Politics – Oscar Valdes

Black Woman Against White Man

Hello America!
We’re getting a chance to see how much we’ve evolved.
Are we really where we think we are racially and sexually?
To hear the Trump side, women should know their place. At home raising children. Mind you, that is a most honorable choice, but women in this country have been fighting for parity for a long time.
They only gained the right to vote in 1920, with the passage of the 19th amendment, two years behind England and 27 years behind New Zealand, the first nation to allow it.
Kamala Harris was born in 1964, only a year before the Civil Rights Act passed in 1965, outlawing discriminatory voting practices.
All these years in between it’s been a hard slog for women.
They’re still having old White men decide if they can have an abortion or not.
So, yes, it’s high time for women to form a solid block and beat Trump and all that he stands for.
Kamala Harris will be standing for all women this November 5th. Democratic women and Republican women and independent women. Women from the right, the left and the center.
Yes, because a woman president will open a different kind of dialogue for American women.
‘Baby, you know what it means to be one of us,’ they will be saying to Kamala as they march to the polling booth or make their contributions to the campaign.
Will Harris be a catalyst for parity in the workplace? Yes, she will.
Will women stand a chance to push up the so called glass ceiling? Yes, they will.
It will be most interesting to see leaders of industry (mostly male) having to speak to a woman president to try and gain favor.
Damn, it will be good to see that.
So Republican men who are casting their lot with Trump need to rethink their positions.
We don’t need testosterone to manage our nation. We need brains, empathy, imagination, moral strength, a commitment to the freedom of all human beings.
It’s time, fellows. If you’re falling behind in earnings, don’t blame in on women. They have as much a right to earn what you do. If you have the greater capacity, then you earn more.
If not, you earn less. And work on it if you want better.
The beauty of a woman running for president is that it puts all prejudices on the table.
So we can better deal with them.
It’s high time we did it. It will be good for us. Damn good, in fact.
I’m reminded of something the distinguished poet and writer Erica Jong once said about the feminist movement. I was in the audience when she said it. That the feminist movement had helped men become better fathers. And how right she was.
So, yes, the lack of barriers to women’s advancement ends up being better for all of us.
For we will be freer and wiser as a result.
So onwards, American women, this is your moment. Seize it, damn it.
Don’t let it slip away like you did when Hillary Clinton ran in 2016.
The world has been waiting to see tangible proof of your full powers. So, go for it.
And yes, Joe Biden made this moment possible when he chose Kamala. So thank you, Mr President.

My short books ‘Putin’s Revenge – The Final Days of Yevgeny Prigozhin’ and ‘Letters to a Shooter,’ are out on paperpack and eBook. Go to Oscar Valdes Author Central (Amazon)

