Why are the Democratic Socialists Silent on Cuban Protesters?
UPDATE! Bernie Sanders late Monday night! You know, at a time when most people would miss it. Still no word from the others.
***I will update this post with any statements they make. If you see anything please let me know on Twitter.
UPDATE 9:22 A.M.: I just saw Sanders tweet from last night. Of course, he brings up the U.S.
All people have the right to protest and to live in a democratic society. I call on the Cuban government to respect opposition rights and refrain from violence. It’s also long past time to end the unilateral U.S. embargo on Cuba, which has only hurt, not helped, the Cuban people.
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) July 13, 2021
Previous Reporting
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is a self-described socialist. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) describes herself as a Democratic socialist. The rest of The Squad are far-left.
They love their socialism. They love big government. Sanders once praised Fidel Castro’s policies.
Communism. Socialism. I’m an ex-socialist. There’s not too much of a difference. Plus, the left thinks putting “Democratic” in front of socialism makes it okay and different enough from regular old socialism.
Cubans across the island rose up against the brutal Communist regime on Sunday. They demanded an end to the dictatorship. They want food. They want access to COVID-19 vaccines.
The Cubans want freedom.
I hear silence from Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez, Rep.Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI).
President Joe Biden’s administration said it stands with the Cuban people and their demands for COVID relief. Nothing about the chants for freedom and ending communism. Nothing.
Sanders praised Castro after he won the 2020 Nevada caucus (emphasis mine):
Following his win during Nevada’s caucus in the 2020 Democratic primaries, Sanders was asked by Anderson Cooper during an interview on CBS’ “60 Minutes” why the Cuban people didn’t rise up and help the U.S. overthrow the Castro regime. Sanders replied that the dictator “educated their kids, gave their kids health care, totally transformed the society.”
“We’re very very opposed to the authoritarian nature of Cuba but you know, it’s unfair to simply say everything is bad,” Sanders explained. “You know? When Fidel Castro came into office, you know what he did? He had a massive literacy program. Is that a bad thing? Even though Fidel Castro did it?”
Cooper proceeded to push back against Sanders, noting many political dissidents were imprisoned in Cuba.
“That’s right. And we condemn that,” Sanders said. “Unlike Donald Trump, let’s be clear, you want to– I do not think that Kim Jong Un is a good friend. I don’t trade love letters with a murdering dictator. Vladimir Putin, not a great friend of mine.”
Oh. Sanders also gushed over Castro in 1996:
The defense during the 2020 election season came after Sanders praised the communist dictator in a resurfaced speech given at the University of Vermont in 1986.
“I remember, for some reason or another, being very excited when Fidel Castro made the revolution in Cuba,” he said at the time. “I was a kid … and it just seemed right and appropriate that poor people were rising up against rather ugly rich people.”
His comments prompted backlash from both sides of the political aisle. Sanders’ seeming affinity for communist policies doesn’t end with Cuba. As was widely reported while the Vermont senator ran for president, he went on a “honeymoon” to the Soviet Union with his wife Jane in 1988.
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Comments
Cuba was their model and its falling apart. That’s why for the first time in decades their mouths are shut.
There’s still Venezuela.
China. I mean, China.
We all know why. These little fucks couldn’t give a flying fuck about the little people.
Why? They know Cuban gov forces will be gunning down the protesters and the world will be watching.
No doubt about it. Cuba’s repressive machinery is one of the most powerful. Its spy network is the largest and most effective in the world. The G2 is the most brutal secret police. All of this fueled by narco dollars from Colombia’s narco guerrilla. Cubans will get massacred. Watch Human Right Watch! Their response will be tepid, at best. They are all sold to the narco Leftists of the world.
Well, all this seems to be black and white television reruns. Along with news paper articles we need the grainy black and white photos that used to accompany the articles. What’s old is now new all over again.
I don’t quite see the Cuban people pulling off a Prague Spring against a Bolivarian styled regime any time soon.
Better they do it Romanian style, complete with lamp posts and ropes.
You remember that too? Every time the networks showed the dead remains of the Ceaucescus…I watched.
France, 1792 comes to mind.
