The five-year-old Cuban boy scooped out of dangerous waters on
Thanksgiving morning has drawn national sympathy and also ignited an
important debate. Elian Gonzalez was found floating on an inner tube
following the drowning death of his mother and stepfather during a
desperate attempt to reach the United States. Although he is currently
residing with relatives in Miami, his biological father in Cuba is
demanding the boy's return. Not only was he his son's caretaker five days
of the week, says Juan Miguel Gonzalez, but little Elian will benefit from
free health care under the avuncular leadership of the good and kind Fidel
Castro.
Ever since, Americans have faced a stark choice: Reunite Elian Gonzalez
with his closest living relative in one of the world's most oppressed
countries, or let him have the freedom for which his mother gave her life.
Our initial reaction is to err on the side of liberty, but still. Can't
there be a Third Way? Is there no Solomon among us who can settle this
matter?
How about this: Send the boy back to his father. Let him live in Cuba.
With the island under the care and protection of the U.S. Marines. Now
that's compassionate conservatism.
The violence in Seattle ought to provide some clarity to our debates about
trade policy. It is conventionally said that the issue splits both left
and right; some of the commentary even suggests that protectionism looms
larger on the right. There certainly are figures associated with
conservatism who espouse protectionist viewpoints, such as Patrick
Buchanan. But those aren't members of Eagle Forum rioting at the WTO
summit. It's the left that gets emotional about the evils of trade.
The
Nation just devoted an entire issue to the WTO summit. (We dare you to
pick it up.)
Clinton, ever the sort of liberal who goes where he's pushed, is caving to
the Left (see NR's editorial for more on this subject). It's time for free
traders to push back — starting with the leading Republican candidates for
president, who ought to challenge the administration's negotiating posture
as a retreat from America's postwar tradition of leading the fight for
lower taxes on trade. Congressional Democrats especially dread a debate on
trade or on China's accession to the WTO. All the more reason to start
one.
