Castro resigns

[TheNamelessWonder]

Good riddance to a dictator, with any luck this will be the first step on the road to freedom for the Cubans.

[Darryl]

Bush quote:

"The international community should work with the Cuban people to begin to build institutions that are necessary for a democracy, and eventually this transition ought to lead to free and fair elections," he told reporters in Rwanda.

That really means McDonalds, Starbucks, and Walmart. I'll bet the Cubans can't wait!

[Forwyn]

In a starving country, they could use a little McDonald's.

:lol:

[Tim]

The end of an era. It's interesting to note that instead of an outpouring of emotion and respect-paying, the vultures appear ready to step in to assist in installing yet another puppet government.

"Free and fair elections" is a great phrase, but what does it really mean, in practice? Are "free and fair elections" really that positive a thing? Are they the best for every single country and society out there? Are they representative of true democracy?

Personally I don't think so.

[harriergirl]

Lol, everyone is acting as if Castro just said, Okay I give up, you guys can do whatever now. I'm sure he's handpicked his successors.. or they have been handpicked for him. There is no need for all this rejoicing yet :roll:

[brainiac132]

I agree with you harriergirl, but as tim said, It is the end of an era, if u think about it...

And to tim...I can't believe u actually asked those questions. lol. Now, i can agree that "free and fair elections" is a rather vague phrase, and even that "democracy" isn't necessarily good for everyone out there. I, in fact, don't like the idea of a real democracy anyway...Majority rule can oppress the minority just as easily as any dictator can.

However...EVERYONE (and yes, i think everyone has a right to it, as they all should be represented. why should someone else be given the right to tell me what to do without my say?) should at least be given the chance, as best is possible to choose the fate of their country by choosing their leader/s...and voting seems to be the best way to really gauge what people want (barring corruption in the voting system, etc.) Now...i know voting isn't perfect, but it's why u should strive to fix the issues rather than scrap the system. Either that, or have someone read the minds of everyone in the country and trust he won't lie to everyone about what people want:p

[Nonny]

Democaracy is a good thing and the people's wishes to be respected, whatever they choose. The modern problem seems to be when a small state elects a person, or system, a bigger state doesn't like and said big state throws a military strop. ;)

[brainiac132]

lol...nonny, that is hardly a modern problem:p But yes, invasion from a larger country does pose a problem, and is one of the problems in allowing elections to be done as "fair and free" as possible:p. lol. darn those lousy wars for getting in the way:p But then, it's also a problem that military takeovers and coups come from within the country's own people. lol. It's a cold cruel world:p

[Hobbezak]

Democaracy is a good thing and the people's wishes to be respected, whatever they choose. The modern problem seems to be when a small state elects a person, or system, a bigger state doesn't like and said big state throws a military strop. ;)

Democracy is the lesser evil, but saying it's a good thing, is quite a few bridges too far. Democracy 'forces' politicians to look only to the short term ("When's the next election"), whereas key issues (environment, economy, social welfare, inhabitants getting older, dropping birthrate...) are long term problems. Yet this system discourages politicians to look long term.
Furthermore, "people's wishes to be respected" is definately unneeded. On the whole, people don't know what they're talking about. When I ask you what your government should invest in: bio-fuels (from sugar canes), nuclear fusion, bio-fuel (from glycerine), solar power, wind energy or hydropower, your choice will probably be wrong. Only experts can really answer the questions that need to be asked to solve major problems, and their answers might not be very convenient for the common people. So democracy will prevent inconvenient solutions to pressing problems.
And don't forget the fact that you have to take a lot of bureaucracy into account (First make a suggestion, then vote it in a commission, then send it to the parliament, there they make amendments, vote on it, and only then it's a law. And remember that it takes quite a while before an actual problem gets adressed in a suggestion, so one loses a lot of time).
A good dictator can look at matters long term, he can bypass the entire bureaucracy-bs. A good dictator can actually get things that matter, done.
This "good dictator" is of course a utopia, but it defeats democracy by a lot of miles.

[brainiac132]

A dictator can still be elected by the people...the problem is controling him once in power. i actually have no problem with them electing a dictator for his life as long as the people get to vote on it. lol.

