Army Troops Fire on Beijing Crowds

As I watched the killing and maiming of the young in China and waited for our government’s democratic outrage, I began to wonder if we haven’t lost something quite dear as well. It was the loss of some of our democratic spirit as our leaders coolly and calculatedly made their tepid response of “deploring the situation” in between boat rides in Kennebunkport.

We were told by our government that it was not in our “best interest” to be too strong in our condemnation. We have “strategic military interests in China” that must be “preserved.” We have the beginning of economic trade that is profitable to us. And our own President must maintain the special ties of friendship he has developed with the current leadership in China because it is to our “advantage.”

Everything that was said made some intellectual sense. But where was our democratic soul? Could we see young people shot in the back and crushed by government tanks because they advocated the ideas of our own Thomas Jefferson and think only of our special economic and military interests? Could we see a government eat its young alive and feel nothing but fear for our business interests?

During the election of 1988, we heard a lot about saluting the flag and respecting our country. Why can’t we now hear something about respecting our democratic heritage and defending the people who espouse our ideals? Why doesn’t our government feel some responsibility for its rhetoric about freedom that may have led the youth of China to act upon our ideals to their detriment? Have we gained economic and military power only to lose our democratic soul?

ROSE ELIZABETH BIRD

Palo Alto