COLUMN: 04-16-2008

Liberals' support of the Dalai Lama needs to be questioned as he tours America in support of Tibetan freedom from China. Just because it is right to stand against the oppression of the Chinese Communist Party does not mean that we should automatically support everyone who stands on that side. Let's look at the facts: The Dalai Lama was chosen for his position by elderly Tibetan Buddhist monks as a child and is automatically in that position for life. His position of "leader of the Tibetan government-in-exile" is scary because it would be a very bad situation if he ever gained power as a dictatorial autocrat, even if he was a so-called "beneficent dictator" (which would the best of many possible extremely bad scenarios). We need to support true democracies who support liberty and freedom for all their citizens and not follow celebrity-led fads towards an autocratic Buddhist theocracy or, even worse, celebrity-led fads toward brainwashing cults like Scientology.