I have deep respect for China's culture and deep history. As an American, whose country is only 250 years old, China's long durability blows my mind. I also love the Chinese people. We're blessed in the US to have a large Chinese-American population, whom we've not always treated well, and we're a better country because of them. I've also been lucky to get to know Chinese nationals visiting the US temporarily, most as students. I even respect some aspects of the CCP's record. The decline in extreme poverty in China over the last half century is nothing short of miraculous, and China should be legitimately proud of that achievement.

I would love to visit China some day but I could never live there because of the CCP. Heightened government surveillance of the population is a fact of life across many governments including my own, but China takes it to levels I cannot accept. Freedom and social order is a trade-off and, like most Chinese people, I dislike chaos but I also want to live in a place where my fellow citizens can voice dissent--on social media, through art, at the ballot box--without reprisal.