Posted by
Mike Silverman on Tuesday, April 14, 2009 12:09:06 PM
You can't base US policy on "hope". We can sit around forever "hoping" that Palestinians will stop attacking Israel as we advocate peace, and we can open up trading with Cuba "hoping" that it will change things for Cuban people, neither of which will happen because of us "hoping" for it. HOPE is not a foriegn policy, it's a slick campaign advertisement for Obama's Presidential aspirations. When you have real, visible, changes in place proving that Cuba is moving toward freedom and free markets, you can ease restrictions. Otherwise you end up enriching an oppressive regime as we have done with China and Saudi Arabia. What good is it to open trade markets to Cuba when the Cuban government simply confiscates property and money as it sees fit on the hard working backs of its long suffering population. Cuban nationals who have been imprisoned by Castro for daring to speak out against his tyranny will not be saved by the lifting of trade or travel restrictions. Rewarding the tyranny of the Cuban government by making thier regime more powerful as a trade partner with the United States is only going to embolden the tyrant. As for amnesty for illegal aliens in the United States, the problem is that it's not a fair application of our domestic laws. For the law to be superseded by the whims of a political party for political goals allowing a certain subset of residents who have arrived in this country under cover with no intent of becoming legal legitimate normalized citizens, To suddenly be rewarded by not having to obey the same process that others seeking legal citizenship through proper channels have to follow is an outrage to all legal United States citizens and a rebuke of the rule of law. That is why the outrage in the public built up last time, and why it still exists.
- Mike Silverman