Should the U.S. Have Boycotted the Olympics

I am not pleased with the fact that the U.S. has chosen to participate in the Olympics in China. This situation is much bigger than the athletes having the experience of a lifetime. Let me tell you why I think they should have boycotted.

It has been a known fact for many years that China has no concern for human rights. Remember the uprising at Tiananmen Square in 1989 and how it was crushed by the Chinese government using tanks and brute military force? A group of students gathered in the square to voice their protests against the government's policies. It was intended to be a peaceful protest but the Chinese government decided to bring in the military - but not just the military, heavy military armaments, against a group of students! Many of those students were shot and killed! Beijing looked like a war zone.

In spite of this atrocity by the Chinese government upon its own citizens, in the 1990's the United States government voted to extend Most Favored Nation status to China. In 2000 the U.S. made the Most Favored Nation status permanent. That is why virtually everything we wear or use is imported from China. This has, also, aided in the loss of American jobs. I saw a documentary on MPT last year that some of the people who work in the factories in China live in a dormitory and are made to work 14-16 hours a day seven days a week. They only make $120-$160 a month and only last in these jobs three to five years because they either get so exhausted they can't keep up production or get sick.

But this is what matters most to me and this is what makes me grieve the most. China persecutes, imprisons, and murders my brothers and sisters in Christ, daily! And, yet I am, virtually, forced to buy their goods, thus supporting their atheistic government. I resent the fact that I can barely find anything that is made in America today. I realize it isn't just because of China that we are in this predicament, but it is China that has and is committing the previously mentioned atrocities. When Ross Perot ran for President he said that if we ratified NAFTA we would hear that, "giant sucking sound, all of our jobs going overseas." Whether you agreed with him or not, years later this has proven to be true.

I think we send a wrong message to the world by participating in the Olympics in China. I know our athletes worked and trained hard and they deserve to be there. But I think we, as a free nation should realize that there is a lot more at stake here than just athletics. As we have heard over and over in the media, China realizes it. This is about taking a stand for freedom, whether it be religious freedom or human rights. I wish all the athletes well and I have nothing against the Chinese people. But I have a whole lot against an atheistic government who commits murder everyday and has no remorse for having no human rights. For more information on what China has done to help their image for the Olympics go to: http://www.persecution.com/topStory_telecast.html, also view the video at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6inWKFKv9UA&feature=related.