This morning on Hudson Valley Focus, I had the opportunity to sit down with two Cuban Americans and talk about a word that seems to be enjoying something of a renaissance in American politics:
Socialism.
And I have a suggestion for the Democratic Socialists of America, including those organizing right here in the Hudson Valley:
Listen to this conversation.
Not because you have to agree with it. Not because two people can settle a century-old political argument in a radio segment. But because before socialism becomes something fashionable enough for meetings, slogans, rallies—or even “cocktails with comrades”—perhaps we ought to hear from people whose families actually experienced life under a government that embraced it.
For many Americans, socialism is theoretical. It is debated in college classrooms, discussed on social media, and packaged as an answer to inequality, healthcare costs, housing, and corporate power.
For Cuban Americans, the discussion can be far more personal.
They know the promises.
They have also lived with—or inherited the stories of—what came afterward.
The Cuban Revolution promised equality, justice, and dignity for ordinary people. What followed was a one-party communist state, suppression of political opposition, restrictions on speech and private enterprise, imprisonment of dissidents, and generations of Cubans risking everything to leave the island.
That history deserves more than a shrug because someone insists, “That isn’t the kind of socialism we mean.”
Fair enough. Democratic socialists in America are not advocating Fidel Castro’s Cuba, and intellectual honesty requires acknowledging that distinction.
But intellectual honesty also requires something from the other side: listen to people who have experienced socialism somewhere other than a seminar room.
Ask them what the promises sounded like in the beginning.
Ask them how quickly institutions can change.
Ask them what happens when government acquires enormous power in the name of protecting ordinary people.
Ask them why so many Cuban families remain deeply suspicious when they hear political movements casually romanticize socialism.
Most importantly, don’t dismiss their experiences because those experiences complicate the narrative.
There is something increasingly troubling about American political debate: we seem much more interested in defending our ideology than testing it.
We search for people who confirm what we already believe and avoid those who might make us uncomfortable.
That’s precisely backward.
If you believe socialism offers America a better future, you should be especially interested in hearing from people who have witnessed its failures elsewhere. Maybe you’ll disagree with them. Maybe you’ll argue that democratic socialism is fundamentally different. That’s a legitimate debate.
But first, listen.
Because history doesn’t always arrive waving a warning flag. Sometimes it arrives wrapped in beautiful language—fairness, equality, justice, solidarity—and promises that government can finally make everything right.
And sometimes the people best qualified to warn us are those who once heard those promises themselves.
So to my friends at the Democratic Socialists of America—and particularly those organizing here in the Hudson Valley—I extend a simple invitation:
Listen to these two Cuban Americans.
You don’t have to agree with them.
But if we’re going to have a serious conversation about socialism in America, surely the voices of people whose families actually lived under it deserve a seat at the table.
Maybe even before the next round of cocktails with comrades.
The Valley Viewpoint
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