Hello KyrosL, <<hk ... Does this freedom include openly criticizing the CCP? Can you form a party whose openly declared objective is to take power from the CCP?>>
Yes, in HK, and plenty of folks do it, and heck, I do it. There is an however, and that is the CCP can, meaning they have the freedom to, not listen
<<Can you form a party whose openly declared objective is to take power from the CCP?>>
... i would say Jimmy Lai t-salon.net the newspaper/magazine tycoon, has been aiming to do exactly that, from HK where he lives and works, and from Taiwan where he plans, though without too much, if any, success, and he only needed to fight off a mild version of harassment ... but that harassment is a political, and not exactly (as in precisely) a freedom issue, per IRS lead in the USA. However, it is both good, for balance, and entertaining, for laughs, to have Jimmy around. There are many other such folks in HK, which, again, is a good thing.
In my book, freedom is freedom is heritage.org and rights are rights, and between the two, I much cherish the form and could not give a hoot about the latter. Freedom enables one to aggregate all that can last forever, whereas rights come and go, along with the stuff that it enables on to aggregate while it is around.
Economic freedom ... it is the real thing.
Small government ... is the genuine treasure.
Political freedom ... is a right, mostly to fool the masses into thinking they ALL are in charge, which of course cannot be true.
As to Maurice's follow-on point Message 22063609 about traveling to Beijing to criticize, he forgets that China HKSAR and China PRC are two separate systems/customs areas, and the folks in Beijing certainly has the right to refuse entry to anyone they so select.
One can hardly argue the point that to be effective and as an indication of possession of freedom, a HKSAR resident and passport holder must travel to Beijing to try to preach the overthrow of the ruling party. Heck, even a New Zealander cannot openly declare that he intends to travel to Beijing and preach the overthrow of the ruling party, and expect to gain entry across the border checkpoint. Does that indicate that New Zealanders are not free? But, then, only Maurice can make such obvious mistakes of basic logic and apparent muddle of common sense.
Then, realizing his weak flank, he tries to cover himself by stating Message 22063637 something equally thick, as the dimensions of a whale sandwich, equating freedom to dimensions of geographic territory, number of freedom-seeking folks from all over the world resident within those dimensions (even at the cost of catching bad air and monstrous diseases), without devoting for a moment to think, with a capital T, why do folks from al over the world choose to live in little old HK and suffer?
As to the HK folks buying New Zealand, it goes to show, with economic freedom, and that is the only freedom of substantive value of the first order, one can choose to do anything that is legal, meaning anything that is a RIGHT at the time of reaching for the wallet. If one chooses to fold ballots, buy countries that allow ballot folding; if wanting clear air all around, tepid thinking, and a lot of sheep, buy New Zealand; if wanting Paradise, buy Bora Bora.
By the way, I think the air in HK north is horrid and has too many neighbors, and so I chose to buy the air in HK south, along with the space.
By Maurice’s circuitry, folks in Appalachia are not free, and the people in Siberia are. I always had thought Maurice is entertaining, and I am correct.
Chugs, J |