Only Democrats and academics can demand policies for our country that have, without exception, failed in every other country that tried to implement them in every conceivable manner and at the cost of tens of millions of lives. Only a Democrat of academic can claim these failures as outliers and that their plan is so superior in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Only a child indoctrinated in our school system could believe this sales pitch.
@Cleetus
Which policies? Lets be specific. If you are referring to:
1) Universal health care there are a number of examples that are on most measures doing considerably better than the US. Only in the US is medical bankruptcy a thing.
2) Social Welfare/Employment rights is highly successful in many European countries. Most people would agree that being able to take paid annual leave for examples is a great thing or that if you have a baby you wont immediately run the risk of losing your job
Riiiightttt….thats what they believe as they implement policies to achieve the exact opposite against their political opposition here at home and US citizens in general….
caseoftheblues: .thats what they believe as they implement policies to achieve the exact opposite
The claim concerned Sanders’ supposed silence on the issue.
My comment concerned the complete and utter hypocrital BS statement Comrade Sanders released….see in a discussion you can build off of and comment on what others have posted…mkay…
And those policies are?
Funny how you “forgot” to tell us WHEN did Sanders publish his opinion on the issue. Was it before, or after he was called on his hypocrisy?
Also funny how you “forgot” to quote Sanders’ statement entirely, including the part where he blames the United States.
You people are disgusting.
Exiliado: Funny how you “forgot” to tell us WHEN did Sanders publish his opinion on the issue.
The day after the protests began, and before this blog post was posted.
Before, or after he was called on his hypocrisy?
I will help you:
His message on Twatter is timestamped July 12, 11:13 PM.
Exilado: timestamped July 12, 11:13 PM.
That’s right, the day after the protests began, but before this blog post calling out his supposed silence was posted.
Looks like the author (and everybody else for that matter) is ahead of your brain-dead antics and hypocrisy, hypocrite.
Exiliado: Looks like the author …
So the whole point of the post is in error. The leading socialist in Congress had already spoke in support of the protests before the blog post saying he was silent was even posted.
Z: So the whole point of the post is in error.
As are many of the comments made based on the post.
If Bernie claims “All people have the right to protest and to live in a democratic society,”then Bernie is an idiot. Bernie’s brains have given birth to a set of bastard thoughts.
Neither protesting nor living in a democracy is a right unless specific political conditions obtain, and are *enforceable*. Without those conditions, what he calls rights are nothing more than wishes.
And neither the democratic principle of counting heads nor the ability to protest secures “the blessings of liberty.”
Counting heads blessed this country with Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris. What sweet victory! Praise be to the unlimited rights of mediocre people!
In recent years, the “right to protest” not only superseded the right to free speech and open debate, it extinguished the pair nearly completely, while igniting riots that effectively razed whole American cities, sea to shining sea.
Bernie’s an idiot.
thetaqjr: Neither protesting nor living in a democracy is a right unless specific political conditions obtain, and are *enforceable*.
You are confusing the right to protest, which is an inherent human liberty, with the necessary political conditions for exercising that right. Part of creating those conditions, by the way, is protesting even when — especially when — conditions are not yet ripe for liberty.
The most potent social welfare system devised to date is that described by Dr. Friedman in his “Capitalism and Freedom.”
Bernie the Idiot seems to want everything to free except individual choice, that freedom being the condition which underpins the other so-called freedoms, like freedom of thought, freedom of expression.
Zach, maybe, in your computerized, patent, always-at-hand, glib response bank, you can touch up an example of a free society which developed in which political freedom developed prior to economic freedom.
Now, will you accept Dr Friedman’s challenge to identify a counter example?
A corollary is that in the absence of economic freedom, political freedom, constitutional freedom will wither.
Look at all these “political freedoms” folks have arrogated to themselves, fabricated, made up which have been the instruments of destruction of *a person’s private property, right of a citizen freedom of movement to choose where to work and how to employ his talents, hey, maybe freedom from arbitrary arrest, some writs of habeas corpus, police and fire protection for all.*
Mr Faulkner wrote: “The writer’s only responsibility is to his art. He will be completely ruthless if he is a good one… If a writer has to rob his mother, he will not hesitate; the Ode on a Grecian Urn is worth any number of old ladies.”
