David Skaggs: “this legislation comes to the floor today propelled by our collective outrage over the recent murderous attack by the…”

“this legislation comes to the floor today propelled by our collective outrage over the recent murderous attack by the Castro regime on two defenseless and clearly marked civilian aircraft. Civilized people everywhere are rightly outraged by this brutal act and by the disregard that the Castro regime has shown for human life and human rights. It is long past time for Castro and his paranoid regime to follow Brezhnev, Honeker, Ceausescu, and all the other failed Marxist dictators into the dust-bin of history. There can be no disagreement about that. But does it follow that there should be no disagreement about this bill? Emphatically, it does not. In fact, this legislation is a product of outdated dogma about how to fight Communist dictators, just as much as Castro is an outdated Communist dictator. A vote for this bill is a vote to ratchet up the already tight Cuban embargo. That may be popular as a way to register our moral outrage at Castro's latest actions. Some may even believe it will help push his regime over the edge. To the contrary, passing this bill is exactly the wrong thing to do right now. What is our self-interest here? What should be our objective? It should be the peaceful transition to a Cuba with an open economic system and a democratic political system. What is the best way to get there? I think our recent experience is instructive, our experience with the Soviet Union, with Eastern Europe, with China and Vietnam.…”