99 days left to election day in the US

It’s Harris’s Moment

And she’s having a ball.
Flush with excitement, she addressed the crowd at her first rally in Wisconsin and earlier at campaign headquarters in Delaware and each time she exuded confidence.
‘People, I’m doing this and we are going to win!’
And she smiled broadly, her eyes sparkled and right in front of the cameras she went up to Doug, her husband, and gave him a big kiss in the mouth. And they both loved it.
She’s acting like’s she’s already won.
‘Fellow Americans, we got this!’
And news had gone out that in a 24 hour period, she’d raised 81 million bucks! Now that’s a lot of cash, folks. Lots of money to persuade the undecided that going Democrat is the only way.
By contrast, Trump is already depressed.
Angry, sensing that something is slipping away from him, he can’t take it. He’s bitter than the spotlight is not on him.
‘Where’s the love?!’ Trump is saying. ‘Goddammit, I took a bullet for all of you! Have you forgotten so quickly?’
And yes, Mr Trump, we very much regret that you were the target of an assassination attempt and are very glad that you are alive and there for your loved ones. But that doesn’t get you the election.
But Trump cannot resist.
Knowing that campaign funds allotted to Biden would now be transferred to Harris, he instructed his lawyers to file a suit with the FEC (Federal Elections Committee) to block the transfer arguing that it was illegal. It is not.
And then he heard that Musk was now changing his mind and that he would not be putting out 45 million dollars a month into a super PAC to help his campaign. And Musk added something about his not being into the cult of personality. Ouch! That had to hurt Trump when he heard it.
But it goes to show the impact Biden’s decision and Harris’s enthusiasm had on Musk. And I hope Republicans read that because, yes, you still have time to change your minds and vote Democrat. We welcome you, brothers and sisters. You know we love you.
And, secretly, Republican women are wondering, why in hell can we not have a woman be a candidate for President?
And they shake their heads and seem puzzled. It’s not like they haven’t had bold women step front, it’s that they have not got support. There was Margaret Chase Smith in 1964, Michele Bachmann in 2012, Carly Fiorina in 2016. Pioneers, all of them, ahead of their times. But ignored by most Republicans.
And while Trump stews in his frustration, envious of the energy and enthusiasm that Harris is showing, angry that all Americans are not thrown into fits of ecstasy when they hear him or see him show up, President Biden has quietly found his peace.
Biden can say to himself, ‘I picked Kamala Harris to be my vicepresident and she became vicepresident – the first one ever – and now I’ve endorsed her to be president and she will become president – the first one ever.’
But it gets better. Biden can say, ‘I was essential to Kamala’s political development. I chose her to be my running mate after she’d dropped out of the race in 2016, then I nurtured and guided her all these years she’s been at my side. And she learned what she had to learn, and I transmitted to her the joy of being the leader of this country, the profound satisfaction and honor that is to work hard on behalf of the American people. She learned fast and I know she will not disappoint. She is my legacy. So I now can breathe easier and accept that though my time to lead is coming to an end, I can be proud that I lent a hand in the making of our next president.’
Biden recognized that he had got stuck for a moment after criticism of his performance against Trump in the June 27th debate.
But then he fell ill with covid and he got away from the lights and the public attention that come with being president. And being alone as he isolated to recover from the virus, he reflected at length on his role as leader of the United States.
And he recognized that he had done his work and he was proud of it.
He smiled as he thought about it, feeling relieved. He enjoyed seeing the enthusiasm Harris radiated when she spoke to people about the tasks ahead.
And he knew that she was ready and she would become the 47th president of the United States.
And he remembered a little private moment she had with Harris a few months before the debate had triggered the events that followed.
They were alone in the Oval office, Biden and Harris, talking about something and he had had a rough time sleeping the night before and so he paused and looked at her, ‘Kamala, do you have trouble sleeping?’
And smiling, she said, ‘I sleep like a baby. But every now and then, I may have a little difficulty, and I will just get up and read something and then go back to sleep. You know how they say that it’s not good to stay in bed if you can’t sleep. But if I’m having trouble falling asleep and I turn and see that Doug is awake, I then ask, ‘baby, will you read me a story?’
‘Sure, honey,’ he answers. And when he reads to me, I just relax and five minutes later I’m sound asleep.’
Biden laughed.
‘And the funny thing is, it works for him, too,’ continued Harris, ‘because he tells me, “the moment I see you fall asleep, I put the book down and I fall asleep, too.”’

Good night, folks.

My short books ‘Putin’s Revenge – The Final Days of Yevgeny Prigozhin’ and ‘Letters to a Shooter,’ are out on paperpack and eBook. Go to Oscar Valdes Author Central (Amazon)

