The Myth of Progress: Notes on Cuba Before and After Communism

The Story Saint Francis and First Nativity Scene.

The Nativity scene, the recreation in the imagery of the birth of the Infant Jesus, is a staple of Christian tradition around Christmastime. This idea and custom can be attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, one of the most influential figures of Christianity, especially the Catholic Church. With a world principally illiterate for most of history, Catholicism has stressed the importance of utilizing the arts to facilitate the understanding of religious doctrine, observance, and praxis.

St. Francis has transformed the Church and many of its policies in ways unknown to a great number of people. The mystic from Assisi, for example, broadened the message of humility after his experience in San Damiano Church where, while praying before the Byzantine Crucifix, Jesus addressed him saying “Francis, go and repair my church.” The need for “repairs” was not for the physical conditions of the cited church and monastery in Assisi, but of the Church itself.

Already deep-rooted in his transformative mystic mission, St. Francis traveled to Rome in 1223, to seek permission from Pope Honorius III to celebrate Christmas in a new manner. The idea was to make something “for the kindling of devotion” in the celebration of the birth of Christ, as St. Bonaventure told us in Life of St. Francis (1263). The 13th-century theologian, philosopher, and author, himself a member of the mendicant order of the Franciscans which St. Francis founded in 1209, has been insightful in relating the connection between the Nativity and the great saint from Assisi. Other authoritative works that concur with St. Bonaventure’s documentation include Father Cuthbert’s Life of St. Francis of Assisi (1912). 

 

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Schumpeter and Lesson’s from Chile’s Debacle.

Joseph Schumpeter may well help us better understand the debacle that was Chile’s 2021 presidential election result of Sunday, December 19. Far-left candidate Gabriel Boric easily won with 55.87% of the vote, defeating conservative Jose Antonio Kast, a staunch defender of free markets and republican governance. How could arguably Latin America’s basket case of success in the late 20^th and early 21^st centuries, measured by socio-economic indicators, have gone for a Marxist sympathizer?

The Austrian economist and politician (Schumpeter) authored a classic, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy (1942), where he contended that socialism would ultimately overrun capitalism and democracy. The rationale Schumpeter offered was that as political equality extended voting rights, the non-wealthy portion of the population, clearly the majority, would vote for socialism. The Moravian-born, later naturalized U.S. citizen, and former Harvard professor was most influential in the field of economics. Yet, his 1942 work may prove to be Schumpeter’s biggest legacy. In this pessimistic work, his understanding of human nature is playing out.

Chile is not an isolated case. Peru and Honduras are recent examples where socialist candidates won the presidency. Elections scheduled for 2022 in Brazil, Colombia, and Costa Rica, place these countries all within plausible reach by radical leftism. The failure of socialism is undeniable when judged by empirical evidence and moral history. Yet, despite this fact, how can socialism’s appeal at the voting booth be explained? 

 

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The World Stage and its Useless Condemnations and Speeches Against Cuba.

By a count of 393 to 150, the European Parliament voted on Thursday, December 16, to condemn the communist regime in Cuba for its brutal crackdown following the Civic March for Change (15N) on November 15. Even including the 119 abstentions, the European deputies solidly supported chastising the Cuban dictatorship’s reaction to the popular demands for systemic change on the island. Additionally, the parliament’s declaration called for the release of the over 800 political prisoners languishing in jail since the 11th of July Cuban Insurrection (11J).

The same day, the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS) issued a statement requisitioning the unconditional release of Cuban political prisoners. In the document, the OAS General Secretariat also stated that it “urges Cuba to immediately allow a visit to the country by a Humanitarian Mission of the universal and/or inter-American system for the protection of Human Rights that can verify the state and situation of political prisoners.”

These diplomatic courses are of great moral fortitude. The symbolism behind the world’s most successful democracies repudiating Castro-Communism’s survival maneuvers exercised against the Cuban people is impacting. Are they, however, sufficient remedies? Can diplomatic moral reprimands bring about the end, or even the minimization, of human rights abuses? Experience tells us this is not the case when dealing with totalitarian models of political operation. 

 

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The Democrat’s Dirty War on the Nation and Trump.

A “dirty” war is typically understood to mean an unconventional manner of carrying out warfare and is usually depleted of moral integrity. This strategic maneuver need not necessarily be violent, although violence can be conveniently exploited. The left’s conspiracy to interfere and impact the 2020 election was confessed in that monumental TIME article from February 4, “The Secret History of the Shadow Campaign That Saved the 2020 Election.” The cabal of woke oligarchs, mainstream media propagandists, and DNC operatives succeeded in their undertaking. The January 6 Capitol Building irruption has been manipulated to tentatively complete this insidious plot.

The attempts by Democratic lawmakers to legislatively deconstruct America have taken various forms. Some include seeking to nationalizing dubious mail-in voting practices (HR 1), legally codifying Gender Ideology and other Marxist Critical Theory venoms (HR 5), adding two Democratic senators through DC statehood (HR 51), castrating the Second Amendment (HR 127), criminalize conservative opposition (HR 350), and making the U.S. Supreme Court an extension of Congress by packing it with additional leftist Justices. Fortunately, a handful of moderate Democrats along with steadfast Republicans have prevented this.

The FBI concluded on August 20, after an 8-month investigation, that the January 6 incident in Washington, DC was in no way, shape, or form, centrally commandeered by former president Donald J. Trump, his supporters, or any “white supremacists/nationalists” groups. Despite that fact, the Democrats under the leadership of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi concocted the January 6 Commission 4 days later to “investigate” what the nation’s highest law enforcement agency had already investigated. 

 

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