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Sanders' Paradise: Cuba

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  • Sanders' Paradise: Cuba

    This is the country Sanders has been praising... Take the time to watch the video (14 min)



    Everything You Think You Know About Cuba Is A Lie
    Here is the side of socialist Cuba we saw that the American media refuses to show you: Bread lines, gas lines, food shortages, crumbling infrastructure, crippling poverty, and an oppressed people.

    ...Do a quick social media search for “Cuba.” You will see some beautiful images, of men in suits smoking cigars and driving vintage cars, turn-of-the-century brightly colored Spanish architecture buildings, paparazzi snaps of Jay-Z and Beyonce walking the streets of Havana, and pictures of President Obama inexplicably and peacefully enjoying a baseball game with communist dictator Raúl Castro.

    We found these images spin a carefully crafted narrative. They are intended to deceive us and hide the real Cuba. Here is the side of Cuba we saw that the American media refuses to show you: Bread lines, gas lines, food shortages, crumbling infrastructure, crippling poverty, and an oppressed people suffering under the jackboot of socialism.

    What many do not realize is that 90 percent of the Cuban economy is controlled by their government. Resource scarcity, poverty, horrific living conditions, and oppressive government plague this once beautiful nation.

    Citizens rush the open gates of an open grocery store only to find that there are no fresh fruits, meats, nor vegetables in stock. Food is rationed and provided to establishments by the government. Cuban citizens are unable to access the necessities they need to feed their families.

    Furthermore, government-provided housing is less than ideal. Socialism has so diminished the standard of living that crumbling infrastructure and filthy living conditions are commonplace. Citizens live in what were once beautiful mansions that have fallen into complete desolation because there are no private funds to maintain them. For many, this is a haunting illustration of the prosperity of a Cuba long gone, destroyed in a single generation by communism and socialism.

    Despite its obvious failures in countries like Cuba, Americans still contemplate adopting socialist policies. This ideology has been especially well-received by the youth and millennial generations. But this begs the question: Why? Why do Americans idealize this form of government?

    Most millennials have no concept of what socialism actually looks like when applied to an active governmental structure. This is largely because many of them were not even alive during, or even in the aftermath of, the tyrannical rules of 20th-century socialist leaders like Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong. The American millennial’s lack of understanding creates no repulsion to Marxist constructs like “free health care, housing, education” because they have never witnessed the consequences that historically follow these ideas.

    However, young socialism activists fail to realize the fatal problem associated with these governmentally regulated freedoms: quality control. Following the basic concept of supply and demand, it can be predicted that the quality of free government handouts will begin to crumble as the demand increases. The more free handouts the government gives, the poorer they will be in quality. Citizens will notoriously cover the cost of these “free” handouts with taxpayer dollars. Thus, making what was once considered free a burden to the people.

    Such is the case in socialist Cuba. Citizens live in the ruin of a promised utopia and lack the basic “free” necessities the government agreed to provide. The very government handouts that offered such promise are what holds the society back from growth and prosperity.


  • #2
    Shh! You're not supposed to raise stuff like this until he's nominated!
    Enter the Church and wash away your sins. For here there is a hospital and not a court of law. Do not be ashamed to enter the Church; be ashamed when you sin, but not when you repent. – St. John Chrysostom

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    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by One Bad Pig View Post
      Shh! You're not supposed to raise stuff like this until he's nominated!
      I am getting a jump on things.

      Apparently not only is waiting in line for food a good thing, so is waiting in line for gasoline and living in crumbling buildings in a post apocalyptic wasteland.

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by Sparko View Post
        This is the country Sanders has been praising... Take the time to watch the video (14 min)



        Everything You Think You Know About Cuba Is A Lie
        Here is the side of socialist Cuba we saw that the American media refuses to show you: Bread lines, gas lines, food shortages, crumbling infrastructure, crippling poverty, and an oppressed people.

        ...Do a quick social media search for “Cuba.” You will see some beautiful images, of men in suits smoking cigars and driving vintage cars, turn-of-the-century brightly colored Spanish architecture buildings, paparazzi snaps of Jay-Z and Beyonce walking the streets of Havana, and pictures of President Obama inexplicably and peacefully enjoying a baseball game with communist dictator Raúl Castro.

        We found these images spin a carefully crafted narrative. They are intended to deceive us and hide the real Cuba. Here is the side of Cuba we saw that the American media refuses to show you: Bread lines, gas lines, food shortages, crumbling infrastructure, crippling poverty, and an oppressed people suffering under the jackboot of socialism.

        What many do not realize is that 90 percent of the Cuban economy is controlled by their government. Resource scarcity, poverty, horrific living conditions, and oppressive government plague this once beautiful nation.

        Citizens rush the open gates of an open grocery store only to find that there are no fresh fruits, meats, nor vegetables in stock. Food is rationed and provided to establishments by the government. Cuban citizens are unable to access the necessities they need to feed their families.