104 days left to election day in the US

No On a Two State Solution

Negotiations are under way to end the conflict in Gaza. But the conflict won’t end. It never does.
Why should Israelis live under the constant threat that Palestinians will violate any agreement they make and attack them again?
Since Israel’s independence in 1948 there have been many efforts to establish treaties calling for peaceful coexistence.
Sometimes they have come close, but the initial agreement always breaks down.
Repeatedly, it’s the Palestinians who initiate the attacks on Israel or beat the drums of war.
The Palestinian strategy is familiar. Kill Israelis, take hostages and then wait for public opinion to come to their rescue.
Just as Palestinians have failed, so too the other Arab nations.
All share a history of ganging up against Israel and yet the small nation, with the smaller army, always beats them back.
To try to force Israelis to accept a two state solution does not make sense any more.
I am sure that, as a people, Palestinians have many talents and capabilities. As a nation, however, they have deferred again and again to leaders bent on inciting rage and enmity against Israel.
From the start Israel has had a right to a piece of that land. The stories of their peoples have been profoundly intertwined. The Bible and Qur’an speak of their common origins. And yet, Palestinians have seen no need to compromise.
We can blame their atrocious leadership for it but the people themselves also bear a measure of responsibility for their unending calamities.
Palestinians have become a failed nation who’s unwilling to face the fact that a neighbor they despise has thrived and become a first rate country. A first rate country that is also superior to any of the other current Arab nations.
That has to hurt.
Rather than try and improve their conditions, Palestinian leaders keep stirring those resentments.
Other nations, eager to help (never mind China, Russia or Iran who only want to stir the animosities for their own benefit), should not underestimate the importance of such emotions. They are unlikely to go away.
Still, Gaza must be rebuilt. But Hamas should not be allowed to wield power. They’ve proven themselves incapable of leading their people.
One alternative would be for the United Nations to step in and govern that land until such time – decades from now – when Palestinians, freed from the toxicity of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, will rise to take the leadership of a modern state.
No weapons should be allowed in Gaza.
Arab nations may not want to help in rebuilding Gaza, whatever their reason, but they bear a good deal of historical and moral responsibility for having encouraged anti Israeli sentiment and its ghastly consequences.
If you have the time, go to the website for Freedom House and look at their interactive world map where nations are ranked by how free they are.
In the region, Israel is the only democracy. A little speck of land in the midst of autocracies and despotism.
No Arab or Muslim nation in the area has yet developed the capability to form and maintain a democratic government.
Wonder where Israel gets its strength from.

Still Hamas Does Not Surrender. Why Not?

Photo by Edmond Dantu00e8s on Pexels.com

Because they have innocent civilians in Gaza shielding them. Because they’re counting on world opinion restraining Israel’s determination to defeat them.
Israel belongs in Palestine. So do the Arabs. But reckless leadership has kept the flames of enmity and violence alive in Arab hearts and minds for more than a hundred years.
And the cost has been enormous. Not only in lives lost but in opportunities missed.
Jews never conquered the vast territories that Arabs did in times past when they reached into North Africa and Spain which they held for centuries.
Arab minds and their creativity gave us enormous advances in the sciences and humanities. But then the lights dimmed and other peoples took the lead.
Why shouldn’t Israel be in Palestine?
Both Arabs and Jews have inhabited that land since the beginning of recorded history.
Jews have migrated all over the world, and they have faced hatred and persecution in nearly every place they have gone.
All the while they longed to return to Palestine.
The migration back to Palestine started before WWI and then grew steadily, even against opposition of major powers like England. Then came the Holocaust and the horrors of it hardened Jewish resolve to return to their ancestral home.
When the United Nations consented to the creation of Israel in November 1947, borders were drawn that allowed for Jews to coexist with their Arab neighbors. But such was the resistance of the Arab world that immediately after Israel declared itself a nation in May of 1948, the surrounding Arab nations attacked it. And it hasn’t stopped.
Yet every single time Jews have beat back the Arabs.
It’s going to be 76 years this next May, and still the Arab world doesn’t step up and say, ‘Let Israel live!’ ‘We will strive for peaceful coexistence. We renounce violence.’
Is there any oil in Palestine? No. Arab countries have the oil riches.
And yet Arabs look at Jews with envy.
What Jews have done is affirm themselves in a way contemporary Arabs have not been able to.
Jews took what land they hand and made it cultivable. They toiled and invented and transformed themselves into a leading nation. All the while the surrounding Arabs watched in astonishment. Maybe they were asking themselves, ‘there must be something magical about that land that Jews have prospered so much. We need to get back in there.’
But that’s not it.
What Jews have is a determination to succeed that Arabs have not found in themselves. They look back on their history and know it’s in there, somewhere, but they just can’t find it at this time. They look to their leaders but they don’t get answers.
Arabs are ruled by kings and dictators but not by elected representatives. And so until the Arab peoples embrace democracy, there will not be peace in the Middle East.
The Arab world’s tolerance of the existence of Hamas is a sign of how much they need to grow politically. They seem unable to publicly reject the group’s violence toward Israel.
And so Israel must keep affirming its right to exist and keep prospering.
And the West will keep supporting them.
Israel has work to do also. They should veer more to the political center.
Coexistence with a Palestinian nation is possible, so long as that nation is demilitarized. This must be done because of the long history of attacks on Israel.
Israel has had great leaders but a man like Netanyahu is toxic. The other day he said that Palestinians should be relocated to the Congo. Yep. It made front page news.
He has yet to explain how come Israel’s military vigilance did not anticipate the Hamas attack.
Fortunately, Israel’s Supreme Court came out against a Netanyahu inspired rule to weaken the court’s power and so give himself more.
The fight for the survival of democracy is constant. Here in America we now have a candidate who wants to diminish our system. I speak of Donald Trump, who incited an attack on Capitol Hill on January 6th 2021, aiming to overturn the results of the election that defeated him.
But America will beat Trump. And his supporters will have to reconsider how to better deal with opposing views.
The enemy of Arabs in the Middle East is not Israel. It is despotism and dictatorship in their own lands.
To find their voice, Arabs must fight against those who suppress it.
Not having a voice means not thinking clearly and allowing others to choose your fate.
Which is why so many Gazans have died.
Hamas, surrender now!

