After writing about The Economist’s report on The dangers of a rising China, I became curious about China’s nationalism, which has been seen in the West as a bad thing.
While in China, I have never experienced Chinese nationalism as it has been featured in the West’s media or from the mouths of US politicians.
During the 2010 midterm elections, since the US economy was in pain and millions were out of work, China was used (primary by GOP politicians) as a scapegoat and this tactic, among others, paid off when the GOP gained a majority in the House and closed the gap in the Senate.
The China Herald reported on China’s nationalism and what Helen Wang wrote in Forbes. Wang says, “China suspects that America seeks to stop China from rising and interprets everything the US does (or says publicly through the media) through this lens. America worries about China’s nationalism and sees China as a growing power that will challenge its global hegemony. Such mistrust can be a self-fulfilling prophecy and a source of global instability.”
Instead of believing the myths and fictions born of political agendas, I prefer what the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy says, “The term ‘nationalism’ is generally used to describe two phenomena: (1) the attitude that the members of a nation have when they care about their national identity, and (2) the actions that the members of a nation take when seeking to achieve (or sustain) self-determination.
Anthony D. Smith, who wrote Nationalism: theory, ideology, history, says “It is misleading to seek to compare nationalism tout court (simply) with other ‘mainstream’ political ideologies, even within the West, their home and main arena.”
The truth is that the rise of China’s nationalism is not the real danger to America.
In fact, the real threat may be a selective form of nationalism growing roots in America, which is the rise of American religious fanaticism.
This embedded YouTube video explores the emerging religious, ultra right-wing mass movement seeking dominion over all aspects of contemporary American society.
Also, discover how the religious right has already infiltrated the US government in Separation of Church and State.
If the religious right achieves its political agenda, the US may become a theocracy.
No matter what you read or hear, nowhere does the definition of theocracy say republic or democracy.
Instead, the definition in Merriam-Webster says, “a government of a state by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided (such as the Pope in the Vatican),” and Wikipedia says, “a state ruled by clergy…”
Iran is the perfect example of a religious mass movement giving birth to a theocracy.
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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.
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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse 
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