The Patriot Post® · Confronting Communist China

By Gary Bauer ·
https://patriotpost.us/opinion/72015-confronting-communist-china-2020-07-09

For decades, the American political class and the corporate chieftains have embraced a myth that is now disappearing before their eyes. They believed that capitalism would tame communist China, that trade with China would change China.

Once hundreds of millions of Chinese started reading the financial pages to see how their stocks were doing, they would put down Mao’s Little Red Book. Or so they thought. History may eventually conclude that this was one of the biggest mistakes ever made by free people in the history of free people making mistakes.

Communist China is a rising power. Ironically, its growing strength has been fueled in large part by our economic decisions. And while American youth are tearing down statues of our founding fathers, the communist mass murderer Mao Zedong is enjoying renewed adoration among Chinese youth.

Thankfully, President Donald Trump is attempting to reverse this disturbing trend.

How bad is the threat from China? FBI Director Christopher Wray gave a shocking presentation Tuesday describing what he is seeing. Here’s a brief overview of Wray’s warning:

  • The FBI currently has about 2,500 counterintelligence operations focused on communist China. Nearly half of all its cases involve China.

  • China’s cyberattacks, predatory trade practices, and economic espionage have resulted in “one of the largest transfers of wealth in human history,” and “the potential economic harm to American businesses and the economy almost defies calculation.”

  • China is collecting or stealing personal data on virtually every American. This is one reason why the Trump administration may ban the popular social media app TikTok.

  • The communist regime is also threatening Chinese nationals in the United States.

Two Big Wins

The Supreme Court yesterday issued two important victories for religious liberty.

In the first case, the justices ruled that religious schools were generally exempt from employment discrimination lawsuits, ensuring they can continue to employ teachers based on the values of that faith. Writing for the court’s 7-2 majority, Justice Samuel Alito declared:

The religious education and formation of students is the very reason for the existence of most private religious schools, and therefore the selection and supervision of the teachers upon whom the schools rely to do this work lie at the core of their mission…

[The ruling] does protect their autonomy with respect to internal management decisions that are essential to the institution’s central mission. And a component of this autonomy is the selection of the individuals who play certain key roles.

Yesterday’s decision in an important firewall for religious liberty given the court’s recent reinterpretation of sex and gender under the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Just how strong that firewall is remains to be seen, as it will undoubtedly be tested many times in the years ahead.

In the second case, the Supreme Court upheld the Trump administration’s authority to greatly expand the religious exemption to ObamaCare’s contraception mandate.

In spite of previous rulings that exempted religious organizations and some private businesses, left-wing states continued to press the issue. The Little Sisters of the Poor were once again forced to defend their religious convictions against progressive bureaucrats determined to impose their values on Catholic nuns and other faith-based groups.

I would like to think that yesterday’s 7-2 decision, authored by my good friend Justice Clarence Thomas, would end the left’s hostility to faith. But I know it won’t.

The culture war is very real, and I was pleased to see President Trump urging more Republican politicians to get serious about fighting back in defense of our values. That’s exactly what I have been saying for years!

Reacting to yesterday’s decisions, Vice President Mike Pence tweeted, “All Americans of faith can be assured that under President Trump, the Obama-Biden assault on religious liberty is over!”

By the way, Chief Justice John Roberts reportedly fell last month and was hospitalized with a head injury. Unfortunately for Roberts, he has a history of similar episodes. The news only underscores the tenuous balance on the high court today, as well as the importance of the November election.

While Roberts has disappointed conservatives on multiple occasions in recent years, he is still preferable over any potential Biden appointee.

Speaking of the Culture War…

Rep. llhan Omar is declaring war on America. In a bizarre rant Tuesday, she attacked virtually every facet of American life, including what she alleged was “environmental racism.” Here’s an excerpt:

We are not merely fighting to tear down the systems of oppression in the criminal justice system, we are fighting to tear down systems of oppression that exist in housing, in education, in health care, in employment, in the air we breathe…

We must recognize that these systems of oppression are linked. As long as our economy and political system prioritize profit without considering who is profiting … we will perpetuate this inequality. So … we must begin the work of dismantling the whole system of oppression wherever we find it.

Only Marxists condemn profit and dictate who should profit. Only Marxists condemn America’s economic and political systems as “whole systems of oppression.”

Why is this refugee from Somalia, who is now receiving a generous six-figure salary at taxpayer expense, seemingly so incapable of saying anything good about America?

But, my friends, DO NOT dismiss her as a fringe voice. Far too many people are completely missing what’s happening.

Bill Clinton’s Democrat Party is dead.

Hillary Clinton campaigned against major portions of her husband’s legacy.

Barack Obama is too moderate by today’s standards.

Joe Biden is running to the left of Hillary Clinton, promising “the most radical” transformation of the economy.

We’ve gone from “Abolish ICE” to “Defund the Police.”

And now to be considered for high office among the progressive left, one must be “open-minded” when it comes to tearing down monuments to George Washington!

There is no compromising with this insanity, my friends. It must be defeated!

Biden’s Socialist Campaign

I know the president is a mastermind at labeling people. But I think one of his rare misses was labeling Joe Biden as “sleepy.” It suggests that Biden really isn’t a threat, that he’s just a caretaker who wouldn’t do anything significant.

The reality is that Biden is very woke, not sleepy. He has made it repeatedly clear that his administration would be the most radical ever and, at its core, the most anti-American administration in history.

I say that because he will fill his administration with people like Carol Browner and Tom Steyer. He’s just brought both of them into his campaign as top environmental advisers.

You may recall Steyer from his failed presidential bid that focused almost exclusively on climate change. He also spent tens of millions of dollars trying to impeach President Trump less than a year after he was elected.

Browner was Obama’s climate czar and she’s also an avowed socialist. And we’ve reported before that Biden now has members of socialist Bernie Sanders’ staff helping to craft his policy agenda.

These are the radical progressives a “President Biden” would bring into his administration and empower to control your life.

Help us defeat the radical left!