Two Republics – Part 1/4

September 23, 2010

America and China are both Republics. In this four part series, evidence will prove this to be a fact.

The Declaration of Independence makes no mention of the United States being a Democracy or a Republic.

The Constitution of the United States, the law of the land, says a “Republican Form of Government” rules America and nowhere does the Constitution mention that the United States is a Democracy.

Here is the exact language of Section 4 of the Constitution of the United States.

“The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion…” Source: USConstitution.net

What is a Republic?

republic n 1: a government having a chief of state who is not a monarch and is usually a president; also: a nation or other political unit having such a government

2: a government in which supreme power is held by the citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives governing according to law; also: a nation or other political unit having such a form of government. Source: USConstitution.net/REPUBLIC

Today, many citizens in the United States take for granted that they may vote for elected representatives during elections at the state and federal level.

That may be true but it wasn’t always the case, as you will learn in Part 2. Early in the Republic of the United States, the number of people given the right to vote was extremely limited.

See Dictatorship Defined

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Journalists and Jail Time

September 22, 2010

China isn’t the only country where reporters go to jail.

In September 2006, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that two Chronicle reporters were sent to prison for as long as a year and a half for not revealing their sources.

In July 2005, Judith Miller, a Pulitzer Prize winning American journalist, who worked for the New York Times at the time, was jailed for contempt of court for refusing to testify before a federal grand jury.

In fact, the First Amendment Center has a list of U.S. reporters who have gone to jail. 

The first case was in 1848 when a Senate committee confined John Nugent, a correspondent for the New York Herald.


An example of how one law is different around the world.

Then between 1848 and 1897, there were five more cases.

Starting in 1911 and through the 20th century, the “free” press in America had more than 30 collisions with the law.  

I stopped counting at thirty.

When I started to research the China side of this topic, I learned that Yahoo’s Hong Kong office helped China catch journalist Shi Tao for “divulging state secrets”.  Shi Tao was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Source: BBC

In fact, The Committee to Protect Journalists reported that in 2008, 125 journalists went to prison around the globe. Twenty-eight were in China.

 China’s laws and sentences tend to be longer and harsher, but China does not have America’s legal system or Constitution, which were designed to protect American citizens from the government and criminals in the U.S. – not China.

Every country has different penalties for crimes.  For example, what is the worst that could happen if you were caught in Turkey with illegal drugs?  Up to 20 years in prison.

However, in Singapore and Thailand, there is a death penalty for this crime. Source: Drug laws abroad

See Growing China’s Legal System

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Censorship

September 22, 2010

After writing the post Global Censorship and Corruption, I did more research and discovered that Reporters Without Borders ranked the United States 20th in their 2009 Press Freedom Index. 

In 2008, when G. W. Bush was president, that rank was 36 of the 175 countries listed.

The People’s Republic of China was ranked 168. 

Saudi Arabia, a staunch ally to the US and an important source of foreign oil, was ranked 163 – not far from China, yet we seldom hear or read complaints about censorship in Saudi Arabia.

James E. Hanson, who worked for NASA, appeared on 60 minutes and said that the G. W. Bush White House censored climate-related press releases reported by federal agencies to make global warming seem less threatening

Does the U.S. Constitution allow freedom of press and expression for government employees?  It doesn’t look like it.

In addition, if an employee for an American corporation speaks to the media without permission, he or she may be fired.

The September 2010 AARP Bulletin had a piece about books banned in America. 

Did you know that the Harry Potter series was burned in New Mexico and challenged in 19 states and the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin was frequently censored from 1789 to the early 20th century? Source: AARP Bulletin

I do not agree with what President Bush’s White House did to James Hanson’s report about climate change.

However, if the U.S. government can censor government employees, why can’t China’s government do the same to their employees?

To learn about China’s Constitution see Dictatorship Defined

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

China’s Mid-Autumn Festival

September 22, 2010

China’s Mid-Autumn Festival starts today according to Suite101.com.

It is customary to have Moon-Watching parties, and offerings are still made to the Moon. 

Around the world, Chinese and Vietnamese celebrate this festival.

For example, San Francisco’s Chinatown will host a festival street fair from September 18th to 19th in 2010. Over a hundred thousand people are expected to attend. Source: Moon Festival.org

Also known as the “Full Moon Festival,” the Mid-Autumn festival falls on the fifteen day of the eighth lunar month.

To the Chinese, this festival is similar to the American Thanksgiving holiday, celebrating a bountiful harvest by coming together as families to eat, drink and be merry.

At this time, the moon’s orbit is at its lowest angle to the horizon, making the moon appear brighter and larger than any other time of the year.

There’s even a legend for eating Mooncakes. It seems that revolutionaries needed a way to bring the people together to rebel against the Yuan Dynasty. Source: The Legend of Eating Mooncakes

Discover China’s New National Holiday, The Rice Cake Festival

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

Leave a Comment » | China, Chinese Culture, Chinese food, Chinese history, cultural differences | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Global Censorship and Corruption

September 21, 2010

Gordon Ross at Global Geopolitics & Political Economy reports that in spite of “overwhelming obstacles” in China, a few courageous reporters are exposing official corruption and criminal behavior and it is dangerous.

Why doesn’t Ross’s piece mention that there are crime fighters in China like Bo Xilai, who may be China’s number one crime fighter?

Bo’s much-publicized crackdown on gangsters in Chongqing resulted in the arrest and conviction of thousands of gangsters, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. Source: The Diplomat.com

How about crime and corruption in America?  UCLA Professor of Public Affairs Mark Kleiman is “angry about having too much crime and an intolerable number of people behind bars.”

The United States is home to five percent of the world’s population and 25 percent of the world’s prisoners, yet, says Kleiman, our high incarceration rate isn’t making us safer. Source: Reason.com

Threats and fear or reprisals and lawsuits in the U.S. have put witnesses, police, reporters and whistle blowers in danger.

For example, Serpico, the true story of an honest New York cop who blew the whistle on rampant corruption in the force only to have his comrades turn on him.

Being a witness in the United States can also be dangerous, which is why the U.S. Government has the United States Federal Witness Protection Program.

Due to many of the same problems China faces today, America also has the U.S. Department of Labor Whistleblower Protection Program.

Then Serendipity says that censorship exists to some extent in all modern countries, including the U.S.A., the U.K., Germany, France, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.

Crime and corruption is a global problem and is not exclusive to China.

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

Leave a Comment » | America, China, crime, legal system, media | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

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