Monday, October 27, 2008

Overheard at work

As some of you know, I work in a conservative outfit in downtown Miami. Miami is home to many native Cubans who came here to escape Castro's Communist dictatorship.

Today I overheard that someone said that if Obama gets into office, the Cubans could live with it since they'd already lived in a Communist state. Maybe it was a joke, but I found it offensive (but said nothing). The United States is and always has been an elected democracy that upholds individual rights and freedoms in its Constitution. That's why the Cubans (and so many others) came here to begin with. I grew up during the original influx from Cuba, and we welcomed the refugees with open arms.

To imply that Obama would impose some kind of Communist dictatorship is (aside from being false), quite frankly, insulting. (I said nothing then but I'm saying it now.)

(I'll say this also: If they keep voting Republican, they might really see something like Castro's Cuba happening in the U.S., at least when it comes to spying on its own citizens and otherwise eroding our cherished Constitutional rights.)

Fortunately, however, as the refugees' children become acculturated and embrace our values, we'll see a change in the political climate down here, if we're not seeing it already.

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