I’ve been losing sleep for weeks over the ethics of cotton-picking in Xinjiang province.
Frankly, although I’m vaguely aware of some event happening in Washington, DC on January 6, I haven’t really been able to catch up on the details, because all of my attention has been focused on worrying about the working conditions of cotton-pickers in Xinjiang. A friend recently overdosed, and I couldn’t attend the funeral because my head just wasn’t right; I was too worked up about these Xinjiang cotton-pickers. My wife left me for a black guy and took the kids, and I honestly haven’t even had time to call a lawyer, because I just can’t even focus on a phone conversation, because I’m so overwhelmed by the nightmares of the low wages and lack of a proper healthcare plan among the cotton-pickers in Xinjiang.
Thankfully, yet again, democracy has solved my most important personal problems.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Wednesday it will detain all cotton and tomato products produced in China’s Xinjiang province.
The Withhold Release Order (WRO) issued by CBP is based on information that “reasonably indicates” the use of forced labor within China’s so-called “re-education” camps. CBP also claims China is oppressing its Muslim population in that region.
“The goal isn’t just to interdict shipments … that’s actually the fallback plan,” Acting DHS Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli told reporters Wednesday. “The goal of the WRO is that they stop and that the shipments never arrive — the ultimate goal is that China abandons these horrific practices.”
This is the fourth WRO that CBP has issued in 2021 and the second on products originating in Xinjiang. China’s Xinjiang province accounted for eight of the 13 WROs that CBP issued in 2020 — all stemming from allegations of forced labor.
I just want all of the critics of democracy to just sit and think for a minute about this: democracy just solved the biggest problem facing all of us, the problem that was making life in America unbearable – and they did it swiftly and simply.
This is democracy in action, and this is why I swear my eternal allegiance to democracy: it focuses on the real issues that affect us all, and it makes everyone’s life better.
This one’s for you, Mike Pompeo.
With the cotton-pickers in Xinjiang finally getting some ethical working conditions, we might all just make it after all.