Kim Crockett: Freedom will be short-lived without the Constitution

I do not disagree with all you (King Banaian) said about the power of trade to do great good. And I recognize that presidents and governors represent us, cutting trade and foreign policy deals around the world.

Would it not be a wonderful and sweet irony if Obama’s legacy-making tour ended up transforming Cuba into a little Capitalist powerhouse? A place that baseball players from all over the world moved to, because it had the best baseball teams in the world?

Mark Dayton and the DFL gang (Klobuchar, Franken, Ellison et. al.) are doing back flips to normalize relations with Cuba. The Minnesota Orchestra flew there for a concert, we have a big Cuban Art exhibition coming here next year, etc.

I wish they would work this hard at reaching out to Prime Minister May in Merry old England following the Brexit vote to make some new deals with our special friend, leading the world in welcoming England back from the suffocating embrace of Europe’s bureaucrats.

That promise of freedom and prosperity makes me cheer for you, Milton Friedman and the Cuban people.

But the reality is the Castros have brutalized their opposition for decades. Good men and women rot in Cuban jails; some take a bullet or just disappear. Cubans are a powerful political force in Florida, so we listen and follow their lead. For better or worse, Congress has decided over and over not to engage with the regime. (Congress probably keeps thinking those Fidel and Raul are going to die so we can end the embargo and get on with improving relations. Please tell me the Castros do not have a younger sibling.)

Is Congress wrong? You can certainly make the case that this embargo has not broken the regime. But we elect Congress to make those decisions, and elect the president to faithfully execute the law. This president’s open contempt for the rule of law and Congress (i.e. the People) cannot be rewarded. Forget prosperity, our freedom is at stake.

And as you observed so sagely on your radio show, given the fact that Obama used an Executive Order in violation of the express laws of Congress, there is uncertainty for future of the Cuban cigar and rum market here in the U.S. because there is a risk that the next president will rescind Obama’s order, or Congress will react.

I do not wish to delay freedom or prosperity for the people of Cuba but if the United States does not regain its Constitutional footing, if we continue to be governed by the president’s pen and phone, while Congress continues its great shrinking act followed by an Imperial Judiciary, then both Cuba and the West will have a lot more to worry about than trading cigars, rum and baseball players.