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>On January 26, R. K. Moore (RKM) wrote:
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>I base my characterizations of Cuba on written reports and film
>documentaries I've seen over the years from many sources, taking into
>account the credibility track-record of the individual sources.
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You assert that Castro enjoys the overwhelming support of the Cuban people
and I ask you how you know this. To which you reply that you read reports
and saw documentaries. But my question is a little bit deeper than this:
How can *anyone* make such a statement without describing the method by
which they discovered this truth? Did the writers and film makers go into
the countryside and talk to bus drivers? farm workers? Did they conduct
scientific polls? Did they use their intuition? What *was* their method?
RKM wrote:
>The Western system, ideally, incorportes popular will via elections; the
>Cuban system, ideally, incorporates popular will via ongoing feedback
>channels. Both systems are theoretically workable frameworks for
>democracy, and one must look at how they operate in practice to determine
>whether they, in each case, result in a democratic or dictatorial regime.
>But I ask again: what are these ongoing fedback channels? I think you
would be doing everyone a favor if you thought this question through
very carefully. After all, comes the revolution and you might be asked to
construct such feedback channels yourself! So I ask again: What are these
so-called "ongoing feedback channels" and how are they supposed to work?
(Perhaps Castro travels throughout Cuba incognito and listens to
conversations in barbershops?)
You write:
In Cuba, I claim based on empirical evidence, the regime has managed to
stay in touch with popular sentiment, has responded to it, governs with
the general support of the people, and has served them well.
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>Again, I believe there is no such empirical evidence and if there is
you have not cited it. But I will cite one bit of contrary evidence:
the absence of freedom to travel. I will take a page from your book and
make a bald assertion: any regime which does not allow freedom to travel
does not enjoy popular support and fears its own people.
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