Political Quotes

“the book of Genesis tells the sad story of Esau, son of Isaac, who sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. As Americans, our birthright is life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The tradition of our country has been the unfolding of those liberties, including freedom of speech, freedom of religion, including workers' rights and human rights. This is our birthright. The Chinese people do not enjoy these freedoms. They suffer under slave labor, prison labor, no workers' rights, no human rights. They suffer from religious repression. They do not have, as we do, above their center of power, the words, ``In God We Trust.'' Those words, if we stand by our values, infuse us with powerful moral leadership. That is why we need to hold the moral high ground with annual review of human rights and labor practices of China. It is access to our market which enables us to hold the moral high ground. The multinational corporations with their single-minded dedication to profit at all costs cannot be expected to defend workers rights anywhere, let alone in China. It is our duty to defend workers' rights and human rights, and we have no right to abdicate that responsibility ever. {time} 1815 Chinese workers are paid as little as 3 cents an hour. Whose values are those? The Chinese government which uses slave labor; the global corporations which capitalize on slave labor.”