The Immigrant and America

In Europe, nations are paying countries in Africa to hold back immigrants. To not let them pass.
And still they pass.
Here in America they get through. Not all but a good number.
But the newcomers are often seen as a source of distress.
Trump said the other day that they were ‘polluting’ America’s blood.
And yet, his current wife and mother of his youngest son is an immigrant.
He left that out.
In fact, his first wife and mother of his first three children was an immigrant also.
He didn’t forget that, he just didn’t think it was necessary to mention.
Of course, there are different classes of immigrants.
I’m reminded of a statement made by a white man from one of our northern states who said, ‘Why can’t we get immigrants from Scandinavia?’ or something like that.
So, yes, there’s a clearly racial issue that complicates the matter of immigration. Here and in Europe. Anywhere.
As Trump implied, it has to do with racial purity.
If you’re dark you’re impure.
That didn’t stop the boards of Google, Microsoft and Adobe, huge multinational companies, from appointing immigrants to lead them. Dark ones, too.
And it didn’t because they found value beneath the skin of those folks.
And those folks had to have a lot of value to get those jobs, because there surely were a lot of lily white people lining up to get the gig.
On the other hand, I can definitely see how a settled community does not want to see itself disrupted by having to accommodate a newcomer. But a country like Italy, which pays Libya money to keep immigrants from getting in boats to cross the Mediterranean, could use a little disruption in their ways of thinking because they’re not doing that well.
Yesterday, I saw a photo of a line of Italians waiting to get a taxi ride and they put up with it. Here in the US you just call Uber or Lyft. So something is wrong in Italy that they’re coming up short of ideas to generate economic opportunity.
Maybe some of the dark colored people trying to get in may have a clue as to how to improve things. You just never know where good ideas may come from.
I believe that something gets ossified and stunted when a nation becomes obsessed with keeping people of different colors and shapes from coming into the country.
And just like disruption is important to rejuvenate an economy, by bringing in new ways of doing things, socially, the disruption of letting in other people opens new ways to relate to each other.
In America, the South, which relied heavily on slave labor, lost the productivity war against the North in the years leading up to the Civil War. Industry was far more developed in northern states. They still had racism, but they were more open. And that made the difference.
Countries that have lots of their people leaving them are failed states in one way or another.
So it makes sense to try and help them out so they can keep their population. But adventurous folks will always try to go beyond their borders to see what they can do.
Not all immigrants will be a plus to the receiving country. But the majority will.
And the world will keep changing as it must.
To avoid rigidities.
To keep challenging ourselves.
To open our minds.
To grow.
When countries don’t do that they get leaders with limited imagination.
They get people like Viktor Orban in Hungary, or Trump here in America.
Or Putin in Russia.

