Friday, October 10, 2003

Freedom ain't free

Sometimes, it's not even freedom. If you're an American reading this, you have the distinction of being from perhaps the only westernized country that doesn't allow its citizens to travel to Cuba. Even before the Iraq war, you could travel to Iraq. Canadians are free to travel to Cuba. So are Germans, Britons, Spaniards, Italians, Swedes, Danes, the French, the Japanese, and so on, and so on.

Bush thinks you should see Texas instead:

"U.S. law forbids Americans to travel to Cuba for pleasure," Bush said. "That law is on the books and it must be enforced."

Bush said his administration would be increasing the number of Cuban immigrants allowed into the country and would help inform Cubans of safe routes by which they could enter.


So they can come here and live, but we can't go there to visit. That makes sense. This embargo has worked brilliantly for 50 years. Why stop now, just because the rest of the world has moved past the Cold War. This policy saves Castro. If Americans flooded that beautiful island 90 miles to our south, he could not hold on to power. But even if he did, why should our freedom continue to be curtailed?

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