I’m bothered by something I saw on C-Span the other day. A California congressman from the House of Representatives was talking about U.S./Chinese relations. He was very upset about America’s failure to deal appropriately with China.

His grievances with China echoed many similar grievances expressed in recent years. The gist of these complaints is that China is a great abuser of human rights.

Because of China’s human rights record, some politicians are very critical of our country’s trade policy with them. Like the representative from California, they’re bothered that we’ve chosen to honor China with “most favored nation” trading status.

While I share their concerns about human rights in China (and elsewhere), I can’t say the same about their anti-China zeal. Frankly, I don’t consider China to be so reprehensible as to command our disapprobation. In fact, I’m not so sure we occupy the moral high ground implied by our posturing in our dealings with China.

It’s true that personal freedoms are dramatically curtailed in China in comparison to the United States. Born and raised in America, I consider it very unfortunate that the Chinese have resorted to such measures in their goal of creating an orderly and peaceful society.

America has benefited enormously from our democratic system and the freedom that system has traditionally afforded our ruggedly individualistic people. My personal feeling is that such an approach to government is nothing short of ideal.

However, as many American conservatives will tell you, idealism isn’t always possible. Sometimes you have to go with what works NOW. Note the weakening of the first, fourth and eighth amendments over the past two decades, as we desperately try to win the “War on Drugs.” Such developments are far from ideal.

In China, dissidents are arrested and incarcerated. Clearly such a policy enforced by any government is an affront to the human spirit.

I doubt I’ll ever forget the scene in Tiananmen Square in 1989 coming through my television screen: A very small human figure stood toe-to-tread with a tank. When the tank moved, he moved, refusing to clear the way. That was courage in the face of an oppressor.

I should now point out another image that has been indelibly etched in my memory: that of Rodney King, subdued, posing no threat to anyone, being brutally and repeatedly kicked, clubbed and beaten by members of the LAPD.

Surely, that also is an affront to the human spirit. What’s worse, African-Americans who saw the tape said that such an occurrence wasn’t all that shocking. Police brutality is a fact of life for inner-city blacks.

I have nothing but respect for our fundamentally democratic ideals, our Constitution and our spirit, but I have to say it: America is not free of the taint of human rights abuses.

America has subjected its soldiers to the effects of LSD without their knowledge. Our national guardsmen have killed student demonstrators protesting the Vietnam War. Since 1985, America has doubled its prison population. Within two years we’re expected to surpass Russia as the country with the highest incarceration rate in the world.

What of liberty in America? The House of Representatives passed a bill last year that would allow states to make laws criminalizing flag desecration, paving the way for an America that imprisons people for peacefully protesting against the government. How then will we be any different from China?

Corporations have insinuated themselves ever deeper into our government’s policies. They put nearly a billion dollars into the last presidential election, and they’ve been rewarded handsomely. The 105th Congress passed a record number of environmentally-unfriendly provisions, threatening the air we breathe and the water we drink.

I mentioned earlier that I was bothered by the California congressman’s speech. Now I’ll tell you why. I recognized his rhetoric immediately; it was “let’s have a war” talk. “Communist China,” he said, “does not even care about the lives of its own citizens.” He wants us to believe that the Chinese are monsters. He used the recent information about Chinese spying activities in the 1980s to arouse our fear and suspicion.

It seems that some people within our government, perhaps in the interest of their defense contract holders, would like to initiate a new cold war. After all, it’s much easier to rob us of our money and freedoms while we’re focusing on an outside “enemy.”

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James O’Donnell is a graduate student in painting, drawing and printmaking from Mesa, Ariz.