That’s how I feel about little old ladies and starving children. (First of all, they won’t starve. That’s a bogus notion.) But if my feeding them champagne and sirloin forced me to give up or to mitigate any on of the essential instruments to freedom, feed them beans or give them some 40 acres of government land and a ticket so they can start their own victory garden. As farm hands,Staff these little farms with the untold numbers of Federal bureaucrats. They’d on,y have to work March to September, about what they do now.
thetaqjr: Bernie the Idiot seems to want everything to free except individual choice, that freedom being the condition which underpins the other so-called freedoms, like freedom of thought, freedom of expression.
That does not seem like a reasonable statement of his position.
In any case, it is important to note that too large a government can be a threat to liberty (and results in sluggish economic growth). On the other hand, too small a government tends to be unstable, not only being under threat from large corporate enterprises, but from people who generally expect the government to act as a social safety net especially during emergencies. Consequently, nearly all of the most successful and advanced nations have mixed economies with a public sector of about a third of economic output.
thetaqjr: an example of a free society which developed in which political freedom developed prior to economic freedom.
Economic freedom is a bedrock of liberty and acts a counter to the power of government, but keep in mind that all freedoms are limited.
Whereabouts in the known universe is such as you state written? By what authority? If you are not making things up, then you won’t mind a reference.
At least Locke’s natural rights theory emitted some scent of reason, appealed to something of science.
To what authority do you appeal in claiming protest is an inherent right?
thetaqjr: Whereabouts in the known universe is such as you state written?
The U.S. Declaration of Independence is such a writing.
Human nature is such. Humans aren’t ants.
Poland, Venezuela, Hungary, Ukraine, Cuba, Baltic States, Georgia.
Talk to the people from these countries. They universally reject socialism / communism. Many fear the USA is falling into the same trap that their countries fell into – deceived by the true “big lie” that you can have a socialist paradise where every person is taken care of by the state.
Cuba exposes the lie that if you give up your freedom – the state will take care of you. It is really just a lie to gain power and impose a different kind of slavery on the people. Slave to the State.
Ben Kent: Talk to the people from these countries. They universally reject socialism / communism.
Of course one should be careful not to conflate that with social welfare policies. Poland, Hungary, and most developed countries, have strong social welfare systems, including support for the elderly, unemployed, and disabled.
I saw full employment in 1972 Moscow….elderly women scrubbing the floors of the Metro. A strong welfare system there. You conflate social welfare with the real underpinnings of Cuba…totalitarian rule. Communism is socialism in a hurry…so stated Lenin. Why don’t you wax on about the Cuban climate and link it to the success of communism? one can be a healthy literate slave.
alaskabob: You conflate social welfare with the real underpinnings of Cuba…totalitarian rule.
Actually, we drew a distinction.
alaskabob: Why don’t you wax on about the Cuban climate and link it to the success of communism?
Why would we do that when communism is a universal failure because it is unattainable utopianism paired with the ends justify the means extremism.
“… unattainable utopianism paired with the ends justify the means extremism.”
Utopianism is unattainable, but recall all the catastrophes during the prior century in marching toward that end.
And, if the means don’t justify the ends, what does?
I hope you’re trying to say that there are ends that are achievable only by employing draconian means, such as mass incarceration and mass murder.
That’s what you meant to say, isn’t it? Not being a proponent of of Utopianism and all.
thetaqjr: Utopianism is unattainable, but recall all the catastrophes during the prior century in marching toward that end.
Sure.
thetaqjr: And, if the means don’t justify the ends, what does?
The means tend to define the ends.
The phrase “ends justify the means” is a description of extremism, that regardless of the means employed, as long as the envisioned end is good, then the means are justified.
However, when the ends are unattainable and when the means are extremist, there is no end to the damage that can be done.