Admitting Our Mistakes

Is not easy.
It’s coming to terms with our fallibility, with our imperfections.
Though most of us, in our more enlightened moments, will acknowledge that we’re flawed, in day to day life our unconscious is likely to trick us, leading us to believe that we don’t have any such flaws and if we do, they’re minor.
It takes a determined effort to remind ourselves that whatever our flaws, they are always around the corner, ready to pounce.
Thus, the importance of interaction, being open to other ideas and to criticism.
No one likes being criticized but those who are open to it march a step ahead.
Still, some things we just don’t see.
I’m reminded of walking down a supermarket aisle with a small child.
I’m more likely to see those items on shelves at my eye level. The child, on the other hand, having a different field of vision, will more easily spot things on the lower shelves.
Admitting to our mistakes can be so difficult, that some people would rather keep building on a faulty foundation than to be open about it and scrap or modify the original idea.
Any project that goes awry has had design flaws that some of the creators didn’t pause enough to properly analyze.
So they cover up and cover up and cover up.
We can’t get away with it.
We become better human beings when we are open to admitting our mistakes as soon as possible. Life rewards us for being honest with ourselves.
To say, ‘I’m not good at that, or that either. He/she are better at it,’ takes a measure of courage. But it’s easier to say to ourselves, ‘they got the job because they know somebody,’
which, in our complicated world, may sometimes be true.
Being fully honest with ourselves opens new paths we hadn’t thought of.
In structured settings, be they business or governmental, confronting flaws can be so difficult that the admission of it led to the whistleblower concept. A legal clause protecting those willing to tell the truth in exchange for a monetary reward.
Hiding the truth is in every human activity.
In politics it is rampant and sometimes deadly.
Putin has gone to war with Ukraine after building an edifice of lies that no one around dared question. Thousands of lives have been lost and more will follow.
Those who heard the lies first were unwilling to challenge them. So something started to rot.
Has been rotting for years.
Inside of China, too, as exemplified in the Communist party saying to the Chinese, ‘We have all the ideas needed for us to become the greatest nation on earth. Just trust us. We lead, you follow.’
They’ve been down that road for a while and we’re smelling the stench. It comes from the repression in Hong Kong, from the suffering of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang province, the suffocating quarantines in the management of Covid.
Democracy has many flaws and often harbors autocrats that must be smoked out, but it creates the conditions for the open interplay of ideas.
Closed systems, like the Russian and Chinese, or any other dictatorship, rot slowly.
It’s happened since our history started.
The French kings didn’t listen to the common man until it was too late and heads rolled.
Today’s kings – Putin and Xi – who are causing or supporting so much cruelty, also believe that they own the truth and so they trample on freedom of speech.
Show me a country where freedom of speech is censored and we can point to a country where human rot is growing.
Science has something to teach us to prevent such rot. In science, a person comes up with an idea to solve a particular problem, then someone else tests it to make sure it is good. Then another person does the same, validating the proposed solution.
That is freedom at work.
Of course, some issues may need decisions that cannot wait, but many issues should use more rigor to find the better solutions.
To avoid the lies. To avoid the waste. To avoid the failure. To avoid the rot.

Immigration and American Political Discord

Immigration is at the core of our political antagonism but we’re not confronting the issue in a way that aims to resolve the matter.

There are several key themes to which we have not fully applied our ingenuity and thus linger partly unresolved. These themes are inequality, racism and immigration. Address those in a comprehensive manner and we will move up to be at the vanguard of nations.

Hard to believe, isn’t, that we are not there now.

And it is not for lack of talent, but for lack of leadership willing to commit to the task.

It has been hard for the white majority in this country, to accept that immigration has become essential for the nation to move forward. Hard for the white majority of this country to recognize that they cannot – cannot – move forward this country without immigrants.

