Bush, Castro and Sex Tourism

In a speech in Tampa on July 16, Bush accused Cuban President Fidel Castro of welcoming sex tourism, as he courted Cuban-American voters in Florida, a pivotal state in November's election. The sex allegations follow a recent toughening of anti-Cuban US laws.

Castro rejected the accusations as "lies and slanders." He says Bush is exhibiting "strange behavior and bellicosity."

'Let's hope, in Cuba's case, God does not instruct Mr. Bush to attack our country,' Castro said. 'He had better check on any divine belligerent order by consulting the Pope.'

Cuba's communist government was born of a revolution against a corrupt U.S.-backed dictatorship that allowed Mafia-run gaming and prostitution to thrive in Havana in the 1950's. Prostitution was banned, but returned during the severe economic crisis Cuba has undergone since the collapse of Soviet communism. Oh, and years of stifling US sanctions, of course.

More on this story at Reuters.com

I think this story above is interesting because it's impossible to think about Bush's presidency for too long without reflecting on the failing value system that allowed it to happen. I mean, people voted for Bush knowing he didn't have the experience for the job, or else they didn't even bother voting, the Supreme Court let themselves be bought out, everyone in Congress authorized the invasion of Iraq, the media buy and sell the lies...

Most people would agree that people in today's world do not have the same strong value and moral convictions that our grandparents had. This applies particularly to politicians, business people and the wealthy in general. As a society, we now seem to accept that lack of values and even use it to condone our own behaviour.

"Yeah, maybe I did swindle that guy on a used car, but look at Enron!"

If the underlying causes of terrorism are poverty, inequality and corrupt governments, the underlying reasons why Bush came to power and got away with so much are not all that dissimilar: we allow people in other countries to suffer poverty and abusive regimes, shrugging it off as "not my problem." Perhaps the day will come when we have a value system that does not allow us to ignore their plight so easily.

In our grandparents' day, remember, they could not see this suffering on TV every night or learn more about it on the Internet. What's our excuse?