National law inhibits intellectual growth
China has been lined up and ready for a long time to take the place of the United States as the No. 1 superpower of the world.
The economy has been a talking point and a subject of speculation for years, and as China's wealth has grown, so has its military forces, its trade relations and, unfortunately, its ego.
The truth is, China is no longer the communist country it once was, and has not been for a while. Its market is freer than the free-market principles that guide our country. Young adults seek their own jobs, make their own money, live their own lives. The only major divide that still separates China and the West is the fact that while Westerners are busy speaking their minds, the Chinese are still being shuffled off to prison with shackles on their feet and tape over their mouths for so much as whispering "down with Mao."
Instead of allowing intellectualism and new ideas to flourish along with the expanding economy, the Chinese government still continues to attempt to wield control over the country by filtering and suppressing the views of the people.
The irony is that while China is busy imprisoning Nobel Prize winners and jailing creative minds all around the country in attempts to crush any trace of anti-government sentiment into nonexistence, the rest of the world is standing back and watching. While China views these actions as manifestations of governmental power, to outsiders, these desperate attempts to keep the people under their control are beginning to appear nothing short of, well, desperate. It seems that it is no longer the Chinese people who fear the government, but rather the government that fears the people.
Without the freedom of expression, there is no room for ingenuity or innovation. Without innovation and the ability to progress intellectually as a country's people, there is no hope for the country, no matter how wealthy or economically strong, to develop what is needed to be a true global leader.
What countries such as China need to realize is that it is not money that drives the well-being of a country, but rather ideas generated by the people within. These ideas, after all, are responsible for molding a country's future.
So the question that remains is if China has what it takes to recognize what it lacks and, once it does recognize it, if it has what it takes to change it. There are times to keep traditions, and there are times to make new ones.
In this era of rapid globalization, it is due time for China to rise with the modern age and not let the shoddy remains of an antiquated political system be a hindrance to its growth.
The only thing left keeping China from fulfilling its potential now is the pride of its own withering government.
It is time to let the people speak.
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