Dali Who?

While I understand the important role that China plays in the US Economic picture, especially in light of our current economic recession, I feel we place entirely too much importance on the issue. We worry entirely too much on what the Chinese people and more directly their government thinks of us. As a world superpower, dare I say the last true world superpower, we need to stand strong and boldly hold to our long established policies. So by now I am sure you are wondering where I am going with this, so let me explain.

Our President, and I call him that because whether we like him or not Barak Obama is our President. Our President chose to postpone his meeting with the Dali Lama, one of the worlds most respected religious leaders and advocate for peace, until after the President has met with the Chinese President in Beijing in November. While this meeting is a great step in the right direction for the US to take is strengthening our relationship with China, it should not affect the meeting with the Dali Lama. By postponing the meeting, President Obama has told China the he holds them in a higher regard then he does the people of Tibet, a message that is in direct contrast to the long-standing view the world has had of the US-Tibetan friendship.

We as a nation have long held to the ideal of independence to all who seek it, a policy that goes back to the very founding of our nation. Every war the US has been involved in has been to help secure the independence of a people from oppressors seeking to stifle their independence. The only exception to this is the war on terrorism in the Middle East. And even there we fought to free the people from oppressive leaders. Yet we now have a President and Administration that feels it should value the Chinese dollar more than Tibetan independence.

How can we claim to be the democratic leaders of the world, while we turn our backs on those who seek the very freedoms we hold so dear yet take for granted so often.