Conservative Principles Now

WEST WINDSOR - At a town hall meeting tonight in front of a crowd of supporters, detractors and agitators, U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (D-Hopewell Twp.) defended his decision to vote in favor of healthcare reform legislation that Saturday passed in the House by a margin of 220-215.  "The healthcare bill that passed requires standards of private employers, improves Medicare, and adds assistance healthcare coverage for almost all Americans," Holt, one of seven Democratic congressmen from New Jersey to vote in favor of the legislation, standing onstage in the Grover Middle School. All five Republican congressmen from New Jersey voted against the bill, along with U.S. Rep. John Adler (D-Cherry Hill), the lone Democrat to cut from his party on the controversial bill. "I'm very committed to a public option - a publicly administered government operated insurance policy - in addition to preserving an array of policies that currently exist," said Holt, who next year faces a challenge from GOP Fair Haven Mayor Mike Halfacre, who opposes a public option.

Tenzin Dorjee, Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet, recently sat down with Heritage’s Dr. Lee Edwards, Distinguished Fellow in Conservative Thought, to offer insight on the ethnic and religious tensions plaguing China.

Click here to view the embedded video.

From Xinjiang to Tibet, tensions continue to cloud the Chinese government’s vision of a harmonious and stable society. Many see the CCP’s policies toward religious freedom and ethnic diversity as more divisive than harmonizing. The Chinese government, on the other hand, blames external agitators in the West for the social unrest in China. The lack of progress toward resolving these tensions raises the question for all sides: Is it time for a new paradigm?

Upon the 60th Anniversary of the PRC, the visit of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Washington, DC, and coinciding with the opening of the Fifth Interethnic/Interfaith Leadership Conference, The Heritage Foundation presented a unique forum of intellectuals from Mainland China and representatives from the rainbow of ethnic and religious groups that comprise contemporary China who gave a “frontline” perspective on this question.