When A Few Control A Democracy
The Center for Democracy in the Americas is easily the best website for anyone interested in the U. S. democracy and how it relates to the rest of the Americas.
Sarah Stephens [above] knows more about U. S. - Cuban past history and current relations than any American residing on this planet. She commands the "Cuba Central" segment on "The Center for Democracy in the Americas" website. Thus, it was not surprising that her lead essay on Friday, August 17-2012 provided the best perspective on this week's biggest story -- Mitt Romney naming Paul Ryan as his Vice Presidential selection on the Republican ticket.
Because the fascinating Cuban Revolution [1953 till today] says more about the U. S. than it says about Cuba, Romney's choice of Ryan reflects majestically on the issue of that little island coloring Superpower politics like a blanket, and like an indigenous aberration.
Paul Ryan's home state of Wisconsin thrust him into the hallowed halls of the U. S. Congress. In his decade+ as a powerful Congressman, Paul Ryan, like most decent people on this earth, adamantly opposed the U. S. embargo of Cuba, an ancient and cruel relic in place since 1962 and one that has severely harmed the innocent people on the island of Cuba as well as the worldwide reputation of the U. S. democracy. But in order to run for the national office of Vice President, Paul Ryan was forced to display what has become an essential characteristic necessary for a candidate desiring to run for any of the highest offices in America -- namely, cowardice. Thus, without hesitation as he campaigned for the Vice Presidency, Ryan quickly did his 360-degree flip-flop -- dramatically informing top Cuban-exile radicals from Miami, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and the Diaz-Balart brothers, of his sudden conversion into a stringent supporter of the embargo as well as all of their other vindictive anti-Cuban agendas!
Now Maybe Paul Ryan is indeed the man that could show the U. S. how to recover from its economic doldrums and get on the pathway toward PROSPERITY again. But if he is a gushing coward when it comes to Cuba, who is crazy enough to believe him when it comes to the economy? If he sells out his Cuban position to a handful of Cuban-exile extremists, will he not sell out his economic packages to a few special interest billionaires?
Paul Ryan personifies one cancerous fact that has permeated the U. S. democracy since January of 1959 when the U. S. - backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship in Cuba was overthrown and then quickly reconstituted itself on U. S. soil, namely Miami: "Mr. Jorge Mas Canosa, Mr. Rafael Diaz-Balart, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen...if I promise to support every single one of your anti-Cuban edicts, may I run for Vice President or President of the United States, please?"
So that's my image of Vice Presidential contender Paul Ryan, which is: He has to totally flip-flop his Cuban views to conform to those of Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and former Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart [shown above, left to right] merely to be a contender for Vice President in the United States of America. (As a democracy-loving lifetime Conservative Republican, perhaps someone on the Republican National Committee could change my mind, but I rather seriously doubt it.)
So I will return to the wisdom of Sarah Stephens [above] because she is America's best and most unbiased expert on U. S. - Cuban issues. Here are the exact words Ms. Stephens used on August 17-2012 to begin her "Cuban Central" essay on "The Center for Democracy in the Americas" website:
"Rep. Paul Ryan flip-flopped on Cuba. Before voting to support the embargo in 2007, he opposed sanctions and spoke passionately against them. Now, the Romney campaign and its supporters in Florida have gone to great lengths to reassure their conservative Cuban American base that Ryan isn't the Cuba contrarian now that he appeared to be less than a decade ago. That's the end of the story, but not the moral of the story. First, let's be clear. Romney's position on Cuba, and U. S. foreign policy toward Cuba should he be elected president, was never in doubt. On January 30, 2012, Governor Romney told a campaign rally in Florida: 'If I'm fortunate enough to become the next president, it is my expectation that Fidel Castro will finally be taken off this planet. We have to be prepared, in the next president's first or second term, it is time to strike for freedom in Cuba.' This tough rhetoric was buttressed by a ten-step white paper...taking other strong measures to toughen an already tough policy. This all-in commitment won Mr. Romney the support of Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart last year, and it is unthinkable that the addition of any vice presidential running mate would have caused him to dilute a position which started with the assassination of Fidel Castro." In her long essay, Sarah Stephens went on to write: "Mr. Ryan also told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel in 2002, that Cuban-Americans 'have their reasons for supporting the embargo and they're very passionate about their reasons. I just don't agree with them and never have.'" Never have? Well, at least not until Romney reminded him how vital those 29 electoral votes in Florida are. Paul Ryan, of course is neither the first nor will he be the last to execute a cowardly flip-flop when it comes to Cuba. For example............................
