[Photo of a mural in Havana, Cuba; C/O Yerson Oliveres, open source]
President Joe Biden is making headlines for calling communism a universally failed system. He further noted that socialism is not an attractive substitute.
This is just too delicious to pass up. On the one hand, many of Biden's critics and supporters view him as a stepping stone on the path to socialism. For Biden to say what he did will no doubt delight conservatives who see the gaping fracture within American liberalism. It will also isolate the far left of his own party, including the so-called "Squad."
However, we should not take this commentary with too much optimism. Biden was none too quick to strongly denounce the repressive and tyrannical regime of Cuba and his denunciation now is undoubtedly a political calculation. It has taken the near-collapse of the Cuban regime for US Democrats to awaken to the reality they need to stop flirting with communism. And so far many Democrats still have not recognized that reality. Bernie Sanders and AOC seem to think the US embargo on Cuba is to blame for the suffering of Cubans. This is a firm reminder that the people screaming most loudly about oppression have no idea what it is, where it comes from, or how to deal with it.
This is also a real opportunity for us as a country to transcend political division and re-articulate the principles of government for which the people of Cuba now protest. It is an opportunity to remind ourselves and our fellow citizens of the natural law. The people of Cuba are created equal, equal to their government officials, and equal to all other people. The people of Cuba, like all people, are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. Among these are the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Those rights have been infringed upon by a tyrannical communist government for far too long. In other communist states, like China, the rights of even more people continue to be brutally infringed upon. And the specter of communism or socialism remains a grim possibility of our own political future in the USA. We must remind ourselves that our republic is not self-sustaining, it must be purposefully maintained. We must know our principles and ideals, and we must deliberately pass them on to each new generation. We have too often failed to do this, and the result is a generation that doesn't know if we should support the Cuban protests or why we should do so.
At the end of the day, it's nice that a Democratic president called communism a universally failed system and Cuba a failed state. But it's not enough. The real work is to be done in raising each generation up to fulfill its civic duty; and as Christians, we must do that in a way that honors Christ above all. We are watching the failures of communism before our very eyes, let us not waste the opportunity.