But who's to say that one dictator is better and smarter than any other person in the country?:s calling any "good dictator" a utopian ideal is a way understatement:p

As to the remark "people's wishes are definitely unneeded"...pfft...i completely disagree. When talking about governments, u r talking about people who have the power to take your money, and use it for something u may not want, or ever use (even if it's for the greater good, is good for people, the right thing to do, etc...). Now i agree, people in general aren't smart enough, informed enough or whatever, to make good decisions on leaders all the time...but they damn well have the right to choose who it is they think will use their money wisely. i totally agree i'm not the smartest person in the world, hell i consider myself an idiot, and kinda ignorant on some issues...but i know how much money i make and i know the government takes a portion of it....and i'll be damned if i'm gonna let them take it without me having at least a voice as to where it's gonna go. without that voice in some part of the decision (be it actually sending in the instructions as to what to spend it on, or just a vote for a person i think will put my money to good use in) they might as well be stealing.

[Bob]

i wouldn't call him a dictator, but it would be stupid to say cuba is faring well

nothing says things will go better without castro ruling, however

[TheNamelessWonder]

i wouldn't call him a dictator

Caree to explain why?

[Hobbezak]

A dictator can still be elected by the people...the problem is controling him once in power. i actually have no problem with them electing a dictator for his life as long as the people get to vote on it. lol.
Electing someone for life. That means you get a lot of empty promises, but no reason for the dictator to fulfill them. I think it's as useless as just letting someone appoint them.

But who's to say that one dictator is better and smarter than any other person in the country?:s calling any "good dictator" a utopian ideal is a way understatement:p
Have you tried informing 100 people of one issue? It's not as easy as informing 1 person. Well, for say China, one would need to inform 3 billion people for every single decision the government has to make, to actually make democracy work as it should (as in people know what's going on, and base their vote during elections on what is going on, not on who looks best on tv). A dictator with peoples best interest at heart, uses experts of each field to inform him about the problems, and solutions. This is doable. Informing everyone about everything is impossible.

As to the remark "people's wishes are definitely unneeded"...pfft...i completely disagree. When talking about governments, u r talking about people who have the power to take your money, and use it for something u may not want, or ever use (even if it's for the greater good, is good for people, the right thing to do, etc...). Now i agree, people in general aren't smart enough, informed enough or whatever, to make good decisions on leaders all the time...but they damn well have the right to choose who it is they think will use their money wisely. i totally agree i'm not the smartest person in the world, hell i consider myself an idiot, and kinda ignorant on some issues...but i know how much money i make and i know the government takes a portion of it....and i'll be damned if i'm gonna let them take it without me having at least a voice as to where it's gonna go. without that voice in some part of the decision (be it actually sending in the instructions as to what to spend it on, or just a vote for a person i think will put my money to good use in) they might as well be stealing.
As I said, you need a good dictator. Furthermore, I'm pretty confident a lot of your money is wasted in the current system.
And, again as I said, people have absolutely no idea of things happening on a macroscopic scale. You can only look at yourself (what do I need?), or at best what people/companies around you need. You don't have the information required to look at things on macro-economical scale (what does the global economy need?), on a sociologic scale (what does the entire community need?), ...
I'm not saying the common people are stupid, but they just don't have the information, because frankly, they don't really care. Elections aren't about who does best at leading the country, they're about who looks best on tv, who can talk the talk (instead of who can walk the walk). And that's in short why democracy is flawed. :)

[TehPantz]

yeah now his brother is in charge. dictator for dictator.

[tobapopalos]

Castro ftw. Lifetime fashion icon (made military green an incredibly chic colour) and amazing role-model for children around the globe. As long as you ignore the whole "ruthless murdering *******" part, he was a great guy.

Plus, if you're a young up-and-coming dictator, then you just need to study the master himself. He survived 638 assassination attempts! Now that's what I call dedication to the job.

Seriously though, I can't help but think that Bush's idea of a "free and fair" election is one where he picks who wins.

[yoyo]

Good riddance to a dictator, with any luck this will be the first step on the road to freedom for the Cubans.

Cuba was not paradise before Castro. mostly run by Casino/Banker political puppet Gangsters. the average citizens of Cuba got the shaft. :(

had the American goverment let Castro play baseball on a American team, things would have been quite different. He loved baseball and wanted so bad to be recruited. Castro was a pretty good pitcher back in the day.

Politics always ruin things and the people pay :(

We Americans have a habit of letting our elected officials overwrite the will of the people.

another example of American fail below..

After the WWII and before the Chinese revolution, all of the American generals stationed over in China said "we need to support this guy, Mao, if we dont, we are screwed.