Friday, June 29, 2007

Moral Majority in a Mao jacket

People are always complaining about conservatives pushing their morals on other people, but sometimes that comes from the left, too. In this case, the pretty far left, indeed:
China plans to sack all officials found to have secretly "kept and supported" mistresses, in a move aimed at raising social morals, state media reported on Friday.

The step hardens up previous policy.

"It is a misunderstanding that officials who have mistresses would only be sacked when the situation is serious," the Beijing News quoted a Ministry of Personnel spokesman as saying.

Mistresses and "second wives" are common among government officials and businessmen in China, and Chinese media have said the financial pressures of keeping mistresses have driven some officials to seek money through bribes or abuse of power.

Corrupt officials are a major cause of public outrage in China, and the country's Communist rulers have warned that if graft is not checked it could threaten the party's grip on power.
Perhaps we should be pushing for more corruption (or more mistresses, anyway) in China.

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