Insanity
Insanity, in Einstein's famous equation, is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. By that measure, the 2016 Republican field is the most insane in history. Today's case: Ted Cruz.
Immigrant-hating son of a Cuban immigrant, Cruz is a walking, hateful, noise-making contradiction. Rather than embody that Christian 'love-thy-neighbor' and 'treat the poor good' nonsense that's in the, you know, Bible, Cruz prefers his own brand of tough love: all tough, no love.
As President Obama begins his historic visit to Cuba, Cruz is working himself up to a Gollum-like fit. According to the Chicago Tribune: "Ted Cruz, the son of a Cuban refugee, claims that “Obama has chosen to legitimize the corrupt and oppressive Castro regime with his presence on the island,” sending political prisoners the cruel message that “you’re alone with your tormentors.” Writing in Politico, he insists that freedom “cannot happen by enriching and empowering the dictatorship.”
I love how talking to people you don't agree with always "empowers" them to the Rightistas. Any negotiation is a sign of weakness, but 'carpet-bombing' a bunch of people you don't know is somehow strong. Umm, no. If someone kicks you in the shin, the strong person talks to them. The weak, fearful one gets a baseball bat. Ted Cruz gets the Air Force.
And if you're a political prisoner in Cuba, what could your response to the Obama visit be other than "thank goodness something is going to change." Because for all the blustering and five Republican presidential terms since Reagan, nothing has changed. The embargo does nothing but impoverish both Cubans and Americans - economically and politically. Not to mention the families divided for decades.
Look: after the fall of Saigon, it took 30 years before Bill Clinton lifted the embargo on Vietnam. The result has been steady social and economic progress in a country the US bombed nearly flat for 10 years. The embargo wasn't helping the US, it's allies, or the people of Vietnam. So good.
The point is, when you've been trying something for decades (50+ years) without any success (or prospect of success) you try something different. Cuba was a Cold War pawn for many years, and nearly midwifed the end of the world in the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Since the fall of the USSR, Cuba has lost it's communist sponsor. It's not part of any ideological conflict - the capitalists won (G-d help us).
But Cruz and his ilk want to keep us frozen in that moment for all of eternity. Why? Ignorance. Fear. Plus, the same reason the US Rightists do anything - raw political power.
Rather than honor his father's intrepid foray into the US, Cruz sees all the delightfully right-wing Cubans in Florida. The Cuban population there is large and it actively votes. And it hates the Castro regime that they fled from in 1959. Or that their parents or grandparents or great-grands or great-great... fled from. You get the idea. No politician for any office will get their votes without showing proper hate for Castro's Cuba.
Fortunately, Obama doesn't need any more votes.
The other sticking point that will have to be faced at some point is the Cuban land claims. But there has to be a normalization process in effect before that bridge can ever be crossed.
No matter what their lived experience has been, Rightists never learn. They never change. We spent eight years of top 1% tax cuts, and the economy blew up. The solution? More tax cuts for the wealthy. We invaded and bombed most of the Middle East for a decade. The solution? More war in the Middle East. There is no failure that the American Right will not perpetuate. They believe that the things that help the wealthy and impress the rabble (like big explosions and promises to take rights away from, well, everybody but white men) will continue to get their bagmen elected.
Well, Mr. Trump begs to differ (in the most obnoxious, racist, mean, narrow, dumb, short-fingered, and thuggish way possible).
Immigrant-hating son of a Cuban immigrant, Cruz is a walking, hateful, noise-making contradiction. Rather than embody that Christian 'love-thy-neighbor' and 'treat the poor good' nonsense that's in the, you know, Bible, Cruz prefers his own brand of tough love: all tough, no love.
As President Obama begins his historic visit to Cuba, Cruz is working himself up to a Gollum-like fit. According to the Chicago Tribune: "Ted Cruz, the son of a Cuban refugee, claims that “Obama has chosen to legitimize the corrupt and oppressive Castro regime with his presence on the island,” sending political prisoners the cruel message that “you’re alone with your tormentors.” Writing in Politico, he insists that freedom “cannot happen by enriching and empowering the dictatorship.”
I love how talking to people you don't agree with always "empowers" them to the Rightistas. Any negotiation is a sign of weakness, but 'carpet-bombing' a bunch of people you don't know is somehow strong. Umm, no. If someone kicks you in the shin, the strong person talks to them. The weak, fearful one gets a baseball bat. Ted Cruz gets the Air Force.
And if you're a political prisoner in Cuba, what could your response to the Obama visit be other than "thank goodness something is going to change." Because for all the blustering and five Republican presidential terms since Reagan, nothing has changed. The embargo does nothing but impoverish both Cubans and Americans - economically and politically. Not to mention the families divided for decades.
Look: after the fall of Saigon, it took 30 years before Bill Clinton lifted the embargo on Vietnam. The result has been steady social and economic progress in a country the US bombed nearly flat for 10 years. The embargo wasn't helping the US, it's allies, or the people of Vietnam. So good.
The point is, when you've been trying something for decades (50+ years) without any success (or prospect of success) you try something different. Cuba was a Cold War pawn for many years, and nearly midwifed the end of the world in the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Since the fall of the USSR, Cuba has lost it's communist sponsor. It's not part of any ideological conflict - the capitalists won (G-d help us).
But Cruz and his ilk want to keep us frozen in that moment for all of eternity. Why? Ignorance. Fear. Plus, the same reason the US Rightists do anything - raw political power.
Rather than honor his father's intrepid foray into the US, Cruz sees all the delightfully right-wing Cubans in Florida. The Cuban population there is large and it actively votes. And it hates the Castro regime that they fled from in 1959. Or that their parents or grandparents or great-grands or great-great... fled from. You get the idea. No politician for any office will get their votes without showing proper hate for Castro's Cuba.
Fortunately, Obama doesn't need any more votes.
The other sticking point that will have to be faced at some point is the Cuban land claims. But there has to be a normalization process in effect before that bridge can ever be crossed.
No matter what their lived experience has been, Rightists never learn. They never change. We spent eight years of top 1% tax cuts, and the economy blew up. The solution? More tax cuts for the wealthy. We invaded and bombed most of the Middle East for a decade. The solution? More war in the Middle East. There is no failure that the American Right will not perpetuate. They believe that the things that help the wealthy and impress the rabble (like big explosions and promises to take rights away from, well, everybody but white men) will continue to get their bagmen elected.
Well, Mr. Trump begs to differ (in the most obnoxious, racist, mean, narrow, dumb, short-fingered, and thuggish way possible).
posted by fiduciary at 1:09 PM
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