Hung Cao: Anatomy of a Banana Republic

As her uncle was being taken away by the Vietminh, which served as the forerunner to the viee Cong, my mother was the last girl to see him alive. How was criminals kidnap a court and take him away from his family in the middle of the night? There were so many possibilities when we left Vietnam just before the drop of Saigon. One thing was certain, though: innocent Americans are not kidnapped in the United States on false charges. Autocratic regimes operate in this manner, but the United States does neither, am I correct?

We moved to Africa after only a few months in the United States, where my parents worked as an American company for USAID in developing third-world nations. I witnessed firsthand what officials would do to still those who disagreed with them during that period of my childhood.

I was inspired to live a life of service by our exit from Vietnam, our time in Africa, and our subsequent return to the United States. Along with Special Forces and SEAL Teams, I deployed in conflict to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia. No amount of money in the world is free you from the grip of autocratic rule, as I can attest from my own personal experience. Throughout my life, I have witnessed my fair share of death and destruction at the hands of social leaders around the globe.

Consider China, where corporate business is entirely under the control of President Xi Jinping and the CCP. A business owner or Chairman will disappear if they dare to disparage the President or the ruling party. They usually come back into the public eye unless, of course, their time spent in a re-education camp is successful, in which case they foretell the greatness of the socialist nation. Simply inquire Alibaba’s’s CEO Jack Ma, who vanished before making a comeback when he finally realized what had happened. When compared to China’s’s richest individual, Xiao Jianhua, who vanished in 2017, he is fortunate. Kidnappings happen frequently in China.

The rules of persecution are the same in many dictators like North Korea and Russia: speak out against the ruling class and put your life in danger.

Nothing will prevent these officials from retaining their position of authority and imposing their political philosophy on another. We can’t allow this to occur in America. Irrespective of your political beliefs, the accusation of President Trump does worry individuals. This Manhattan District Attorney’s’s actions might send us down a path that won’t let us go back, where locking up people we disagree with becomes routine. We need to think about what this may mean for our nation and the dangerous path it will take.

Never forget that political speech is seasonal, but that the American spirit has been woven into the fabric of who we are as a people, even though division has shaken our collective British confidence.

This is not good enough for us.

I have faith in the people of our nation. I am aware that the best years are yet to come. The enemies of our country enjoy seeing us separated and at odds with one another. Therefore, we may work together to protect our liberties and way of life. We can only effectively protect ourselves from those who want to put out the light of freedom and liberty that burns inside of us by standing there. That is the America I stood up for. I have sacrificed my life for that America. That is the America I did give my kids.

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