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To: brian h who wrote (62683)	4/24/2005 10:53:08 PM
From: Seeker of Truth	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 74559

Brian, I quite understand your feelings. But we can't prove that the regime on the mainland will never become more democratic because of the last 50 years. I knew the Communist regime well 50 years ago, which was 1955. Innocent people were never arrested because by definition all people who were arrested were automatically guilty. Indeed if they tried to argue their innocence that in itself was regarded as counterrevolutionary activity. The atmosphere of suspicion was intense. Many loyal party members were arrested. In the period, let's say 1948 to 2002, the youth of China were 100 to 1 in favor of the Communists. There was no need for the repressive activities. I did not stay at the theatre for the next acts but from multitudinous hearsay evidence it seems that young intellectuals became disillusioned with the party. Mao Tse-doong smelled this and made his famous war against the intellectuals, the Cultural Revolution. Everything has calmed down considerably since then. The party still does not acknowledge its guilt in the Tian An Men massacre but the justice system seems to have taken a step or two forward. An arrested person can now plead innocence. I don't know if that will do him any good or not. The consensus among my friends who were born and spent much of their life in the mainland is that if you keep your mouth shut the government won't bother you. That was no guarantee of safety 50 years ago. Slowly, slowly, agonizingly slowly, the system seems to be changing. For one, economic decisions, are less and less made by the party and the government, more and more by private entrepreneurs. When everybody in the society has a full stomach maybe the atmosphere will be much more relaxed still. Am I a victim of wishful thinking and are you after all speaking correctly in implying that a leopard never changes his spots? Maybe. I don't insist I have all the facts.