An open letter to my liberal friends

Dear Liberal Friends:

First and foremost, I would like to congratulate you on your candidate’s victory this November 4^th. After eight years in the periphery of American politics, most of you must feel vindicated to a certain degree. Although I wholeheartedly disagree with your candidate’s policies and ideology, I can recognize that he ran a deft and aggressive campaign, which rewarded him with victory in the end.

With that said, I will now turn to the main subject and reason for my letter.

As you have all let it be known, the past eight years has been to many of you a hell here on earth. Your candidate’s victory, however, should put an end to this torment and now is the time to look ahead. Things are looking up for you and those that share your ideology, for the moment at least, so go ahead and celebrate. Leave behind the hatred you have allowed to consume you for these last two presidential terms.

It is alright to be happy; it is alright to be gleeful; it is alright to be giddy; it is even alright to gloat. You guys won, so celebrate that victory.

Do not allow yourselves to be trapped in that hatred and loathing you clung to for so long. Just ask your mental healthcare professional and they will tell you; it is not healthy. Winning is a joyous occasion, a cause for celebration. Victory was your goal, and you attained that goal. So go ahead, my friends, revel in your triumph; pump your fists up into the air and let out a triumphant growl. You earned it.

But keep in mind that your success comes with consequences. Some of which you have not had to contend with for quite a while.

With your man in the White House and your party controlling both houses of congress, the onus falls completely on your shoulders now. There will be no Republican bogeyman to pin the blame on. With your candidate’s promise for quick and drastic change, this country will have to see sweeping improvement sooner rather than later. And if it fails to materialize, you are all in for a very grueling four years.

You will be hit from all sides relentlessly, and unlike a political campaign, slogans and rhetoric will not save you. “Yes We Can” was a brilliant rally call, it meant something different to everyone while not really meaning anything at all. But those heady campaign days where emotions spilled over and women swooned are over, my friend. “Now We Must” has taken its place, and from experience I can tell you that doing is a lot different from talking.

As the old adage says, be careful what you wish for, you just may get it. Well, my liberal friends, you have gotten what you wished for, and now you must do something. I know it is tempting to think this will be easy, but as you will soon find out, nothing is easy when half the country disagrees with you. You will be challenged at every turn and every failure you experience will be magnified and picked apart. Your triumphs will be talked about, too, but not nearly as much. You see, it is not our job to extol your successes, but to point out your defects. This should come as no surprise to you since that is what you have all been doing for the past eight years.

I realize this may all sound dreadful, but there is something good that can come of this; you can show your conservative friends, and the world, that you can lead and take the blows with the best of them. You can finally shed this persona of whiners and grumblers and show that you, too, have leadership qualities. It will not be easy, by any stretch of the imagination, but hey, if conservatives can do it, so can you.

This past election was an historic moment and all the eyes of the world were upon us and will remain there for the next four years. Do not let this country down, my friends. Cast off those feelings of hatred and despair and stand tall for America. Show the world you are just as tough as conservatives. Regardless of our differences in ideology and party affiliation, we are all Americans, and if you look bad, you make the rest of us look bad, too.

You guys won, so please, act like winners.

Kindest regards,

Alberto de la Cruz

Is Obama like JFK? Unfortunately, yes.

The passage of time can have a peculiar effect on one’s memory. Some recollections can be magnified, increasing their perceived significance, while others diminish, lessening their importance and effect. And then you have instances where recollections take on a whole new incarnation. These memories ignore facts and realities and instead are built upon feelings. The specifics of the past events take a back seat to the feelings one gets when recalling such event.

America, in general, tends to suffer from this distorted recollection whenever the topic of President John F. Kennedy comes up. They forget the facts of his administration and instead conjure up the feelings they felt when they watched the footage of the toddler John-John saluting the passing horse drawn coffin of his assassinated father. It is a strong image, to say the least, and regardless of one’s opinion of JFK’s administration, it is an image that will stir the soul of all but those who have no heart. The lasting effects of those images, however, do not even come close to defining the Kennedy administration; an administration fraught with political novices and idealist intentions that brought this nation, and the world, to the brink of nuclear annihilation. Nevertheless, nostalgia has overtaken the realities of Kennedy’s mistakes, and whenever great presidents are mentioned his name always seems to make the top of the list.

