Olympic protests: Blood for blood?

The City by the Bay is braced for protests today as the Olympic torch makes its only U.S. appearance.

In the past week, we have seen images from around the world of protesters assaulting torchbearers in Europe during demonstrations against China (among other issues), and we have heard calls from many corners for a boycott of the opening ceremonies or even the entire Olympics.

It will be seen today if San Francisco’s protesters can maintain some degree of civility, but whatever happens on the torch run, it’s for sure that the protesters have missed the point of the Olympics. (And if the past week is any indication, only a handful of demonstrators will be there to protest what’s happening in Tibet. The circus in Europe brought out the usual zoo of complaints, from Darfur to animal fur.)

If people want to protest China’s actions in Tibet (or whatever else), that’s fine, but taking it out on athletes and Olympic torchbearers is not the proper way to do it.

Activists, and especially liberal politicians (are you listening, Dianne Feinstein?), who want to make an impression on China should focus their attention on the massive trade entanglements we have with that country.

Especially given the rash of dangerous products we have been receiving from Chinese factories in the past year and the growing rate of unemployment in this country, now would be the perfect time to re-examine the entire concept of a global economy.

Since at least the late 1980s, economic savants have been touting the supposed benefits of a global market. Two decades, countless lost jobs, vanishing U.S. industries and a raftload of other economic woes later, the benefits are clearly only going to a select few.

The relationship with China in particular has always rankled many Americans who simply don’t trust the communist leadership (and rightly so). Of course, China isn’t the only country we have dirty dealings with, but it’s a good starting point.

Wouldn’t it be a better world where the elites in both political parties put the interests of average Americans above their own business interests?

If you want to protest China, take aim at the businesses that are benefiting from virtual slave labor and helping to prop up China’s communist regime.

But leave the Olympics and our athletes out of it.