Where is the final firm wall beyond which there is no more march to additional socialism (on the road to communism)? I give you the Milgram Experiment….. there is no wall. No one dares to yell “enough”! Even the most destructive ideologies have some “redeeming” points. The classic ones now are literacy, “healhcare”, equity, “community”. “We haven’t done enough”…or “this is a first step”… never are retired. The misdirection and avoidance of needed and legitimate criticsim and action against the Cuban government is the tacit acknowledgement that the administration feels that any problems must be worked out within the supported framework of communism… in order to sustain Cuban communism.
alaskabob: Where is the final firm wall beyond which there is no more march to additional socialism
In a democratic system, the people decide.
alaskabob: there is no wall.
That’s clearly not the case. Nearly every successful democratic system has a mixed economy.
I meant to insert here.
The most potent social welfare system devised to date is that described by Dr. Friedman in his “Capitalism and Freedom.”
Bernie the Idiot seems to want everything to free except individual choice, that freedom being the condition which underpins the other so-called freedoms, like freedom of thought, freedom of expression.
Zach, maybe, in your computerized, patent, always-at-hand, glib response bank, you can touch up an example of a free society which developed in which political freedom developed prior to economic freedom.
Now, will you accept Dr Friedman’s challenge to identify a counter example?
A corollary is that in the absence of economic freedom, political freedom, constitutional freedom will wither.
Look at all these “political freedoms” folks have arrogated to themselves, fabricated, made up which have been the instruments of destruction of *a person’s private property, right of a citizen freedom of movement to choose where to work and how to employ his talents, hey, maybe freedom from arbitrary arrest, some writs of habeas corpus, police and fire protection for all.*
Mr Faulkner wrote: “The writer’s only responsibility is to his art. He will be completely ruthless if he is a good one… If a writer has to rob his mother, he will not hesitate; the Ode on a Grecian Urn is worth any number of old ladies.”
That’s how I feel about little old ladies and starving children. (First of all, they won’t starve. That’s a bogus notion.) But if my feeding them champagne and sirloin forced me to give up or to mitigate any on of the essential instruments to freedom, feed them beans or give them some 40 acres of government land and a ticket so they can start their own victory garden. As farm hands,Staff these little farms with the untold numbers of Federal bureaucrats. They’d on,y have to work March to September, about what they do now.
This appears to be a repost, which we answered above.
I wrote that the original was misplaced in the thread. Now,
from your phrase “ends justify the means” is a description of extremism, that regardless of the means employed, as long as the envisioned end is good, then the means are justified,” I cannot tell from your statement if you are claiming that the state should be allowed means any means to accomplish to activate its dictates as long as the envisioned end is good?
If that’s your claim, then I ask, “Whose vision of the good? The state’s vision? To whose good?”
The state already has me submit to doing or prevents my doing things not only I, but most of the chaps posting here believe are not good at all, not only at the individual level of action, but also not good for the general welfare of the citizens.
In fact, the whole point of the exchanges here originate in the idea that the state has no idea about what’s the good is. The interpretation of the Constitution re abortion, gun laws, taxes, immigration —- almost every idea encompassed in the Constitution.
It’s not just that what the state aims to do is not good on how it treats ideas and actions, it’s not even neutral. They do bad things to people. They use force. They scare hell out of people.
thetaqjr: I cannot tell from your statement if you are claiming that the state should be allowed means any means to accomplish to activate its dictates as long as the envisioned end is good?
In communism, the envisioned end is unattainable so there is no end to the extreme means.
But even when the ends are plausibly attainable, the means tend to define the ends. Violent means often lead to violent ends. We refer you to the Prudence Principle, a firm statement of conservative principles:
And in case you are still confused, the answer is no. Government must need be constrained.
In a modern democracy, power is distributed at many levels; national and local; executive, legislative, judicial; political parties and civic organizations, churches, clubs, families, neighborhoods, elections, property rights, and commercial interests; with many lines of communication between all levels.
All this forms a complex system that is robust yet flexible. It’s not immune to problems, however, especially when cooperation begins to fail between the various power centers.
Even if you are not a sports fan, I recommend “The Other Dream Team”, a documentary about the 1992 Lithuanian Olympic basketball team
If we had a real “news media”, these leftist idiots would be asked repeatedly for their opinion on the Cuban rebellion, as well as questions about Venezuela and other socialist hellholes.
