Jacob G. Hornberger: The times just might be a’changin’

  The New York Times is reporting that most Americans, including a majority in Florida, favor normalizing relations with Cuba, which would mean a lifting of cruel and brutal economic embargo that the U.S. government has been enforcing against the Cuban people for more than 50 years.

  It’s about time.

  Maybe Americans are finally figuring out that the embargo is an infringement on the rights and freedoms of the American people, including freedom of travel, freedom of association and economic liberty.

  Or maybe they’re wondering why Americans, who purport to be free, are put into jail and fined for traveling to a foreign country and spending their own money there.

  Or maybe they’re wondering why a measure that stretches back to the Cold War is still in effect, given that the Cold War ended more than a decade ago.

  Or maybe they’re wondering why the U.S. national security state continues to target Cuba while, at the same time, embracing Vietnam, where the national security state sacrificed some 58,000 American men in its anti-communism crusade.

  Or maybe they’re feeling bad about all the suffering their government is inflicting on people all over the world.

  Or maybe they’re figuring out that Cuba never attacked the United States or even threatened to do so and that it has always been the U.S. government aggressing against Cuba, including through invasion, terrorism and assassination.

  Or maybe they’re realizing that the embargo still hasn’t succeeded in achieving its aim of ousting Fidel Castro from power and replacing him with a pro-U.S. dictator.

  Or maybe they’re recognizing that the worst way to oppose communism and totalitarianism is by adopting communist and totalitarian methods.

  Or maybe they’re coming to the conclusion that the U.S. government has no legitimate authority to be interfering in the affairs of other countries.

  Regardless of why people are shifting to the libertarian position on Cuba, it’s a great sign. The embargo should never have been imposed in the first place. It was all part of "communists are coming to get us" fear-mongering campaign that the national security state engaged in after World War II. The national security state, along with its legions of war contractors, knew that unless they kept the American people embroiled in fear and crisis, Americans might oppose the move toward militarism and imperialism (and power and money) that the national security state wished to take our country.

  The Cold War is over. Americans are traveling to China, Russia, Vietnam, and even North Korea. It’s time to end the U.S. government’s decades-long cruelty and brutality against the Cuban people. It’s time for Americans to show the world what freedom is really all about. It’s time to lift the embargo against Cuba.

  About the author: Jacob G. Hornberger is the founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation.

  This article was published by The Future of Freedom Foundation.