Past and Future

I did not perceive it the same way my parents did, when, as a kid of 10, my family left Cuba for Miami in 1960, a year after Fidel Castro took over.

Like many other countries, Cuba had been governed by one dictator after another and many people were poor and ready for a change.

A young leader came out of nowhere promising change. A young leader that spoke eloquently and passionately. Compared to previous despot, he was the knight in shining armor that would literally take us away from all this. Everybody was in love with him.

Nobody questioned who put him there... where he got his money, who his friends were or what he really believed in. He said he would bring justice and equality to all. He said he would help the poor, bring universal free medical care, and clean up our tarnished reputation.

Everybody wanted change but nobody thought exactly what these changes would be, do and cost. So by the time the opposition went silent, the people's guns had been taken away and there was no liberty left for any. Disagreement ended against bullet-ridden walls in local neighborhood "street court." Everyone was equally poor and hungry, except for Fidel and his committee. Free health care had no doctors and thus was worthless. There was no free press to publish anything but propaganda. There was no real church left either, just a facade. Cuba had been knocked down even below Third-World status, a million were killed and millions left.

Our election-year rhetoric in this country has reminded me much of what happened in Cuba.


Would we in this marvelous country fall for young charismatic leaders with unknown backers who promised change? Would we think about it and ask what kinds of changes? How will they be carried out? What will it cost us? What would they do to us?

Would we?

We have. Two years ago we went for change and elected a Democrat majority congress. Have the last couple of years been good for you? And for the country? Vote for more change this November and we're REALLY going to get it!

We’re not a Third-World country, you say? It happened in Germany, too.

- text © 2008 by Willy
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