Free Cuba!

I think that oppressive regimes' days are numbered.  The tide of history is moving against them.

I am normally against getting involved in foreign entanglements, but this is in our backyard, and I don't think that it would be that difficult for the United States to overthrow the Cuban regime.  Do we really want to let 11 million people continue to be oppressed?  We should have done it decades ago.

We could make Cuba the 51st state.  We could peaceably offer statehood to the country, although they would not accept.  Maybe with enough incentive they would.  

We could also threaten war if they didn't respect human rights.

It might also send a message to other countries about respecting human rights.  The one and only thing that I agree with Jimmy Carter on is to make human rights part of our negotiations.  China has spent the last decade turning into a much more oppressive country, after a previous period of improvement.  I don't think that we should trade with them, barring some concessions on their part.  Although it is true that we are dependent on China, we can adapt and there are many other countries that we can trade with.