        Furthermore, government-provided housing is less than ideal. Socialism has so diminished the standard of living that crumbling infrastructure and filthy living conditions are commonplace. Citizens live in what were once beautiful mansions that have fallen into complete desolation because there are no private funds to maintain them. For many, this is a haunting illustration of the prosperity of a Cuba long gone, destroyed in a single generation by communism and socialism.

        Despite its obvious failures in countries like Cuba, Americans still contemplate adopting socialist policies. This ideology has been especially well-received by the youth and millennial generations. But this begs the question: Why? Why do Americans idealize this form of government?

        Most millennials have no concept of what socialism actually looks like when applied to an active governmental structure. This is largely because many of them were not even alive during, or even in the aftermath of, the tyrannical rules of 20th-century socialist leaders like Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong. The American millennial’s lack of understanding creates no repulsion to Marxist constructs like “free health care, housing, education” because they have never witnessed the consequences that historically follow these ideas.

        However, young socialism activists fail to realize the fatal problem associated with these governmentally regulated freedoms: quality control. Following the basic concept of supply and demand, it can be predicted that the quality of free government handouts will begin to crumble as the demand increases. The more free handouts the government gives, the poorer they will be in quality. Citizens will notoriously cover the cost of these “free” handouts with taxpayer dollars. Thus, making what was once considered free a burden to the people.

        Such is the case in socialist Cuba. Citizens live in the ruin of a promised utopia and lack the basic “free” necessities the government agreed to provide. The very government handouts that offered such promise are what holds the society back from growth and prosperity.
        Does it have to be one or the other? Why can’t it be mixed?

        Isn’t it a little hard to accurately assess the effects of socialism in Cuba since they seem to have been blockaded the whole time.

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by Watermelon View Post
          Does it have to be one or the other? Why can’t it be mixed?
          no. You can't mix communism with capitalism. They are polar opposites.

          Isn’t it a little hard to accurately assess the effects of socialism in Cuba since they seem to have been blockaded the whole time.
          They live on a tropical island and they don't have fresh fruit in their grocery stores.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Sparko View Post
            no. You can't mix communism with capitalism. They are polar opposites.



            They live on a tropical island and they don't have fresh fruit in their grocery stores.
            Socialism with capitalism?

            If the blockade wasn’t there would there be anything stopping Cuba from producing products on a larger scale and trading internationally?

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by Watermelon View Post
              Socialism with capitalism?

              If the blockade wasn’t there would there be anything stopping Cuba from producing products on a larger scale and trading internationally?
              There is nothing stopping them from producing products right now. Why can't they even grow fruit for their people?

              Did you bother to watch the video? Please do.

              And socialism is just the stepping stone to communism.

              Bernie spent 40 years praising communists and dictators like Castro, and now he just wants what scandinavia has (which isnt even socialism)? Go on, pull the other one.

              Comment


              • #8
                I watched the video with an open mind, and it's not very compelling. The creators keep repeating how everything you've ever seen about Cuba is a lie, but they have a conservative bias, boldly wearing shirts and hats in Cuba with American flags and logos that read 'Big Gov Sucks,' and tell viewers at 30 seconds into the video that their purpose for going is to explain why 'socialism sucks.' The major issues they mention like lack of food and gas are often blamed on the US embargo. They point their cameras away from maintained properties to ruined buildings, and rough cement playgrounds, and act as if you couldn't find the same in every major city in America. And the two interviews they do with locals are short two sentences long. They get freaked out by a knock on their door a couple days into filming and leave. And. That's it. All of this is filtered through scary backing music, and the intensity of a host named Benny Johnson. According to Wikipedia Benny Johns writes for a number of conservative online news magazines, and has been fired twice for plagiarism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benny_...n_(journalist).

                I'm not saying that Cuba isn't a crummy place to live, and I think a longer documentary by people with a less biased approach could make the case for why it's so terrible, but I don't think this video is going to win over anyone who hasn't already been won over.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Sparko View Post
                  Sander's Paradise: Cuba
                  This is the country Sanders has been praising...
                  To the best of my knowledge Sanders has never called Cuba a paradise.
                  To the best of my knowledge Sanders never said the country of Cuba was great, nor has he given it any kind of unconditional praise.
                  "I hate him passionately", he's "a demonic force" - Tucker Carlson, in private, on Donald Trump
                  "Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism" - George Orwell
                  "[Capitalism] as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of evils. I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy" - Albert Einstein

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Watermelon View Post
                    If the blockade wasn’t there would there be anything stopping Cuba from producing products on a larger scale and trading internationally?
                    It's kinda sad that people in the US are so genuinely terrified of seeing a communist country succeed that they'll go to any lengths to make it fail. Invade it, blockade it, embargo it, fund terrorists against it etc.

                    And then they pretend communism was the reason the country did badly, rather than immoral actions of their own capitalist nation.
                    "I hate him passionately", he's "a demonic force" - Tucker Carlson, in private, on Donald Trump
                    "Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism" - George Orwell
                    "[Capitalism] as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of evils. I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy" - Albert Einstein

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Sparko View Post
                      And socialism is just the stepping stone to communism.
                      Democratic socialists and communists have been viciously opposed since the invention of 20th century communism.

