Thoughts from Taiwan

I spent the last week in Taipei, Taiwan visiting a customer.

I've been all over Asia, but this was my first trip to Taiwan, other than catching a connecting flight at the airport.

I'm sitting here at Taoyuan International Airport waiting for my 12 hour flight to Seattle, reflecting on my week.

I love Taiwan and its people. The city is on the move. People are hustling and working hard. Yet, they are extraordinarily friendly and caring.


Last night we went to Tower 101, which is one of the tallest buildings in the world. Until very recently, it also had the fastest elevator in the world. We climbed from the 5th floor to the observation deck on the 89th floor in a matter of seconds. The view was spectacular.

Taipei 101 is designed to withstand typhoon winds and earthquake tremors. Inside the building there is a 660 metric ton steel pendulum (my pic is on the left) which acts as a mass damper that sways to offset movements in the building caused by strong gusts of wind. It's the largest mass damper in the world and the building is an engineering marvel.

Afterwards, we had diner at a great restaurant that specializes in dumplings.

We were sitting at diner, looking at all of the energy in the city, the wonderful people, and everything that they've accomplished over the last 50 years. I couldn't help but think that if Chiang Kai Shek hadn't lead 2 million people off of the mainland, all of these people and what they've accomplished wouldn't be here because the communists would have murdered their parents and grandparents for rebelling just as the communists murdered so many others.

Our thoughts quickly drifted to the problems we face in America. Although the American left haven't turned into mass murders (yet), they are killing the country nevertheless.

In Taiwan and the rest of Asia, you are expected to work and take care of yourself. If you can't, you rely on your family. In America (and Europe) the government's welfare system has destroyed the family by replacing it with a faceless, uncaring bureaucracy. They've also replaced our core values of hard work and responsibility with sloth and dependency. So, you've been on unemployment insurance for 2 years???!!! No problem, Obama and his minions will let you ride out the rest of your miserable life at the taxpayer's expense.

At one point last night I told my colleague that we should take every big mouth leftist in the U.S., and dump them off in Taiwan, the Philippines or elsewhere in Asia without a penny in their pocket. If they can manage to survive a year, both they and America would be better off when they come back. I seriously doubt that many of them could survive.

It's getting close to boarding time. I am so glad to be coming back to America with another shining example of how the American values of hardwork, thrift, and personal responsibility translate into success in every society. It is so sad that many Americans are losing those very values.