When Mike Huckabee [above] was Governor of Arkansas from 1996 till 2007 he was one of America's most prominent politicians vehemently denouncing the U. S. embargo against Cuba. But in 2008 he was a leading Republican candidate for President. That's when, of course, his cowardice rose prominently to the forefront!
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The above headline records the exact Central Standard Time minute when Governor Huckabee, eyeing a presidential bid, did his 360-degree flip-flop on Cuba to appease the handful of rich and powerful anti-Castro exiles who dictate America's Cuban policy, which dictates that a serious national politician is not allowed an objective viewpoint when it comes to Cuba.
Of course, the guitar-playing Huckabee -- like a lot of failed right-wing politicians -- now has his lucrative one-hour program on the Fox Cable News Network. As such, he has also landed a key speaking slot at the Republican National Convention.
Yes, Mike Huckabee, why don't you "Do the Right Thing" for a change and apologize for your cowardly flip-flop on Cuba. Would that be asking too much?
But, of course, the list of right-wing politicians [like those above] will continue to grow and grow, believing they have found a gold-mine of self-serving, cowardly treasures when it comes to exploiting the Cuban issue in a U. S. democracy increasingly ruled by the special interests of a greedy and vindictive few.
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The point is...the U. S. embargo of Cuba, in effect since 1962 to the shame and embarrassment of America's best friends all around the world, shames democracy in the United States most of all. Paul Ryan's flip-flop illustrates that fact. This week the front-page cover article in USA Today pointed out that 90 million Americans who are eligible to vote will not vote in the 2012 presidential election. That reflects the fact that, since 1959, the last two generations of Americans are not too concerned with their democracy. If they were, they would react to anti-democratic principles, such as the U. S. embargo against Cuba that appeases a few vindictive benefactors while harming many millions of innocent people.
By the same token, I believe the U. S. democracy can once again be strong enough to let its citizens understand the history of exceedingly important historic events such as Cubana Flight 455. That's the actual airplane above...just before...it was blown out of the sky...by terrorists.
The little Cuban girl above...was just being told...her father and brother would not be coming back...on Cubana Flight 455. Yes, little Cuban girls cry real tears too. And so should real Americans when their democracy is attacked. And make no mistake...it is being attacked when Americans are not supposed to know about such things as Cubana Flight 455 or that...little Cuban girls cry real tears too.
A closing thought: According to the hourly Google stats, this Cubaninsider blog gets a lot of hits, about 40% from outside the U. S. In one hour today I noticed that 14 hits came from Kiribati. Kiribati? After a google search I learned that Kiribati is an island nation and a part of the Pacific Ocean Gilbert Islands chain that includes such famed World War II battle sites as Tarawa. In 1979 Kiribati got its independence from England. Now, with a population of 100,000, Kiribati is a UN member and a member of the Commonwealth of Nations; it is also a member of key financial groups IMF and the World Bank. In other words, little Kiribati is a sovereign nation no longer under the grip of an imperialist power.
Kiribati spawns this thought: Little Cuba [the largest island in the Caribbean] is also a sovereign nation that, like Kiribati, was for decades, even centuries, under the yoke of imperialist powers. That finally gave birth to the Cuban Revolution in the 1950s, altering that historic situation. However, since 1959 -- for the self-serving purposes of a few Cuban exiles and their sycophants -- Cuba remains under the yoke of the world superpower, the neighboring United States. Therefore, Cuba is ostracized and infused with diaspora on behalf of two generations of the most vindictive and self-serving exiles from the U. S. - backed Batista-Mafia dictatorship on a hapless island. In this treatment of Cuba, the U. S. government shamefully implies that the ruthless Batista-Mafia rule resembled Mother Teresa and that is a blatant lie. Thus, unlike Kiribati, Cuba is not permitted to benefit from such world-wide organizations as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, etc., and, in fact, the U. S. severely punishes U. S. or international banks that -- heavens forbid! -- do business with Cuba. The fact that the U. S., the world leader in fighting and harboring terrorism, permits Cuba to be a victim of terrorism and then harbors the terrorists, further illustrates the fascinating anomaly that so severely contradicts the democratic principles of the United States of America. The unwitting uniqueness of Cuba, and its nefarious, odiferous impact on the U. S. democracy, is thus mind-boggling. Little Cuba remains, for all these decades, a shining example of how far the U. S. democracy has indefensibly veered from the splendid and incomparable form of government that my favorite Founding Father [James Madison] envisioned.
Final Note: I have never made a penny on this blog nor will I ever. It is merely a labor of love...a love for the U. S. democracy and a love for eleven million innocent people on the island of Cuba.
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