Cuba - Lift the Embargo Completely and Immediately

 
Specifically, repeal the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992, the Helms-Burton Act of 1996 and any affiliated acts that restrict trade, communication, travel or any other free flow of goods, services or people to and from Cuba. Why? I'll make this a quick one:

Without getting into too much detail on the history and evolution of the embargo, which is available here, lets just cover 1) why we did it, 2) what we hoped to accomplish, 3) did it work and 4) what actually happened. Last we'll cover a quick list of benefits for taking this action.

1. Why we did it. The embargo was put in place in 1960 to punish the Cuban government for nationalizing properties owned by US Citizens and companies.

2. What we hoped to accomplish. We wanted to restrict the country's ability to function in the international community so it wouldn't host more Soviet missiles aimed at us, and we hoped Cuba would bend to our will and be more democratic and see that we were right and they were wrong.

3. and 4. Did it work? No, What actually happened? The government in Cuba remains to this day a pseudo democratic setup, but one ruled by a dictator Fidel Castro until 2008, and is now ruled by his brother Raul. Not only has the government structure been closely held and largely unchanged since 1960, but two of Cuba's closes allies remain Venezuela and Russia, both led by authoritarian dictators who strangle the rights of the people, kill dissenters and loot national assets for their own and their friends' benefit. So basically, total failure of a policy. They are now just as likely to host foreign military assets that threaten U.S. security as they were in 1963 during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

5. The US would benefit by lifting the embargo: By lifting the embargo we would enable US businesses and citizens to openly travel to, interact with, trade with and influence Cuban development and progress; currently we have limited if any influence, whereas Hugo Chavez has plenty of access and influence, which is not good for anyone. Our national security would also benefit from more open relations with Cuban officials.

The only way the US does itself a disservice is by maintaining this failed approach to diplomacy with Cuba. Americans want to go there and trade with Cuba and don't want it allied with other shady dictatorships that have repeatedly threatened our nation. The only way to accomplish these objectives is to lift the embargo immediately and begin a new era of open diplomacy with Cuba.

No Congressman Left Behind

Proposal:

Each member of congress should be required to pass a test demonstrating their understanding of a proposed bill's contents in order for their vote on it to count.

Discussion:
After months of nauseating debate about the pros and cons of various proposed components to the health care bill, it has become clear to pretty much the whole country, that most of our elected officials have NOT READ THE LEGISLATION. Remember writing a book report on a book you haven't read? That was awesome..."So Holden Caulfield was this guy who was totally the quarterback of the football team at his Texas school, and they won the big game and he went home with Pamela from Teen Wolf."

Yet politicians seem content to spew intentionally inaccurate statements about what parts of the bill would or would not accomplish. For example: a death squad will go to your parents house and kill them if a public option is included in the bill. And oh, the ole standby "look at how many pages that is...I mean, wow, 2,000 pages, that's a lot of paper."


The last 3 Harry Potter books totalled over 2,000 pages, and 12 year olds read those over a weekend. What is your excuse congressman? You get paid $180K with unlimited perks and better health care than most of the country. Was it too much to ask that you actually work a little and read the bill? I mean, I don't know how to say this but, if you don't read this, I will have to fire you.

If I didn't read the investment memorandum for a potential investment at my firm, and instead just told the boss "Nah, that deal was terrible", I think we know how long that job would last. I would love The Bobs to show up at congress on annual review day. "What would you say, ya DO here?" You have people skills or something?

These congressmen work for you. You pay them--via taxes--to provide a service: to represent your interests to the U.S. lawmaking and governing institutions, to craft and/or promote legislation aimed at accomplishing that end, and to report honestly and accurately about what progress is being made in that regard.

How can they do this if they haven't read the legislation, and instead employ tactics and will ultimately vote based on what their political party bosses tell them to do. Their--the political party's-- goal? Debatable, but your individual representative's goal is clearly not representing your best interest, it is more likely they aim to please their fellow party members in exchange for financial and strategic support in the next election cycle.

It's bad enough we don't have an IQ test of some kind before regular Joe's are allowed to take office, run our country and be in charge of hundreds of billions of dollars of tax revenues. We wonder why our national budget isn't balanced or why we keep getting owned in trade disputes with China...and the answer is because we elected salesmen to congress, not bankers or investors or negotiators. And have fun when Palin is back on TV. This country is too big, complex and important to be left in the hands of a hot hockey mom who can barely manage her own family, but that's a post for another time. But I don't think its too much to ask for these officials to have to prove to us that they did their homework before we send them in to take a test on our behalf.

"I am not saying you can't vote...just prove to me that you know what you're voting on, otherwise, your vote doesn't count." -Me