Theorem II

A corrollary to the Unified Field Theory of Modern Politics would be that the Democratic Party has become the party of single women, soft males, and homosexuals. It is not just a bumpersticker saying, "I neutered my cat today. Now he's a liberal". There is a deeply ingrained truth to this. The Soft Male is one who:

1. Believes himself to be the New Man, free of traditions and archetypes of the past.

2. Empathizes with feminism

3. Is an "equal partner" in his marriage.

4. Seeks to build consensus

5. Is uncomfortable in the company of masculine men

Without him, the feminist and homosexual would be far from the levers of power. Think about men like: Barack Obama, Mayor R.T. Rybak,

Einstein's Dream

You, my gentle reader, deserve to read this before I die. I have discovered what could be termed the Unified Field Theory of Modern Politics:

Nearly everything about the modern progressive left is oriented toward death, or the diminution of human dignity.

Death
Acceptance of abortion and euthanasia is obviously just the tip of the ice berg. Environmentalism, when followed to it's naturally absurd conclusion means that more people must die (or prevented from birth). Homosexual marriage is a fruitless endeavor, devoid of natural life. Feminism is the whispering of Satan in the ears of women to say, "You're getting a raw deal, eat of the apple and become like men!". This creates women who are unsatisfied with marriage, men, family, and children. Again, death wins.

Degredation
Take the most important issue for liberal Christians: eliminating poverty. Government welfare programs are nearly the opposite of Christian charity - voluntary, direct, and effective. They have diminished everything with which they come in contact - the recipient, giver (taxpayer), churches, and even those poor sap social workers, stuck in unrewarding, dead end civil service jobs. The recipient is reduced to a dependent, often an ungrateful one at that.

So, there you have it. Whatever the Humphrey or Skip Jackson Democrats once believed, the mix of issues has coalesced around this central axiom. You have today, a group of people, mostly unwittingly driven towards a future with fewer and smaller people. Now we can stop discussing the smaller issues and focus on simply defeating them. More on that later...

Brother Fidel and the Island of the Walking Dead

Just got back from Cuba last week, with five members of the new Sir Winston Churchill Masonic Lodge and the Grand Master of Minnesota. We met up with the Grand Lodge of Washington D.C.,, the former U.S. Ambassador to Costa Rica, and our sponsoring agency, (an NGO that does a lot of work building democracy and development in the Carribbean). I have to be purposely vague on some of these things, as this is a public forum, and we most likely attracted some undue attention with our activities. Ostensibly, our mission was to extend the fraternal hand of brotherhood and bring relief supplies. We are only the second U.S. Masonic lodge to have made this contact. We brought down about $10,000 in medicines, toiletries, children's items, etc, along with about $3,500 in Euros. The true purpose of the mission is to build up Masonic lodges, as they are one of the only civic organizations allowed that is somewhat independent of the state (oddly enough, the Catholic Church being the other). These men tend to be leaders in their community and generally unfavorable to the current regime. When, not if, the system finally collapses, it is these men that will step forward to take over the cities and provinces in which they live. For this purpose we brought the cash, laptops, and cell phones.

We spent our time travelling from lodge to lodge, giving out the donations and getting to know our new friends. Without mentioning specific locations, we were mostly in the west, including the tobacco growing region most heavily hit by the two hurricaines last fall. It is a physically sumptuous landscape, even despite the storm damage. We exchanged many gifts, sat through and gave many grand speeches through our translators, and lifted more than a few glasses of Havana Club rum in formal toasts. One highlight was our breakfast at the mansion of the U.S. Ambassador to Cuba. I just call him this for clarity's sake. We don't have diplomatic relations with Cuba, so he's actually called the Chief of the U.S. Interest Section. We technically operate under the auspices of the Swiss Embassy. One of us, who will remain annonymous, screwed up his courage to ask, "So, if we don't actually have diplomatic relations with this country, what exactly do you do all day?". Apart from helping stranded Americans, checking up on refugees turned away from the U.S., mainly just waiting for Fidel Castro to die. Another highlight was hooking up with a lodge in a small town in the west, and being invited on a private tour of a tobacco plantation and a chance to be taken into their homes to drink espresso, toast with rum, exchange gifts, sit in their old 1950 automobiles, and pet their chickens.

