Special to L. Neil Smith’s The Libertarian Enterprise

As American companies go over, one after the other to kiss China’s dictatorial… feet, I’m finding the revolt of Hong Kong against the mainland’s attempt at imposing tyranny upon the island is a neat and clear separator of those who hate freedom and those who love it.

Forget American official involvement. Some online blogger was yelling that America only intervened when its economic interests were engaged. He’s not wrong. Part of our ability to ignore the middle east and start to pull our boys home is that we are no longer dependent on middle Eastern oil. After almost a decade of Mr. Obama doing everything but shooting our fracking ability through the head, we’re producing well enough, thank you that we don’t need to be involved in the graveyard of empires.

Ultimately when it comes to nations—and something the left never understands, since they see themselves as instruments of world-wide revolution (the whole Workers of the World schtick)—they should not fight unless they absolutely need to or it serves their interests, economic as well as political and of influence, in some way.

It would inadvisable and potentially apocalyptic for the US to go to war with a nuclear-armed nation, over an island that is no part of us, no matter how much anyone in government or out sympathizes with the revolt.

On the other hand, individuals are free to express support, and keep in mind that just having the eyes of the world on them, and vocal support from the west can help. There is a reason they’ve not been crushed, yet, and it’s not China’s loving kindness.

What doesn’t help are are companies crawling over to kiss despot… feet. Blizzard being the latest of those, of course.

What helps—us not them—is to clarify who is for freedom and who is not, who wants to encourage individuals to live in freedom and who hates the very notion.

One of the big surprises was AOC signing the pro-Hong Kong letter from congress. Perhaps she doesn’t realize her entire program is tyrannical (no, seriously, there is a thing amid young liberal art majors, where they think that communism is the natural state of mankind and once the oppression is removed it will all be singing and sharing and … well, kindergarten. It’s all bullshit, ignorance and lack of brain, but it’s possible she believes this. Far smarter people than her do.) Or of course it’s possible that she can’t actually read but that’s probably unlikely. It doesn’t make her program any less heinous, but let’s at least give her credit for the fact she doesn’t THINK she desires tyranny.

For others there’s no surprise at all, mostly among our business men, honestly. It’s not even a matter of money or making money from China. They think that the mass of humanity are idiots and that everything would be so much better if they had absolute control. Which is why they hate and despise Hong Kong, the same way they hate and despise the rights guaranteed by our constitution. This ridiculous clique of techno-nerds are convinced they’re nobility and each of them tries to proclaim louder “L’etat c’est moi” not realizing they’d be the first against the wall “come the revolution.”

And even among common, every day people, it is a mark of perverse love of dictatorship to condemn Hong Kong. The idiot woman who was filmed screaming they should just turn themselves in because resistance was futile, or whatever? She was saying “I’d rather live in chains, come enslave me.”

Might Hong Kong’s story end badly? Of course it might. I expected a bad ending long ago, and am praying for them every day.

Does it make any difference if they fight and lose or preserve their lives by not fighting at all?

Of course it does.

Look, in many ways our revolution was the echo of many other, failed, revolutions.

Hong Kong is in a true impossible position. They have to either fight or become enslaved to one of the worst regimes of the modern era. Not might. Not divided government, not things aren’t going as fast as we’d like them to. If China can extradite Hong Kongers for “thought crimes” and political crimes, Hong Kong is just like the rest of China. Period.

In such circumstances, you fight. There is nothing else you can do.

And if you lose, maybe in the future someone else will pick up the flag and run.

I stand with Hong Kong.

 

Reprinted from According to Hoyt for October 11, 2019