Instead, leftist politicians are given a pass on any difficult questions, even those which are only mildly controversial.
Contrast that with the questioning of any conservative figure, and you can deduce that the “news media” in this country is predominantly leftist, and relentlessly hostile to conservatives.
A few decades ago the American media was ‘American’.
johnny dollar: Contrast that with the questioning of any conservative figure,
Dobbs interviews Trump:
Zach – Yeah you can cite a few easy interviews of Trump. But we all know that is disingenuous because 95% of the media was hostile to Trump. I’m not here to defend Trump – but I will defend the truth. And right now, real journalism does not exist in the liberal bubble.
And as for media fawning, you’ll never top the fawning questions about Biden’s flavor of ice cream after the presidential candidate emerged from weeks in his basement hiding from real media.
Here’s a typical interview. Note the focus on issues:
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/transcript-abc-news-george-stephanopoulos-interviews-president-joe/story?id=76509669
The now cancelled Lou Dobbs show on the irrelevant Fox Business Network. That’s what you got? Embarrassing.
Well its one of many soft ball interviews Trump did with Fox, that’s why Trump was a regular guest because they were so friendly to him.
You know what horrifies Bernie and the Squad most? Many of those protestors in Cuba are carrying what they view to be an international symbol of hate and oppression… the American flag! Ditto the HK protestors.
Funny how people around the world see the American Flag as a symbol of freedom but our very own Democrats loath it.
If they want help they should drop the American flag and pick up BLM flags, LGBTQ flags or the AntiFa flags
I can tell you now that many abroad think it’s the Republicans who loath democracy, freedom and American values.
You can tell us anything you want. You may even make stuff up. Please, pray tell, how do you know this thing you know
It’s called reading, practically every newspaper was over joyed when Trump lost the election. One reason being it was painfully obvious he was and is an authoritarian asshole
Just shut up. You add nothing to the discussion.
1) Alternative point of view
2) Facts
3) Logical arguments
4) Analysis of why you are wrong
5) Criticisms of fallacies , errors and such like within articles
Off topic, but worth mentioning, and this is for the Professor/Sitemaster:
There seems to be a small bug in the site that causes the up-vote/down-vote buttons to display but to not work under some scenarios.
I will be more than happy to point out where it is, if interested in fixing it.
We already know what causes it. Any post that starts with a blockquote disables the vote buttons.
It has become important to use the phrase “totalitarian socialism” rather than just “socialism”. Otherwise the lefties will ask why you hate social security and road repair.
Example: Our government monopoly bureaucratic “public” school system is an example of totalitarian socialism.
“Plus, the left thinks putting “Democratic” in front of socialism makes it okay and different enough from regular old socialism.”
It’s like the trendy new “gluten-free milk” at Whole Foods.
We should not forget that Obama empowered Cuba’s narco regime by lifting sanctions and restoring diplomatic relations. Remember his damning words during his fateful visit: ‘I know history; I just refuse to get bugged down by it’. Translation: I don’t care, just care about my ego. At the same time he did this, he took $400M out of the tax payers pockets to give to a phony peace accord between president JM Santos and Colombia’s narco guerrilla FARC, empowering further the spread of the Communist plague . Obama has damaged Latin America more that any other president.
Wow, this article sure has triggered our resident sealion, the Emperor Ming.
Whatsamatter, Ming, your Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Fund position tanking your 401Ж?
The Cuban and Chinese systems are what they love.
Don’t worry. We have the smartest socialists ever now. It was just never done right before.
Democrats are HUGE fans of the Totalitarian Socialist Government in Cuba.
Always have been.
This is their utopia.
Insane that anyone would be surprised they they are “silent” about the protesters. Even when pressed, their statements on this make it clear that they support the regime.
Biden’s press secretary claimed, ludicrously, that they were celebrating “freedom” from Covid, rather than demanding freedom from their own tyrannical government.
LOL!!!
Impossible to take liberals seriously.
You may have missed the update correcting the story. Sanders did pass comment prior to the article being issued.
You also seem to be cherry picking the quotes where aspects of the Cuban gov were criticised by Sanders et all