupid enough to allow this to happen unless it is by design. America we must awaken from this imposed slumber and trance Obama has imposed upon us, so that we may

gain back the backbone, stamina and momentum we once had. Obama once said, America can do anything. It is obvious he has a different agenda and see's a much different view and future for America than we.

@MyNickelsWorth: Make no mistake about it: the movement towards socialism in the United States of America is rooted in a noxious mix of anti-theism, agnostic/apathetic secularism and anti-Biblical liberal theology. Islam is barely a blip in this movement. Its primary role will be as a convenient example of religious extremism to be used to suppress, not Muslims, but Christians who hold to biblical inerrancy.

The notion of using Islam to tar Christians seems ridiculous, but socialist totalitarian states have a long record of using emotion based on insanely illogical ideas to whip up the masses against a particular group they perceive as a threat to their dominance. If you don't believe this, check out the remarks by various high-ranking government functionaries comparing American Christians to the Taliban.

Dear Mark,

the paragraph on corruption in today's Post was striking. As we have seen in the public markets of late (LFT, Sino Forest and many others), there is massive fraud in the financial markets in China (even worse than here).

It certainly should come to no surprise to us that the same level of fraud has invaded their government, although direct "embezzlement" is only the tip of the iceberg. Fraudulent loans, payoffs and organized crime are rampant according to boots the ground sources and many recent news stories.

It is my fervent hope that when this all is dragged to the light of day that the social unrest that is inevitable does not turn into a backlash against free market principles. It takes honest citizens to make a free market work hand in hand with the rule of law. I fear the Chinese citizenry will be so "dismayed" with the massive breach of faith that there will be those who try to turn them in another direction.

Our greatest service to the Chinese would be to support and help them to clean up their system while staying true to what a free market requires...principled citizens fairly competing.

We could use a strong dose of that here in our own country,btw.

sincerely,

joeb

Old saying: China is a sleeping dragon, let her sleep. Well the dragon is awake. We have a choice,

Speak softly while maintaining a big stick or

cowtow!

"Jesus in Beijing" by David Aikman

David has traveled extensively to China and was former Beijing bureau chief for Time magazine. This book written in 2003 documents how Christianity is transforming China and changing the global balance of power. The book begins with words from a lecture by a scholar from one of China's premier academic research institutes, the Chinese Acadmy of Social Sciences (CASS) in Beijing in 2002. Here is what he said:

"One of the things we were asked to look into was what accounted for the success, in fact, the pre-eminence of the West all over the world. We studied everything we could from the historical, political, economic, and cultural perspective. At first, we thought it was because you had more powerful guns than we had. Then we thought it was because you had the best political system. Next we focused on your economic system. But in the past 20 years, we have realized that the heart of your culture is your religion: Christianity. THat is why the Weat has been so powerful. The Christian moral foundation of social and cultural life was what made possible the emergence of capitalism and then the successful transition to democratic politics. We don't have any doubt about this."

I am absolutely astounded that a scholar from one of China's premier academic research institutes can come to this "understanding truth" concerning what has caused Western nations to become pre-eminenant over the world! Yet Western nations, especially America and Europe, are now doing everything we can to root out every vestage of Christianity from our way of life and government.

Mr. Alexander says: "American Socialists have subjected ours to ever more collectivist regulation, etc., and I ask this from him? Where in God's graciousness have the Conservative been all along, while the American Socialists have brought America to this point in time? Oh yes, enjoying the beautiful ride to hell? I rest my case!

I maintain the true conservatives have been fighting the infiltration and corruption by the vampirish Progressives that have moved rightward of their Leftist brethren....notable examples being GWB, McCain, Snowe even the lauded conservative 'Bill Buckley' was enticed by the shimmering fraud of the bogus Civil Rights movement and moved into the typical Progressive aka Communist/ Statist orbit and flipped his National Review into just another primarily Progressive rag. Beware the Liar Class has bastardized many of these political terms, read Goldwater's Conscience of a Conservative and compare this to the principles of today's so-called conservatives. Same thing with 'Liberal'.