Reason for Hope from China...

Freedom Dogs has a great post regarding the recent riots in China

Granted, this sounds like one of the biggest riots this year, yet, but consider this stat froma story that I noticed back in mid August of this year:

Mr Zhou said the authorities dealt with 74,000 protests and riots nationwide last year, involving more than 3.7m people, compared with 10,000 incidents in 1994.

That stat of nearly 75,000 riots should raise an eyebrow even to naysayers thinking that the massive population makes this a skinny slice. It is a big deal not just by the numbers, but by the principles. The freedom dog in my is pissing on hydrants with joy over the reasons for these riots. They are little fires of independence all over the People's Republic. Most of these riots as I read them arise over property disputes, the government siezing rivers and other sources of prosperity (read Kelo) or their destroying the environment with new works projects.

I'm pissin' there right with ya, Chief! I liken this to the movie, War of the Worlds. Just when all seems lost, and the all-powerful aliens are ready to take over the earth, they are taken down by the least among us. Now I'm not saying that the Chinese people are akin to bacteria, but you get the idea. The Chinese people, having had a taste of capitalism and freedom, are now wanting it all, much like their old Soviet counterparts.

My question is (as is Chief's): how many of our freedoms are we willing to lose before we have the same reaction here? What will be our boiling point?

(Filed under World Affairs)