Self serving politicians will tell you that they can make America great without the input of immigrants.

But it cannot be done.

Demography speaks loudly.

Without immigrants we would not have the numbers of people or the depth of talent to combine into the productive capacity required to move the nation forward.

Immigrants from all over the world have come to our shores and begun to make their contributions. We need to keep those doors open.

Their children, those born here – the second generation immigrants – soak up all that is part of being an American. And they do so eagerly, competing with all they have to be the best they can be because it is in their nature to do so. Like their parents, they know, deep in their hearts, what it is to get a second chance.

Immigrants are grateful to this land. And once here they connect with the essence of what is being an American.

And that essence is the right to be free.

And with being free you have the right to bow to no one.

But immigrants will say ‘thank you’ to whomever, no matter what their color, if those people have put effort into adding value to this great land that has opened the doors for them. To those, gratitude is owed. Always.

The not bowing to anyone is a fundamental American right.

Have you ever seen in the Olympic games when the delegations of every country parade and come in front of the grandstands where the big wigs sit? Have you seen how nearly all countries tip their flag in deference to them?

Well, the American delegation does not.

And that same spirit is embodied in those who become American. We do not bow. We don’t do that.

It has been hard for a section of the white majority in this country to accept that our land is changing. And change will continue for it is inevitable.

Nature, in its infinite wisdom, spreads its gifts widely, across all ethnic groups of this earth.

By keeping our borders open, in compliance with our laws, we allow all kinds of talent to come to this land and because of it we have the richness that we have.

The new immigrants challenge us all, challenge us to be the best we can be. They bring new energies, new ways of doing things, fresh perspectives.

Today, a good number of major corporations are headed by first or second generation immigrants. Microsoft, Google, Adobe, Tesla are in that category.

Lamentably, there are politicians in our midst who stir up animosity against the new arrivals. Instead of helping the native, who has fallen behind, to better understand the importance of immigration, they stir up antiimmigrant sentiment because it is easy to do so.

‘Look, they’re different than you, what are they doing here? They are taking what is yours.’

Rather than to help them understand the many reasons why they’re so angry.

‘Look – the responsible leader could say as they address the resentful American – your life’s task, like it is for all of us, is to be the best you can be, but the immigrant coming in may be more creative, more daring, more imaginative than you are. So why get angry at them when they may be making contributions to your land?’

‘I was here before,’ may be an American’s reply.

But is that enough? Think about it.

The nation, your country, owes it to you, to have opportunities to develop. And you may have had such opportunities and not taken advantage of them, or maybe you didn’t have the opportunities, in which case you have grounds to complain and demand you’re given such chances.

But the nation cannot wait. The nation’s productive capacity has to keep pace with the rest of the world for otherwise we fall behind. Any reforms required have to be made as we continue to move forward, and as of this time, part of the precious energy helping propel us forward comes from the immigrant engine.

Someone with antiimmigrant views may ask, ‘look at the Chinese, look at how fast they’ve risen, and they don’t have any immigrants. Why can’t we do the same?’

First – the Chinese, at 1.4 billion people – roughly three times our population, have a vaster genetic pool than we do. Thus, greater variety of talents. But they, too, have had migrations from neighboring countries over the centuries.

Second – the Chinese are enjoying the benefits of a significant transfer of knowledge from the West, since emerging from their isolation during the leadership of Deng Xiaoping.

This new strength of the Chinese, who now have become a formidable rival to the West, should be reason enough for America to further open its doors to immigrants the world over.

To erect barriers to immigration at this juncture, would be to deny ourselves the huge possibilities of enriching our genetic pool.

What is required of American leaders at this time, is a commitment to confront the nativist sentiment. Confront to enlighten. This moment calls for leaders willing to engage and willing to work through whatever the resistances, so truth is accepted.

If we have such leaders, then we will move further on our path to bridge our differences.

If not, we will lose valuable time and set the stage for making mistakes that will dim the nation’s possibilities.

