<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In my last post, I expressed hope that China and the US would\nwork together to control the spread of COVID-19. The Chinese government has\npermitted WHO officials into the country, but it\u2019s not clear how much\ninformation they are getting. Unfortunately, Beijing has not allowed CDC\nofficials to enter. It looks like Beijing is a little more forthcoming about\nthe coronavirus than with past health crises, but not much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The information-sharing problem is rooted in competing\nviews on liberty and a free economy. Most Americans want the truth even if the\nnews is bad. We reject the idea that the government should withhold information\nfor our good. We are suspicious of politicians who tell us to trust their\njudgment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But socialists believe that individuals cannot be trusted\nto make correct decisions. They either lack the information necessary or good\njudgment to do so. Socialists trust “wise” central planners to make\ndecisions in the best interest of society. Government officials might need to\ncontrol information about the coronavirus and other “threats” so that\ncitizens don’t “panic” or take other measures that might threaten the\nnation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although it has changed a lot in the last three decades, China\nofficially remains a communist nation, and most Chinese are socialists. America\nwas built on freedom in speech, the press, religion, and economic pursuits.\nModern China was built on central planning and control. The popularity of\nDemocrats like Sanders and Warren suggests that some Americans do not\nunderstand their heritage of liberty or are willing to trade some of it for what\nthey think is security. Nonetheless, the spirited debates we have and see in\nthe media remind us that most Americans still value freedom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Politics aside, most Americans demand honesty and\nopenness about COVID-19 from government and health officials. Perhaps most\nChinese agree, but it’s impossible to know for sure because it is not possible\nto accurately gauge Chinese public opinion. We do know that China\u2019s leaders do\nnot agree. The unfolding of the COVID-19 crisis reminds us that significant\ndifferences between the two nations remain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ben Franklin said it best: \u201cThey who can give up\nessential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve\nneither liberty nor safety.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In my last post, I expressed hope that China and the US would work together to control the spread of COVID-19. The Chinese government has permitted WHO officials into the country, but it\u2019s not clear how much information they are getting. Unfortunately, Beijing has not allowed CDC officials to enter. It looks like Beijing is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[2,3,5],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1327"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1327"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1328,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1327\/revisions\/1328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}