In the nearly three years since President Obama took office, America has had to endure poor leadership on many different fronts, both home and abroad. From an inability to propose a serious, workable economic plan to a purposeful effort to expand an already over-burdensome regulatory environment, this Administration has been stubborn in its plan to remake America. But a few weeks ago, we heard something from this Administration that was appalling.
The remarks made by Vice President Joe Biden to an audience at Sichuan University in Chendu, China stand as a clear and shocking revelation as to the moral code of this Administration. Speaking in reference to the aging population of China and a lack of a support system by younger generations, the vice president claimed,
"Your policy has been one which I fully understand -- I'm not second-guessing -- of one child per family. The result being that you're in a position where one wage earner will be taking care of four retired people. Not sustainable."
Vice President Biden made an effort to frame what is clearly and undeniably a gross violation of human rights into an "understandable," ineffective economic policy. What is understandable about China's dictatorial one-child policy? Could the Vice President be serious in saying that it “understands” a policy by which the government against the inalienable rights of its citizens forces moms and dads to abort their children? The Vice President's absurd and dangerous proposition once again shows that this administration's willingness to pander to foreign nations before defending the rights of society's most vulnerable.
The misery caused by this mandatory, government-enforced one-child policy since its inception in 1979 has been stark: 55 percent of the female population has had an abortion and 13 million abortions are committed each year, most under duress. Forced sterilizations, human trafficking, and suicides are also on the rise, along with a startling gender imbalance in which 121 males are born for every 100 females, according to the United Nations. In ten years, one-in-five Chinese men could be unable to find a bride. Simply put, there is no historical precedent for this. To sidestep this evil violation of basic human rights by saying you "understand it" as a practical matter for the Chinese government is simply outrageous and indefensible - and an utter abdication of America's moral authority.
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Unfortunately, this has become the new normal in American diplomacy. If we can simply "understand" a human rights violation such as this, what's to stop us from "understanding" other human rights violations in other parts of the world? Yet giving appropriate recognition for human rights is not the priority of this administration. Mere 'diplomacy' is. And it causes more harm in the international community than this administration is willing to admit.
Though we in this country have refused to force abortion on the population, we have continued to allow it as a matter of choice (refusing, of course, to give the child a choice to live). America must stand for protecting the most innocent among us; the unborn deserve the right to life and these values must be protected beginning in our own country as an example to the rest of the world. Though the statements of Mr. Biden are appalling, they are not altogether surprising from an Administration which has put the right to fund abortion providers and protect abortion laws as an important - if insignificant - part of its present agenda.
After awhile, Vice President Biden attempted to backpedal, but the "clarification" offered little hope that this Administration will be pro-active in pushing China to eliminate this policy as it should. Mr. Biden's later statement may be good enough for the news, but it falls painfully short for those of us waiting for this Administration to stand a firm ground and oppose policies that are as clearly morally abhorrent as China's One-Child policy.
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