THE FINE ART OF SELF-DESTRUCTION

I just finished reading Hidden Hand, Exposing How the Chinese Communist Party Is Reshaping the World. Authors Clive Hamilton and Mareike Ohlberg painstakingly detail the methods the Chinese Communist Party is using to enhance its power in order to make the world dependent on the CCP. Their goal is to achieve world political, military and financial domination. In pursuit of that goal members of the CCP and its allies have infiltrated, both openly and clandestinely, every aspect of society; business, academia and the media world-wide. Despite the musing of people like Fareed Zakaria on CNN, and his internationalist ilk, the CCP’s intentions are clear. The CCP is not a Marvel comic book threat. It is the embodiment of an autocratic regime desirous of replacing American power and influence. 

None of what follows is anti-Asian or anti-Chinese. It is anti-CCP and anti-leftist. I feel the need to include this preface because of the inability of many on the left to evaluate any topic other than from the perspective of race. 

What struck me page after page was how the American left, willfully or not, is assisting the CCP by continuing to degrade America as the beacon of freedom.  

The communist butchers are in the business of global self-promotion. They stamp out domestic and foreign influences that counter that effort. Taiwan, Tibet, Hong Kong, Macao and the Uyghurs can attest to the oppression that follows dissent. The CCP and American left share the desire to diminish liberty, are allergic to the truth, rewrite history, silence opposing views and seek domination through centralized power. 

The CCP forces implementing despotism are advancing with confidence and pride, while many free Americans are actively advancing ingratitude. Although, this makes perfect sense from the left’s perspective. They lack gratitude for their blessings because they have 20/20 vision of America’s imperfections but a blind spot to Americans precious legacy and the CCP’s despotism. 

The American left lacking gratitude shouldn’t be a surprise. Our educational system no longer teaches patriotism and civics. It teaches “critical race theory” by way of a victim oppressor narrative kindergarten through graduate school. Not in every school, but certainly in most institutions public and private. Take the time to read from an ethnic studies text. The pseudo-academic tracts reek with bigotry (hate for white people is racist) and a loathing for America. Consumed with white guilt and grievance group anger played out via identity politics, the left degrades America.

California recently approved a divisive and inaccurate  “ethnic studies” curriculum based on a faux discipline. Its roots go back to 1960’s radicalized San Francisco State professors. These curricula are the academic embodiment of American self-hatred. Anyone whose education is sourced to these pieces of unscholarly (the ethnic studies loons would spell ‘historical,’ ‘hixtorical’) anti-free market documents are taught that America is a land of white despotism. America, as they see it, has exploited and is exploiting various grievance groups. The alleged persecuted encompass virtually everyone other than white Christian men. Self-appointed representatives of the few self-described victim groups that were left out of the California curriculum clamored to be added as proud victims too. 

Instead of rejecting the fatally flawed document as a whole, those not included as victims demanded a spot on the grievance list. I sum up their argument as follows, ‘How dare the authors fail to include our sad tales as objects of hate, our separate experience and the lies told about our group.’ They are less vexed by the lies promulgated about America. They stand tall as fellow victims of white oppressors. They reject the American ethos of “from many one”. They would replace it with, ‘what about me’ or ‘what has the country done for me lately’. They are ethnic separatists and should be labeled as such instead of oppressed minorities. Identity politics is the language of ethnic separatism.

The CCP comrades are drooling with satisfaction watching California’s education system do the work for them; diminish America in the eyes of young Americans. 

While China is implementing a program to reignite masculinity among its boys, the left in America has tried to diminish masculinity by making it synonymous with “toxic masculinity”. Thus, the Chinese get stronger while the left attempts to weaken American. 

In full view on the world stage in Alaska, Biden’s State Department first encounter with Chinese diplomates found Secretary of State Blinken facing hectoring worthy of BLM and Antifa. Chinese diplomats accused America of racism and the slaughter of black men. Sadly, Blinken failed to correct the lies. Instead he gave validation to the lies. His defense was that at least in American bigotry isn’t covered up, while in China it is. The world watched America’s top diplomate confirming America as the land of bigotry. The CCP should send Blinken, Biden and our elite universities thank-you notes. Or maybe the CCP could help finance American institutions, endowments and hedge funds? Oops, they already do all those things.

Since the mid-60’s our educational system has been taken over by the left. China has taken full advantage by funding college departments and institutes on college campuses. Professors are offered goodies in the form of trips, speaking engagements, positions on boards of think tanks and fake scholarly institutions. Institutions calling themselves think tanks, social or educational are in fact CCP propaganda vehicles. Branches of elite American universities are located on Chinese soil, owned 51% by China. There is a price for doing business in or with China. Free speech is among the liberty losing prices paid.

More than 300,000 Chinese nationals’ study at our universities. They too are coerced and bribed to do the bidding of the CCP. The power of CCP paid tuition is hard to resist. Threats to family’s back home is an affective tool of discipline. Bribes both subtle and not so subtle influence how the CCP is treated in academic literature and classrooms. The campuses are predisposed to the CCP pitch. The “scholars” are predominantly leftists eager to reap the benefits offered. They love to see themselves as agents of ‘resistance’ to our “institutional racist” system, but not the communist system.   

An American politician was targeted with a young sexy bedroom companion and then seated on the Intelligence Committee. Can we say, ‘Fang Fang’? How about a spy hired as Senator Feinstein’s chauffeur for ten years? 

Corporate boards are swayed to accommodate CCP demands because of the immense economic carrot represented by 1.5 billion Chinese customers. Expecting courage from banks, hedge funds and international corporations would be a very tall patriotic order. Hidden Hand does a wonderful job documenting the many CCP tentacles that are sunk deep into corporate America and the corporate acquiescence that follows.

A few years ago, Google refused to do contract work with the Department of Defense but has no problem doing business with the Chinese despite censorship and despotism. The NBA is silent about Chinese internment of a million and squashing of any dissent. But they are first in line to condemn American law enforcement generically. As LeBron Tweeted while getting no league pushback, “We’re (black men) literally hunted every day we step foot outside the comfort of our homes!” Unwittingly or not he lied to millions of young black men while remaining silent about CCP oppression. I guess that’s an off court double-double I’ll give him credit for.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is the CCP’s way of making nations worldwide financially dependent on China. They contract infrastructure projects with nations thus making them dependent as creditors. Many of these nation’s resources include key components essential for technology and the military. The CCP wants to corner those resources, thus handicapping America. We found out during Covid-19 how Chinese sourcing can do great damage to America. 

The State Department’s left-wing predilection to apologize for U.S. power and unilateral action in America’s interest predispose it to weakness in dealing with China. The left’s desired treatment of China in the Paris Accords, World Health Organization, United Nations and World Trade Organization evidence a naïveté, if not corruption. They are thrilled to include China in international organizations without holding them to freedom, finance, tariff or environmental standards.

We are in a cold war with China. Only one side is fighting. Whatever problems people may have had with Trump, he is the only President since the Kissinger-Nixon opening to China who recognized and acted on the threat. He fought back. Hidden Hand reinforced for me two propositions that are critical if we want to preserve American liberty. The CCP is at war with us. The left in America is aiding and abetting the enemy.