Cuba at a crossroads

This month, Fidel Castro's regime and the island of Cuba celebrate a Golden Wedding Anniversary of sorts.

And as with many unions, the marriage has been rough and rocky, held together at times by sheer inertia. Communism and Cuba have not been a match made in heaven.

Since 1959, almost three generations of Cubans have grown up not knowing basic freedoms such as freedom of speech and freedom to petition the government. They live in a Neverland of Socialist hype and pipe dreams.

The response of the United States to all this has been inconsistent. While the nation has been willing to trade with other Communist regimes, the embargo against Cuba has held for half a century. And the reasons are all political. Florida is a key state in presidential elections. The swing vote in Florida belongs to Cuban expatriates who despise Castro and all he stands for. Relaxing sanctions against Cuba could create a tipping point in a national election. So, instead of trying to win over hearts and minds in Cuba by showing the wonders and advantages of a free market system — as the United States has done elsewhere — Uncle Sam has basically cut Cuba and its people loose.

Eventually, of course, that will change. The Cuba "experiment" — like the social experiments with prohibition and a "separate but equal" school system — has been a dismal failure.

Yes, everyone can read in Cuba. They just can't read what they need to know.

Yes, public transportation is free. There's simply no place to go.

Yes, Castro was able to boot out the Mafia and the Las Vegas lifestyle they promoted, but he replaced it with an austerity that makes monks look like high rollers.

Has the United States done right by Cubans? Probably not. As is often the case, America has allowed practical political concerns to trump morality and, hence, it has allowed more suffering than was called for. Still, it was Castro who boldly predicted the demise of free enterprise in the world and hitched his wagon to Soviet-style Communism. Now it's Castro's turn to cry. His grand vision has collapsed around him.

The sad part is, because of all the political machinations from both sides over the past 50 years, generations of Cubans have grown up without freedoms and without the benefits they could have had.