Oscar valdes. Oscarvaldes.net

Xi Replies to Elsa (5) Democracy Is Not Good For China

Dear Elsa:

I, too, am very pleased to see your country elect a new president. I think Mr Biden and I will get along.

You speak of the power of renewal. You are right in this. Renewal for us means providing the conditions so that every person can change their lives.

Because we are such a large nation – more than 1.4 billion people – our projects for renewal require massive amounts of investment, planning and a strong commitment to make sure they are completed on time.

The People’s Republic of China is doing this and the Chinese people see that it is being done. They see the roads being built and the new homes go up. They drink better water because of the aqueducts. They can go to the doctor because of the health clinics. They see themselves advance because of the schools and universities. They can play sports because of the fields and stadiums we have built. They can fly to see relatives because of the airports. They can travel on the ground with speed because of our bullet trains. It is a huge project to bring modern facilities to our citizens but we are doing it. The government is doing it.

We have come such a long way in such a short time.

You speak of democracy. I am not against it. I think it is a wonderful concept. We would all like to express our feelings and thoughts. But as Mr Biden himself said at the inauguration, democracy is fragile. Just two weeks before, a mob broke into congress intending to strip him of his victory. The electoral ballots could have been destroyed. And it happened as the television cameras rolled.

Democracy is too fragile for China at this stage of our development.

We cannot afford to derail the great project of providing the infrastructure the country needs.

We cannot afford some charismatic person who decides they want to be king, to set about distracting our citizens from the grand task of building China.

And what person doesn’t want to be king?

Our collective leadership, which I am so honored to guide forward, recognizes this human failing. We recognize, too, that censorship is an imposition on our people but our citizens understand it is a sacrifice that must be made for the future of China.

Otherwise there would be chaos.

Your nation has a great tradition and as Mr Biden’s election shows, you are able to change direction. But look how hard it was to elect the two senators from Georgia that you need to have a majority? If you had not had so much money pouring into that election, the Senate may have stayed Republican, and what would that have meant for the future of your nation?

Deadlock. Obstruction. Lawmakers who want to be king interfering with the growth of the country.

We Chinese do not believe our economic model is for everyone but it works for us.

Yes, there are problems and we must censor speech at this stage, but soon we will have achieved all that is needed so that every citizen has a chance to develop as much as their capabilities allow.

Our nations are different so let us have mutual respect.

The Chinese people wishes for your nation to prosper as you pursue your path while we pursue our own.

Thank you

Xi Jinping

Chairman

People’s Republic of China

Founded October 1 1949

Oscarvaldes.net oscarvaldes.medium.com oscar valdes@widehunmr

Elsa and Xi (4) In A Democracy We Can Change Our Minds

Dear Xi:

Thank you so much for your reply. I was not expecting it.

Tomorrow is a great day for America. The nation gets to see a new president take office. We chose a different one because we disagreed with the direction Mr Trump was taking us in.

We didn’t like that he showed no inclination to bring us together as a nation. With him it was all about pleasing his supporters. But America is composed of many groups, all of which must learn to work together.

We didn’t like that he didn’t show competence in handling the pandemic.

We didn’t like that he tended to dismiss our longstanding allies, underestimating the work that had been patiently done over many decades.

We didn’t like that he got us out of the Paris Accord on climate change when the entire world is making efforts to stem global warming.

We didn’t like the way he was addressing our racial issues.

Xi, we could remove Mr Trump, because we have a democracy and the president is up for reelection every 4 years. And even if we liked a president, they wouldn’t be able to serve more than two terms.

Why do we do this? Because we know that human beings are fallible, all of us, and renewal is essential to our survival.

So, even if the Chinese like you a lot, they should have a right to hear other viewpoints and decide if you are the person to continue leading them forward.

There are so many examples of human beings’ propensity to think they own the truth. But truth about anything is hard to own. The search for it takes time and we must be open to hear other opinions.

Science teaches us a great deal about this. To explain natural phenomena, scientists first come up with a theory. Then people set out to prove it. So long as research shows support for the theory then it is valid, but the moment new evidence is produced that disproves the theory, then the theory can no longer be supported and scientists have to come up with another one.

