Today’s WSJ front-page, six-column, lead headline: “Google Warns of China Exit Over Hacking.” No, it’s not a slow news day but the Journal gives this story its appropriate position to all those who champion individual rights and freedom. The story: Google was hacked last month apparently by government sources seeking to break into the email accounts of civil rights activists and 20 foreign firms. Google has notified the government that it is prepared to leave this gigantic market rather than to continue to submit to its censorship and hacking. No other major company has taken this step. Google has made the decision to forego revenue, market share, and profit and stand up for individual rights and freedom.
What’s interesting to note is that an American company is taking this hard stand. The leftist Democratic government in control of the United States did not take this stand. Hillary Clinton has made it clear that human rights would be on the back burner. Barack Hussein Obama’s uber-liberal golf buddy, Thomas Friedman of the New York Times wrote: “One-party autocracy certainly has its drawbacks. But when it is led by a reasonably enlightened group of people, as China is today, it can also have great advantages…(by imposing) the politically difficult but critically important policies needed to move a society forward in the 21st century.” This from the brilliant editorial in NRO today, “Google Stands Up to Beijing.”
Again, this just shows the lack of foundation, lack of principle of these leftist Democrats. The one principle they seem to share is perpetuation of control. And this is mainly fostered by entitlement addiction and regulatory excess. The perfect examples of this today are Obamacare and cap and trade where they have manufactured crises to initiate addiction and control.
So while Google plays hard ball in business and is sometimes a rent-seeker of the first order, it should be loudly applauded for today’s stand. Would that our government had such values.
Tom Motherway