We must recognize these events as part of a global struggle between people who desire to live in freedom and brutal regimes that seek to control them. If we want to prevent Hong Kong from becoming the test case for authoritarian elimination of a democracy in the 21st century, the United States cannot sit idly by. This is a battle between democracy versus dictatorship, liberty versus tyranny, and freedom versus oppression. We stood together, not as Republicans or Democrats, but as Americans united in our strong support for Hong Kong. Last week, I was proud to have joined House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., Reps.Chris Smith, R-N.J., and James McGovern, D-Mass., and several Hong Kong pro-democracy activists to denounce China’s authoritarian brutality. Hong Kong’s democracy could be the first one the CCP eliminates but is unlikely to be the last. If this is allowed to happen, it will mark a grave and significant victory for authoritarian ideology over democracy. General Secretary Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are attempting to crush Hong Kong’s democracy movement, with, at times, violent crackdowns. One of the most imminent threats to a democracy today – and one of the largest demonstrations of our time – is unfolding in Hong Kong, where millions of citizens have united together to reject China’s authoritarian regime. Citizens in countries around the world are rejecting leaders who rule with an iron fist and are fighting for their democratic rights. ![]() Demonstrations in Sudan and Algeria have forced longtime despots from power, and public rallies in Russia have reminded us that political speech is not a right guaranteed by leaders, like Russian President Vladimir Putin, who are afraid of opposition. Venezuelans have poured into the streets to protest socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro, who has bankrupted a once-wealthy country. Over the last year, millions of people have risked their lives to challenge tyrannical regimes around the world. What is interesting in this passage is the exploration of what happens to men who live under a corrupt and tyrannical regime.Lead Republican McCaul: US Support for Hong Kong Needed to Turn Tide Against Tyranny Around Worldīy: Congressman Michael McCaul (R-TX), Lead Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee ![]() In this long passage Milton is keen to demonstrate the justice of overthrowing a tyrant king, something which the American colonists were to do in their own way 150 years after Milton wrote these words. It is all these facts which make him a fascinating figure. It is not just because 2008 was the 400th anniversary of his birth, or that he is one of the greatest poets in the English language, or that he was a participant in the English Revolution of the 1640s which saw the overthrow of the Stuart monarchy, the execution of a king, the installation of a republic which turned into a new form of tyranny under Cromwell. We have turned to the writings of John Milton many times in the selection of these quotations. For indeed none can love freedom heartily, but good men: the rest love not freedom, but license: which never hath more scope, or more indulgence than under tyrants. But being slaves within doors, no wonder that they strive so much to have the public state conformably governed to the inward vicious rule, by which they govern themselves. ![]() If men within themselves would be governed by reason, and not generally give up their understanding to a double tyranny, of custom from without, and blind affections within they would discern better what it is to favour and uphold the tyrant of a nation. John Milton draws upon classical authorities and Christian writers to support his argument that the people have the right and duty to rise up in rebellion and overthrow a tyrant: Found in The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates
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