With President Obama’s historic trip to Cuba just behind us, a familiar lamentation has been in the air of late, namely that forthcoming American tourism is sure to bring “changes” to Cuba. While one would expect the acolytes of President Changemeister himself to greet such a development with hope, instead a rather pessimistic directive has become commonplace among the hip liberal set: that if one is to travel to the tiny island nation, one must do so “before it changes.”
I’m inclined to postpone my visit until after it changes, but, hey, I’m a sucker for reliable electricity and freedom of speech. For less finicky vacationers, there are options for more immediate travel to the people’s paradise, including one advertised in a very enticing subject line that popped into my inbox this very morning: “Experience Havana with The Nation.”
Yes, that would be The Nation magazine, self-proclaimed “‘flagship’ of the political Left.” Please, read on:
Sign me up! I mean, who wouldn’t want to spend a week in an island paradise meeting with an “expert on gender in Cuban society” or having a “Socio-economic discussion with [an] urban planner?” There’s even an overnight stay at some privately run “bed and breakfasts” (the brochure helpfully explains that “[s]ince the 1990s, Cuban families have been permitted to rent rooms out of their family homes to foreigners,” which sounds dangerously like “change” to me).
This all-inclusive package can be yours for the low, socialist-friendly price of… about $6,000. What, you were expecting free? What do you think they are? Communists?