Science teaches us, then, that living with doubt is essential and so is the working to resolve it.

In a democracy, we can change our minds. In a democracy we accept that mistakes are part of growth and that we can rectify them.

This is why I was so disturbed when you decided to eliminate the limits on your presidency.

I understand that China has suffered from many invasions by foreign powers and that the Chinese people wish to affirm themselves in the world, but why should freedom of expression be sacrificed?

Just like inventions come up that help us do things better and more efficiently, so too with leaders. Others will come up who have a better idea to lead us forward.

To let the process work, we need freedom of speech. When speech is censored, those imposing the restriction are saying they are afraid of free thought and will use whatever force at their disposal to suppress it.

But that blocks the forward path of the nation.

Are you so afraid of what your people will think or say that you have to censor them?

To censor speech is to do to a mind what locking a child in a box will do to stunt their growth. The child will not have a chance to grow and when he or she is let out of the box their bodies will be deformed. It wasn’t so long ago, that some women in China had their feet bound to prevent their growth.

There is no justification to censor speech in a nation with the abundance of talent and creativity that China has. To do so is to stunt its development. To do is to deprive not only China of its possibilities, but the world’s as well.

Xi, you are now a respected leader. You have helped lead a nation to economic and military might. But the nation’s civic growth is just as important if it is to achieve a proper balance.

I am sure Confucius would agree.

The good news is that you can still change direction. We will all be most grateful. And in the eyes of the world you will have a very special place.

I look forward to hearing from you again,

Very best to you,

Elsa

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Xi Jinping Replies to Elsa (3) Nothing Will Stop Us

Dear Elsa:

I am glad to hear from a person interested in world affairs and with a specific interest in our country.

There are some thinking mistakes that you make, but it is understandable because your people lack the political education we have.

China is fond of America. How can we forget your great victory in WWII? And you are right. We have learned much from you and will continue to do so. We have learned more from you than you from us.

We understand that we have to borrow from the West to expedite our development. All Chinese know that. We do not see it as stealing. We see it as the price outsiders must pay for doing business with us and profiting from our great markets.

Now and then we will sign a trade agreement saying that we will not insist that a foreign country establishes a partnership with a local one, but that is just to get you to come over. Once you are here and see the benefits of working with our superb labor force, then you will not complain when we start copying your techniques to establish our own enterprises. Eventually, our own companies will outcompete you because we will make the product better and cheaper.

China is a much older country than America. You have not suffered like we have at the hands of foreign powers that came to repress and abuse us. And it is not only foreign powers that have brutalized us, we have been brutalized too by our own internal divisions.

But we have learned.

The world now knows that Chinese labor is the best in the world. The world also realizes that we are very creative. You mentioned our going to the moon. Did you know that we didn’t get help from any nation? That is right. We did it all on our own.

You mention censorship. The Chinese understand that this is simply part of a phase of development and they are willing to sacrifice.

The Chinese people also understand that human beings’ tendency to disorder – which I call human entropy – is at the root of individualism and its inevitable excesses. To counter this negative tendency, we created a collective system that is fast becoming the envy of the world. Our collective system works because it leads to greater creativity and a sense of national purpose. And it is this, along with our political discipline, what gives vigor to our common purpose and one day will make us the strongest nation in the world.

Yes, you are right. China wants to do that. And Elsa, there is nothing that can stop us.

America will not be able to. You love our products. You want more, not less.

Businesspeople from everywhere want to come here to work and invest. Like you say in America, this is where the money is.

In time, the Yuan will replace the dollar as the premier reserve currency for the world. That will be a great day. I may not see it but you will, for you are much younger than me.

I am proud to be China’s leader. Proud to lead a nation willing to sacrifice for our children and grandchildren as we march together toward an ever brighter future.

We can do it and will, for we have learned the power of patience and hard work.

May serenity and bliss be always with you.

Xi Jinping

Chairman

People’s Republic of China.

Founded October 1, 1949

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