It comes as no surprise then that many people are comparing Barrack Obama to Kennedy. Just like the catholic from Massachusetts, Obama is different from anything they have ever seen before in a presidential candidate. He is relatively young, handsome, and an eloquent speaker that knows how to deliver the right words to a crowd to make them feel good. He does not burden his speeches with harsh realities or onerous substance. Rather, he taps into the emotions of the American people in order to invoke an emotional response. Like Kennedy, Obama realizes that emotion is a much stronger motivator than reality. Given the choice, most Americans would rather feel good about a concept unencumbered by confusing details(CHANGE) than to face the veracity of facts (Exactly what does this mantra of CHANGE mean?).

But these are not the only similarities Obama shares with Kennedy. He also shares the same inexperience and idealistic notions. Charm and superior communicatory skills are great assets for a presidential candidate, but they count for little, if anything, when facing down the sworn enemies of this country. Nikita Kruschev anticipated as much from Kennedy, and from their first meeting, realized he was correct. Kennedy’s oratory expertise and impressive public persona did nothing to deter Kruschev from taking advantage of his American counterpart’s weakness and lack of experience. For all of Kennedy’s abilities to deliver a good speech and tap into the American public’s emotions, he could not elicit the same from the Soviets. Sizing him up as a weak leader, Kruschev proceeded to build the Berlin Wall and deploy nuclear missiles in Cuba, ninety miles away from US shores.

Today, not much has changed in the world from forty-eight years ago. The players are different, but the same hatred against the United States exists and there is no shortage of enemies that would like to hurt this country. America survived the dark and terrifying times of the Kennedy administration, but that was due more to circumstance than by anything JFK ever did. In spite of his grave errors in judgment, we were able to eventually overcome the Soviet threat and win the cold war. It ended up taking decades and the strong, unflinching hand of Ronald Reagan to finally put an end to the Soviets and their deadly aggression.

On November 4^th, America will be faced with a decision similar to the one they faced in November of 1960. Back then, they went for the candidate that made them feel good, and that candidate’s inexperience and idealism brought this great nation to the brink of nuclear war.

It remains to be seen who America will choose this Election Day. If they do elect what many have proclaimed to be the next JFK, his supporters will not be the only ones celebrating—our enemies will be celebrating, too.

Motivations

It was the way in which my parents raised me. They taught me about my heritage and what it meant to be Cuban. Never did a doubt exist in my mind of who we were and where we came from. Not until adulthood did I fully realize the sacrifices they made to give us a normal life in this land of exile. Like so many other Cubans, they fled the oppression and persecution that took over their island and came to the United States seeking freedom not just for themselves, but for their children also. They battled to overcome the language barriers and the many obstacles they faced in a new country in order for their children to grow up in a free society. My parents did this for us, and although they did their best to hide the pain and difficulty they faced each day away from their native Cuba, they also made sure that we never forgot her. 

It was the experiences I lived through growing up in the heart of the Cuban exile community. The stories and the laughter I heard of a bygone era left an indelible mark upon me. I feel at times that I could not have been any closer to my Cuban heritage if I had been raised on the island. The people around me—from my family members to neighbors and friends—were not only Cuban, but they also lived as Cubans. They taught me how to laugh in Cuban, how to cry in Cuban, and perhaps most important, they taught me how to argue in Cuban. They also taught me how to love and respect the great nation that took us in. Not once did I ever hear anything but praise and adulation for America, and the only envy they ever exhibited was for the freedom they enjoyed here that they sought for their Cuba. The most lasting and inspiring lesson they taught me, however, was the true meaning of perseverance. Even after forty-seven years of exile, I can still see the sparkle in my mother’s eyes when she speaks of Cuba.  

It is that yearning deep inside that calls out to me every day of my life. Some days it is not as loud as others, but it is never silent. I can never ignore it, nor would I want to; it reminds me of who I am and where I came from. It is a desire that I know will never be fulfilled, a hunger that will never be satiated, until I set foot in a Cuba free of tyranny. Only then, when I see the streets I was supposed to grow up on, and see the landscapes that were supposed to make up my childhood memories, will I know that I am finally home. On that day, along with tens of thousands of others like me, I will laugh the way I was taught, and I will shed tears the way I was taught. 

These are but a few of the things that motivate me to speak out and write for the cause of a free Cuba. I can understand how the concept of loving a country I have never seen might seem incomprehensible to those who have not experienced what I and so many others like me have experienced. And perhaps they will never be able to fully understand what we feel. Nevertheless, the lack of understanding among those around us does not make the yearning any less intense. Like a broken heart, it is a pain that only the heartbroken can understand. 

Yet the yearning for Cuba is a gift we all carry within us. A gift we were given at birth. A gift which was carefully and lovingly cultivated by our family, and in many instances, the only thing they could give us.