<< Back 5/22/02 The slow road to change in DC By Scott McLeod Want clean air? It’s going to take political leaders willing to think outside the box, people who willing to look at new realities and develop far-reaching policies. I’m not optimistic that’s going to happen, and the current debate over Cuba, as disconnected as it may seem, feeds my fear that our leaders are much too concerned about raising money and staying in office than making progress. I’ve followed the Cuba issue closely since I was a child. My father is retired from the U.S. Navy, and our family spent three years stationed on the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base while he was still in the service. Once a month or so, I remember a siren sounding and the family scrambling to put necessities into a suitcase. Soon a knock would come at the door, and the sailor would verify that we — and all the families on the base — were indeed prepared for a hasty departure if some kind of attack should occur. Somehow, I think that fear of attack from Cuba and its non-existent allies is gone, and I wonder if those Navy families still stationed in Guantanamo are forced to endure the same kind of mock drill. From a military standpoint, there is nothing to fear from Cuba. The truth is that there is little about Cuba that should trouble us, and so the question must be asked: why do we still treat this country so differently than we do other, similar regimes? Take China and Vietnam, for example. They are openly communist, have horrible human rights records and do not allow any real political opposition or free press. Yet we are eagerly trading with them, allowing American companies to position themselves in their markets. Given that reality, it’s hard to understand why George Bush is making these kinds of statements about Cuba: “Without major steps by Cuba to open up its political system and its economic system, trade with Cuba will not help the Cuban people, it will merely enrich Castro and his cronies and prop up their dictatorship.” The debate over how best to deal with the nearest communist regime to the United States has been elevated in the last two weeks as former President Jimmy Carter’s visit captured attention both in this country and abroad. He was allowed to speak freely, to call for political opposition, free elections and a free press. The only other outsider given such open access to the airwaves in this tightly controlled country was the pope. For 40 years we have fought Fidel Castro through economic strangulation. The slow squeeze of a trade embargo and strict visitation restrictions has left Cuba with a crumbling economy and widespread poverty. Yet Castro endures. That fact — a failed U.S. policy aimed at bringing Castro down — is behind what appears to be a growing chorus of support for a different approach. Lawmakers in both parties are seeking changes. “I’m with the president 95 percent of the time, but not on this one,” says Tom Osborne, a Nebraska Republican and former Cornhusker football coach. The truth is that those corn farmers and others want to sell goods to the 11.3 million Cubans. That reality is leading many farm-state Republicans to line up with Northeastern Democrats to call for an easing of the trade embargo. But lest we forget, politics rules. Bush’s unyielding support of the hard-line policy does not spring from some deep-seated belief about what’s best for the American and Cuban people. Our current relations with countries like China and Vietnam prove that. Bush needs the Cuban exile community’s support, as does his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Remember, Bush took the pivotal Florida election on a Supreme Court decision and what is on the books as a 537-vote margin. He won 82 percent of the vote of the 400,000-strong Cuban-American community in Miami. They have the president, shall we say, by the short ones. On Monday, Bush hosted a $25,000 per couple campaign fund-raiser for his brother with the Miami exile community. Many of those, especially exiles from the Cold War days, want no loosening of restrictions. But a new poll of Hispanic voters in Florida revealed that 52 percent support changes to the current embargo. In other words, many with ties to Latin American countries and Cuba believe we should begin talking to Castro, begin working to build better relations through dialogue instead of bullying. Castro is no doubt a bad guy, but there are other ways to deal with regimes like his. And it appears there is support among American voters to take a different approach. So why not try it? Cuba is a long way from the mountains, but how national political policy evolves to deal with new realities is something we should care deeply about. Our air-quality problems won’t get better until radical changes occur in how Washington leaders think. An economy that feeds us the cheapest fuel in the world and remains dependent on foreign sources is destined to fall short in removing the haze that is making our children sick, damaging our tourism industry and destroying the environment. Our leaders continue to pursue policies that reinforce the status quo despite compelling evidence that we need to change. We have failed to make use of the post-Sept. 11 national resolve to end our addiction to Arabian oil and the terrorism that addiction finances. Change happens slowly, and in Washington it is slowed by the political machines of both major parties that are geared to win at all costs. (Scott McLeod can be reached at info@smokymountainnews.com)