  We show that the quark (not nucleon) based chiral linear $\sigma$ model which
receives strong support as a mean field theory for the strong interactions can
actually be made asymptotically free by coupling to gluons. It has the further
bonus of providing confinement.Alternatively, this theory is QCD that is
chirally extended by the addition of a $(\sigma,\pi)$ chiral multiplet. It
could therefore be a candidate theory for the strong interactions which is
somewhat different from QCD.
