Shut Up And Listen 143

Convenient Principles
Freedom, democracy, capitalism . . . those are values America stands for, right? Oh, anyone about to nod their heads, hold up there. See, that was the old America, not the one under Mr. George W. Bush. No, the modern America is one that stands for those values, you know, when it’s convenient and politically apt.
	Let’s take Taiwan for example. As many of you know, Taiwan is an island near China that is currently under the rule of China. Well, the people of Taiwan want independence, and are planning to hold a referendum to vote on whether or not they should take an active role in separating from China. The Chinese government has threatened military reprisal if they go forward with the referendum. Now, where do you think the US would stand on this issue? With the people who want freedom and democracy or the Communists who want to oppress them and use force to do so?
	Well, you see, the thing is, China happens to be a very important part when it comes to the American economy, so it would be greatly appreciated if the people of Taiwan would just suck it up and learn to love being ruled over with an iron fist by China. Freedom is overrated anyways. Besides, you can’t start a war over it or anything. That may destabilize the entire region!
	Yes, of course, when it’s in the best interests of the United States of America, war in the name of freedom (well, that’s the current story on Iraq, right?) is fantastic and noble, but fuck you, Taiwan! You may piss off their Communist friends and that isn’t cool. In fact, Taiwan’s fight for freedom is really an act of terrorism against the US. They’re really only doing it to hurt the US, so obviously China is in the right to beat them down, because they’re nothing but no good anti-American terrorists who really hate freedom and democracy. Actually, I’m surprise Bush hasn’t tried that line. “Taiwan’s fight for freedom is an act of terrorism against freedom.” Pretty convenient to think that way, isn’t it?
	And then there’s the rebuilding of Iraq where only companies based in countries that were members of “The Coalition of the Willing” will be given the opportunity to bid for contracts. Now, honestly, in this case, I can understand where they’re coming from. American owns Iraq and they only want to give contracts to their friends. That sounds like business as usual to me (can anyone say Halliburton?), but the US shouldn’t be surprised if the countries who didn’t join up with the unilateral decision to invade another country unprovoked and take it over decide that, oh, maybe the countries that did can handle all of the rebuilding and cleaning up of the mess they created. Meaning, there goes Russia renegotiating the debt Iraq owes them, and foreign aid from France, Germany and Canada.
	“But what about human kindness?” you cry! Well, what happens if the best company for the job who would assist Iraq the most in that specific area was from one of the blacklisted countries? Wouldn’t denying them from doing said job be hurting the Iraqi people? “But they can get sub-contracts, Chad! Sub-contracts!” you retort. Isn’t that just saying that Bush is really giving money away to American and British companies, and then having other countries’ companies do the work? I thought this was a mission of aid and mercy, not slip a few billion dollars to some buddies who then give the job to someone else, but pay them far less. Besides, where’s that capitalist spirit, where the best bid gets the job, no matter where that company hails from? By not allowing competition, the bids will be higher and thus cost the American people more (guess who’s paying for it).
	And while we’re on the subject, is it necessarily fair to penalize a country like Canada who said they wouldn’t go into Iraq without UN approval, which the US didn’t get? I mean, we said what the deal was and the US went ahead anyways. Or what about the fact that we’re playing a major part in Afghanistan? Yes, you remember Afghanistan, don’t you? The previous country the US invaded, bombed to crap and then was supposed to rebuild. Or honesty, is it fair to penalize companies because of actions taken by governments (and fuck you, George Bush for making me defend corporations, you bastard!)? Not every country in the world is as closely tied to big business as the US government is. Hell, the biggest scandal we’ve had in Canada was when Chrétien had ties to a hotel and golf course in Quebec.
	But hey, this is just another case of Bush pissing off a large chunk of the world for no other reason than pride. Of course, it’s never him who has to pay the price, but the millions of innocent lives he’s been entrusted with. Not that I condone any countries withholding aid to Iraq because of his actions either, but fuck, this is not supposed to be about business or politics, it’s supposed to be about making life better for people! But hey, at least the Iraqi people have freedom; it’s more than anyone can say for the Taiwanese.