Is it Okay to Buy Chinese Products Now?

During the Cold War, many of us attempted to avoid buying products from communist countries (generally China). If I remember right, Walmart had a "Buy American Program"! Today, you don't hear much about it. Buying Chinese products has become an accepted practice. The word from our leaders has been that economic freedom in China will lead to political freedom. The theory has its origins in the study of medieval through Victorian western Europe. Indeed, economic freedom often led to economic power which further led to a demand for political rights. We have bought the application of this principle without a thought and have, perhaps unconsciously, used this theory to rationalize our purchase of cheap communist goods. I am not sure the theory fits. China is not western Europe. Second, the process took hundreds of years and several bloody revolutions and civil wars. In addition, the modern world has seen economic freedom accompany some of the most totalitarian states. Inhabitants of the three Axis powers had more economic freedom than that presently enjoyed by the Chinese. This economic power did not lead to political freedom but was instead harnessed by the government to create political slavery. This appears to be exactly what China has been doing: http://www.washtimes.com/specialreport/20050626-122138-1088r.htm. The issue of Communist China often comes up in my teaching. I have struggled in recent years to describe China, but it didn't seem to be communist anymore. Now I have an apt description: fascist. I haven't been this concerned about my neighborhood being atomized since KAL 007 was shot down by the Soviets.

Is it okay to buy products from fascist China?

Peace