If we were in the United States discussing the Republican Party, or England discussing the Labor Party, or Israel discussing the Likud, or Italy discussing the Christian Democrats, would we be phrasing our arguments with the same amazed distaste for 'the other' that we apply to the Communist Party in China? Are political autocrats throughout the world all that different in their desire for power, wealth and control of society? Does the ruling party in China have more absolute control than politicians in Saudi Arabia or Russia or Iran or Malaysia or countless other developing countries?

Identifying someone as a Communist Party Member in China is of little import in describing the nature of who that person is.

As I've written before, it is my belief that there are more true Communists living in Manhattan's Upper West Side than in all of modern China.