Politics and Culture

Link: http://marcmasferrer.typepad.com/uncommon_sense/2006/02/czech_out_helen.html

Why I still care about Cuba.
I wasn’t born in Cuba. I don’t plan on living in Cuba or doing business there in the future. And, I don’t feel that Cuba can threaten the U.S. in any way. My primary national loyalty is to the United States, the nation I swore to protect. So why should I spend any time at all concerned for Cuba?

First, people, anybody, really, should concern themselves with Cuba because Cuba is the festering boil in the Western hemisphere; a totalitarian drop of vinegar in a cup of democratic water. Perhaps the democratic world will never influence some parts of Africa and the Middle East to become Democratic, but Cuba is easy-a no-brainer. If the democratic world concerned itself with helping Cuba, it could actually have a great impact. Imagine if the democratic world treated Cuba, where nobody votes, the same way it treated South Africa, where, even under apartheid, people enjoyed freedom of the press and at least 30% of the people could vote. It can be done. If supermodels like Helena Houdova could take time from protesting the use of fur to focus attention on Cuba’s plight, so can many others around the world. I know why it’s not done and I’ll explain later, but my main point is that anybody devoted to freedom should care about Cuba. Now, if strangers, out of plain decency, should care about Cuba, I should think Cuban-Americans should set aside a little time or at least a few posts on their blog to draw attention to Cuba’s democracy deficiency and the misery it produces.

The second reason people should be concerned with Cuba is because Cuba sheds light on the pernicious hypocrisy of some political philosophies right here at home. I find it incredible that people, almost exclusively on the left, can complain about somebody like the admittedly not-good Pinochet yet laud Fidel Castro. Let’s compare for one moment: One took over, did terrible things to his opponents, had people vote, left voluntarily after giving his country the third-best economy in the hemisphere all the while allowing his people to worship as they wish, emigrate if they so chose, and have a somewhat free press. The other guy did terrible things to his people, never let his people vote, stubbornly broke records for continuous dictatorship, ruined the third best economy in the hemisphere until it was probably the third worst, totally controlled people’s lives-taking over education while eliminating all private property and freedom of worship while keeping his countrymen imprisoned on his island. So, who does the left want to kidnap and put on trial? I know why and I’ll explain later.

Helena Houdova: Supermodel and super world citizen; bringing attention to an un-trendy cause.