Deep Hypocrisy on Cuba and Egypt

By Jacob G. Hornberger

June 25, 2015 "Information Clearing House" - "FFF" -  In an editorial last Saturday calling for the lifting of the U.S. government’s ban on travel to Cuba, the New York Times pointed out two things that reflect the warped thinking and deep hypocrisy that have long characterized U.S. foreign policy.

First, the editorial pointed out that the U.S. travel ban against Cuba was part of “a strategy to punish and isolate Cuba in hopes of bringing about democratic relations with Havana.” Second, the “House has set aside $30 million for pro-democracy programs, $10 million more than the Obama administration requested.”

What’s warped and hypocritical about those “pro-democracy” points?

Think Egypt, a country that has long been ruled by one of the most brutal, anti-democratic, dictatorial regimes in history. In fact, the Egyptian military dictatorship is the very epitome of a tyrannical regime.

What does that have to do with U.S. officials?

They are full partners and supporters of the Egyptian dictatorship! In fact, once the Egyptian military brutes destroyed Egypt’s short-lived experiment with democracy (you remember the “Arab Spring,” right?), U.S. officials proceeded to flood Egypt with U.S. foreign aid, primarily in the form of weaponry and military equipment.

Why weaponry and military equipment? Is Egypt at war? Well, no, unless you consider a war against the Egyptian people to be a real war. The military tyrants have not only smashed democracy, they have also smashed any criticism of their brutal tyranny. If anyone even thinks of criticizing those military brutes, he’s kidnapped, arrested, tortured, reeducated, and maybe even executed by the government’s enforcement goons.

No freedom of speech, no freedom of the press, no right to demonstrate or protest, no right to petition for redress of grievances, no right to keep and bear arms, and no right to due process or jury trials.

How do they maintain all that “order and stability,” which is the goal of every tyrannical regime?

You guessed it — with all that weaponry and military equipment that the U.S. government has furnished this brutal military dictatorship for decades. That’s what the tanks, guns, bullets, and the rest of the U.S. support is for — to enable Egypt’s military tyrants to maintain their iron grip on power and privilege by smashing or killing anyone who objects.

Oh sure, U.S. officials are always ready to deliver their pretty little speeches about Castro’s totalitarian tyranny but when asked how Castro’s tyranny is any different from the Egyptian tyranny that U.S. officials support and partner with, U.S. officials go silent and just glare.

The truth is that the U.S. taxpayer monies that are purportedly for “pro-democracy” programs in Cuba are nothing of the sort. Their objection to Castro has always been personal. They simply don’t like the guy because from the time he gained power, he never kowtowed to the U.S. government.

Thus, what U.S. officials, especially those in the national-security branch of the federal government, want in Cuba is what they have always wanted — regime change, with the hopes of installing their own brutal dictatorship in Cuba, just like in Egypt or, for that matter, just like Iran, Chile, Guatemala, and, well, Cuba, where U.S. officials supported and partnered with Fulgencio Batista, the crooked, corrupt, brutal, pro-U.S. tyrant who ruled Cuba before Castro violently ousted him from power.

After all, let’s not forget that while U.S. officials declaim against Castro’s totalitarian political system, they fully embrace his socialist economic system as well as elements of his political system. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, public schooling, state universities, gun control, drug laws, economic regulations, central bank, immigration and trade controls, travel restrictions, income taxation, fiat money, standing army, and secret state surveillance. It’s all there as part and parcel of Castro’s socialist system, just like it is here in the United States (under the rubric of “freedom and free enterprise”).

Finally, let’s not forget that the U.S. travel ban, along with the entire economic embargo against Cuba, is a totalitarian-like control over the American people. If you travel to Cuba and spend your own money there, it’s not Castro who will jail you. It’s your own government — the U.S. government, the government that represents itself to be a paragon of freedom and democracy around the world.

Like I say, warped thinking and deep hypocrisy. They are the core elements in U.S. foreign policy.

Jacob G. Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation. He was born and raised in Laredo, Texas, and received his B.A. in economics from Virginia Military Institute and his law degree from the University of Texas. He was a trial attorney for twelve years in Texas. He also was an adjunct professor at the University of Dallas, where he taught law and economics.