Where I approve of President Bush: A post for my mother-in-law
In an offhanded comment, I mentioned that if my mother-in-law e-mailed me something, I'd write a positive post about President Bush. She did, so I've scanned the headlines for the last few day and come up with two positive moves by President Bush and his administration. JM-this is for you...While in China, President Bush attended an official, state-run church. While I would have preferred he visit one of the many underground churches that supposedly operate in China, I know that is impossible. After attending the service, President Bush said, ""My hope is that the government of China will not fear Christians who gather to worship openly," and added, "A healthy society is a society that welcomes all faiths." This certainly supports my JIF (Justice, Independence, Freedom) principle. I've read that Soviet dissidents appreciated Reagan meeting with Soviet-approved dissidents during his trip there, so I can only assume that Bush's hardy support for freedom of religion will be received in a similar fashion by Christians there.
Now, with the upcoming Hong Kong talks in the Doha round of trade agreements, Reuters is reporting "the Bush administration would oppose any legislation emerging from Congress that would mark a step toward trade protectionism, a senior U.S. Treasury official said on Monday. "We're focusing on open markets ... we're focusing on a successful Doha (global trade) round," U.S. Treasury Under Secretary for International Affairs Tim Adams told reporters.
As a progressive who is concerned not only with how the economic pie is sliced, but how to grow the pie, the move toward free trade and away from protectionism is vitally important. The only way to lift millions, heck billions of people out of poverty is to grow the global economic pie through free and fair trade. Free and fair trade isn't always perfect, but protectionism is a sure-fire way to restrict global economic growth.
posted by Expat Teacher @ 8:22 AM