                      They literally fought each other in the Spanish Civil War, and George Orwell who fought on the side of the democratic socialists against the communists, went on to write Animal Farm which is generally regarded as the great critique of communism.

                      The two are very, very, very different, to the point where there is arguably no overlap at all between the two.

                      Communism (usually):
                      One party rule
                      Dictatorship
                      Authoritarianism
                      No human rights
                      Very limited personal freedoms
                      Government owns all businesses
                      Poor working conditions
                      Little to no incentive to work hard (worker pay isn't reflective of effort)
                      Government controls the distribution of goods
                      No free market - government manages supply and demand of goods directly

                      Democratic socialism (usually):
                      Democracy
                      Many political parties
                      Emphasis on strong human rights
                      Emphasis on promoting personal freedoms
                      Most businesses are co-operatives (worker-owned)
                      Government does not own most businesses
                      Emphasis on good working conditions
                      Good incentives to work hard (worker pay is determined by the business performance and its owners)
                      Government doesn't control the distribution of goods
                      Free market (with occasional regulation)

                      Pretty much point for point, democratic socialism and communism are opposites.

                      Bernie spent 40 years praising communists and dictators like Castro, and now he just wants what scandinavia has (which isnt even socialism)?
                      Bernie's been consistent in that he always condemned them for being dictators and always condemned their anti-democratic nature. He's been consistent in being a democratic socialist not a communist.
                      "I hate him passionately", he's "a demonic force" - Tucker Carlson, in private, on Donald Trump
                      "Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism" - George Orwell
                      "[Capitalism] as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of evils. I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy" - Albert Einstein

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Soul Anchor View Post
                        I watched the video with an open mind, and it's not very compelling. The creators keep repeating how everything you've ever seen about Cuba is a lie, but they have a conservative bias, boldly wearing shirts and hats in Cuba with American flags and logos that read 'Big Gov Sucks,' and tell viewers at 30 seconds into the video that their purpose for going is to explain why 'socialism sucks.' The major issues they mention like lack of food and gas are often blamed on the US embargo. They point their cameras away from maintained properties to ruined buildings, and rough cement playgrounds, and act as if you couldn't find the same in every major city in America. And the two interviews they do with locals are short two sentences long. They get freaked out by a knock on their door a couple days into filming and leave. And. That's it. All of this is filtered through scary backing music, and the intensity of a host named Benny Johnson. According to Wikipedia Benny Johns writes for a number of conservative online news magazines, and has been fired twice for plagiarism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benny_...n_(journalist).

                        I'm not saying that Cuba isn't a crummy place to live, and I think a longer documentary by people with a less biased approach could make the case for why it's so terrible, but I don't think this video is going to win over anyone who hasn't already been won over.
                        People risk their lives to float through shark-infested waters on home-made rafts to get away from that socialist paradise.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Starlight View Post
                          It's kinda sad that people in the US are so genuinely terrified of seeing a communist country succeed that they'll go to any lengths to make it fail. Invade it, blockade it, embargo it, fund terrorists against it etc.

                          And then they pretend communism was the reason the country did badly, rather than immoral actions of their own capitalist nation.
                          Because communism is responsible for more human misery and death than the Nazis.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Starlight View Post
                            Democratic socialists and communists have been viciously opposed since the invention of 20th century communism.

                            They literally fought each other in the Spanish Civil War, and George Orwell who fought on the side of the democratic socialists against the communists, went on to write Animal Farm which is generally regarded as the great critique of communism.

                            The two are very, very, very different, to the point where there is arguably no overlap at all between the two.

                            Communism (usually):
                            One party rule
                            Dictatorship
                            Authoritarianism
                            No human rights
                            Very limited personal freedoms
                            Government owns all businesses
                            Poor working conditions
                            Little to no incentive to work hard (worker pay isn't reflective of effort)
                            Government controls the distribution of goods
                            No free market - government manages supply and demand of goods directly

                            Democratic socialism (usually):
                            Democracy
                            Many political parties
                            Emphasis on strong human rights
                            Emphasis on promoting personal freedoms
                            Most businesses are co-operatives (worker-owned)
                            Government does not own most businesses
                            Emphasis on good working conditions
                            Good incentives to work hard (worker pay is determined by the business performance and its owners)
                            Government doesn't control the distribution of goods
                            Free market (with occasional regulation)

                            Pretty much point for point, democratic socialism and communism are opposites.

                            Bernie's been consistent in that he always condemned them for being dictators and always condemned their anti-democratic nature. He's been consistent in being a democratic socialist not a communist.
                            Give me a list of actual socialist democracies, that openly admit that is what they are, not like Scandinavian countries who consistently deny they are socialist despite people like you pointing to them as examples.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Sparko View Post
                              People risk their lives to float through shark-infested waters on home-made rafts to get away from that socialist paradise.
                              Maybe they should have filmed that then.

                              Comment

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