What did I learn that you all would enjoy knowing? Anytime someone comes back from certain parts of Latin America and Africa, they have some of the same stories. These are about the grinding poverty, the happy, friendly people, the genuine kindness shown toward them, and so forth. All of this is certainly true about Cuba and it's people, more especially those with whom we had a fraternal connection. But with Cuba, it's the perversity that stands out. It's one thing to be poor, quite another to have to live your life under these absurd rules, answering to your local Communist "block leader" and living in fear of attracting attention. Well, we got a chance to get to know some of our Cuban brothers and to talk in unguarded moments. When asked about the embargo, one of them said many Cubans wish it would either be lifted or would be a *real* embargo. That is, there is not only trade with the rest of the world, which helps the Castro regime, but there are even some American products that are widely sold (i.e. Marlborough cigarettes).

• I met a kindly older man who decided to make some sweets (candies) out of sugar cane and sell them to his neighbors. His crime resulted in 35 days in jail. Not the nice ACLU approved lockup either. He subsequently was picked up for other "crimes" and spent several years in jail. On New Year's Eve, the anniversary of the Communist revolution, they offered him a piece of pork to celebrate. He and his cell mate threw it up against the wall opposite their cell. That got him several weeks in alternating "hot" rooms and "cold" rooms.
  
• We took our brothers out to dinner at a nice place that served an all you can eat chicken, rice and beans (pretty much classic Cuban cuisine). Not a fancy place, mind you. This was more than they would eat in a month. The Grand Master of Cuba looked me in the eye and said this was the best night of his life. I read a famous poem by Jose Marti, their George Washington and a brother Mason. When I got to the lines in Spanish, everyone at our table and some of the neighboring tables joined right in. We had some professional singers there who gave a rendition of Guantanamera as well as God Bless America. People at the other tables pretended not to notice this part. We even joined hands and sang "Auld Lang Syne" at the end.
  
• Cubans have a saying that, "From the moment you wake, your are outside the law.". Meaning, if you have a glass of milk in the morning, you have committed a crime, it being restricted to children under 7. The state ration card gives every Cuban the "right" to sustenence. This amounts to 1 lb of chicken per person per *month*, 2 lbs of beans per person/month, a 1 inch cube of soap each month, and so on. It's clearly not enough to live on. As a result, every Cuban is on the make somehow. The state looks the other way at this illegal activity, until you decide to speak out politically. Then they bring the hammer down.



• The ration card allows for 1/2 lb of fish per person per month. But when you go to the store that distributes the fish, there's not actually any fish. Ever. Kind of a bad parody of the Monty Python "Cheese Shop Skit". To further illustrate the absurdity of Communism, you are not allowed to fish. You can't take a pole, put a string on it with a shiny thing on the end, and go catch something for your family. They are surrounded by water, filled with fish, and have to sit there while it all gets sold to tourists or foreigners for hard currency.


• We noticed that, no matter where we went, our mattresses all had numbers on them. It was explained that mattresses, like *everything* in Cuba, belong to the government. Fidel needs to know where all his mattresses are at all times. If you end up with an extra mattress that you want to give Uncle Joe down the street, you have to go to your Communist block leader. This is the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR) that is found on every 3-5 block area in every city in Cuba. You gotta get the right papers stamped, have the block leader look at the thing, then haul it down to Uncle Joe's local Commie block leader and do the same thing.
  

I could go on for some time with stories. Most of all, I learned that Cuba is probably the most natrually pro-American island in the Carribbean. They play baseball, have statues of Washington and Lincoln all over, many of their founding fathers were Masons, they wave their red, white and blue flag, so on and so forth. Cuba is kind of like the Texas of the Carribbean. There's a little extra pride in these people. Those that have come to America have had an outsized influence on the country, mainly out of force of will. They're proud people, and they want to have a place at the table.

The most obvious question is, "What do you think about the embargo now?". I've always likened the situation to the following hypothetical: Invoking the hitlerum adsurbum argument, what if the Allies had fought Nazi Germany to a standstill, unable to get any further than, say Bavaria or Austria. Let's say that they did their best to spread the Nazi ideology and support fledgling fascist parties throughout Europe and the rest of the world. Would you support having normal relations and trade with a Nazi regime? No, Cuba is not committing genocide by any means. Thousands have been improsoned and executed (as Che Guevera admitted to in a speech to the U.N.), but they promote an idea that has murdered millions of people in the 20th century alone.

In the final analysis though, I think the embargo has outlived it's usefullness. Let us use the occaision of Castro's death to finally amend the policy in such a way that we can free up these people while still leaving their government as a pariah. See if the economic pressure to reform will eventually lead to political freedom. Things are probably going to loosen up under Obama, so if you have a church group or other non-profit organization in your life, see if you can't organize a trip to Cuba. It's definitely worth the effort, and it will give these decent people a big boost to see you there.

P.S., If you do run into a Foolish American touting the egalitarianism of Cuba, the great hospitals, or just wearing a Che t-shirt. Could you punch them in the gut for me? Thanks.