There is absolutely no balance in some of what is said slamming. Why would you be in Hong Kong, China as surely by being here you are tacitly supporting the PRC regime as many of us like me have a choice as we come from other countries?
I think I know what it is like to be in a country where people live in fear - Guatemala 1968 where I was there for a month and doive through that entire country on the way to Costa Rica and back. It was a civil war and people feared their own shadow. Bombs going off, grenades tossed, shootings, tortured bodies and both the right and left were involved. The country was in a state of Siege - the highest level they had. There was terror in people's eyes and faces. Machine guns in your face every day including people like me - car stopped every second block at night. People in complete fear of who they spoke to even Americans there. Bodies mutilated and dumped and where they published death lists in the newspaper while I was there. Yes just like in China.
I am basically only about seeing some balance in some of these diatribes.
While China has a long way to go to meet the tests in this just published US study they are heading currently in the right direction. Keep in mind what other nations who should know better and the bad things they did or do even now like torture and jailings without charges (USA) and keep China in perspective.
While the author of this needn't have focused on the God issue so much he does make some good points about what a nation really needs:
Claremont Graduate University economist Paul Zak has studied trust among nations and found that the more of these components that are in place, the more citizens trust one another.
Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/Guest+col...#ixzz1dDqcOUu3
If you want freedom and security, you need the following:
The rule of law; property rights; a secure and trustworthy banking and monetary system; economic stability; a reliable infrastructure and the freedom to move about the country; freedom of the press; freedom of association; education for the masses; protection of civil liberties; a clean and safe environment; a robust military for protection from attacks by other states; a potent police force for protection of our freedoms from attacks by people within the state; a viable legislative system for establishing fair and just laws; and an effective judicial system for the equitable enforcement of those fair and just laws.
With these in place the citizens of a nation feel free and secure. Why? The answer is in the final word of the motto: Trust.
Read more: Guest column: 'In God We Trust' has no place in modern nations