The Antient and Honourable
John Adams Society
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-Governor Jesse Ventura upon returning from Cuba
The embargo has proved worthless as a weapon to weaken Cuban Communism. How could it be otherwise? What does a government that rules by demoralizing and impoverishing its own people have to fear from a policy that merely makes food, medicine, and other useless luxuries a little harder to find? The embargo should be lifted, if for no other reason, then at least to improve Cuban living standards.
Resolved: America is better feared than loved.
The Debate will be held on Thursday, October, 2002 at the University Club, 420 Summit Avenue, in Saint Paul. The Chancellor will preside over drinks beginning at seven o'clock p.m. The debate will begin at half past seven. While there is no dress code for attendance, gentlemen who wish to speak must wear a tie; ladies should adhere to a similar sartorial standard. For those gentlemen who arrive tieless yet wish to speak, fret not: the Purveyor of Ties will keep on hand at least one of his quite remarkable ties for just such an eventuality. Questions about debate caucus procedures or about the John Adams Society itself may be directed to the Chairman at (952) 431-0888 or the Secretary at (612) 822-8941.
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October 17, 2002
University Club, Saint Paul
Sure it's an iron system, but if you just go with the flow, you won't have any problems.
More importantly, Fidel Castro is an ill old man. Cubans at home and in exile are preparing for a peaceful transition to liberal democracy. Americans like Governor Ventura and the other Minnesotans who participated in last week's Agribusiness Exhibition in Havana are ready to assist in that transition and get in on the ground floor of Cuba's capitalist future. American taxpayers should welcome government financing and insuring of trade with Cuba as an investment in peace and prosperity. And why should we go on living without Cuban cigars?
On the other hand, lifting the embargo without substantial concessions in the form of “bourgeois rights” will be a symbolic victory for the most destructive dictator alive today, giving aid and comfort to America-haters the world over. And not only a symbolic victory: it will enable him to fund his security forces and his weapons research, and to continue supporting terrorists, drug traffickers, and the whole panoply of anti-American thugs. We should not only maintain the trade embargo, we should re-consider regime change. In any event, Cuba is at least $11 billion in debt and will no doubt stiff its American, as it has its European, Canadian, and Latin American, creditors. Doing business with Cuba is just bad business. Besides, can you really tell the difference between a Cuban and a Dominican from Cuban seeds?
The Chairman, who has a soft spot for all cigar-wielding chief executives, has called for a debate to settle the question: