Wow, We’ve Even Thrown The Average Chinese Citizen Under The Bus!

According to an article in today’s Washington Times, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has stated that  that she would not let thorny issues such as human rights and Tibet prevent the United States and China from making progress on climate change, security and economic matters.   She explained to the reporters with her that human-rights issues can’t interfere with the issues of global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and security crises.

I am so stunned by this statement, I am (almost) speechless.  Why was the United States of America founded?  Is freedom only for the people fortunate enough to be born here or to come here?  Why is there a segment of our population who is still talking about reparations for slavery (a common, although inexcusable, practice at the time), when we are happily making friends with a country that enslaves political prisoners?  To say that global warming and economics are more important than liberty is to lose any moral clarity we might still have.  Define security if it does not include human rights?  Are there only some rights that are secure?

Have we become so selfish as a nation that we have no intention of at least standing up for the concept of freedom–we have it, why should we care about anyone else?  How can we criticize the UN for not upholding human rights when we are not even willing to put those rights at the forefront in negotiations with China?