BEJING–For 81 years, China’s Congress has wielded the power of a dictatorial regime under the guise of protecting the peasantry. But apparently, running people over with tanks in the name of the proletariat is no longer fashionable. So why not try it in the name of the bourgeois?
China’s 16th Congress is now re-writing the constitution to include “advanced forces” (businessmen) in the list of those “represented” by China’s tyranny. Previously, the list only included workers and peasants. Jiang Zemin, the Communist Party chief, explained that “all legitimate income, from work or not, should be protected.” He did not offer a definition for the word “legitimate.”
Although one would hope that this is a long-overdue move towards laissez-faire capitalism for the battered Chinese, Mr. Jiang made it clear that China’s government will remain authoritarian in nature and that China is just trying to “keep up with the times.” Corruption is expected to remain an integral part of the Chinese legal system.
When a terrorist forsakes Allah and starts killing in the name of Thomas Jefferson, do you celebrate, or check to make sure you’ve still got enough ammo?