The goal of life is to become a master at penetrating surface illusions. This is a constant test and challenge at all stages of character development. And I believe that America is on the verge of receiving a failing grade for their course work for this century. This is not good news.

     The rescue of Elian Gonzalez from the Florida Straits by two American fisherman triggered the emergence of just such a test, in which the battle between Communism and Freedom has been re-ignited on a global scale, though this time primarily within the minds of men, Thank God, and not so much in the arena of nuclear war.

     Freedom has always been about principle. Communism has always been about illusion. The principles of freedom have always produced the greatest level of spiritual and material prosperity the world has yet known. Communism, not withstanding its utopian hopes and dreams, has always produced the greatest swaths of destruction known in the annals of recorded history. Not only are there zero examples of successful communist systems on the planet, but there are zero examples of benign communist systems. Without exception communist systems are associated with the most egregious abuse of human rights.

     But in answer to the question of whether Elian should stay in America, or be taken back to Communist Cuba, it appears that most Americans have reasoned within their hearts that on the one hand, Communism isn't so bad, and on the other, that Freedom isn't so good.

     But that's not the right answer.

     The American people have forgotten their roots. They have forgotten that it is part of the definition of life itself to speak the truth. They have forgotten that the soul shrivels up like a dead leaf if it doesn't allow the vital energies of truth to flow through it. In this state of forgetfulness, one can well understand why in the land of freedom, that the opportunity to speak the truth is not valued, and why, when considering a land pinned under the boot of Communism, they don't see any particular problem with the fact that truth is not allowed to be spoken there at all.

     In terms of the death of the divine soul, perhaps America and Cuba have more in common than anyone has heretofore imagined. Perhaps so. This brings to mind the Biblical concept of the whited sepulcher, where the appearance of life is everywhere apparent, but where the reality of life is nowhere to be found. In as much as the trademark of the divine soul is in the championship of God's Will, we observe that there is not much evidence of that in either country, one by brutal design, by the force of arms, and by terror, and in the other by the deepest neglect brought on by the opium-like effects of material abundance.

     And what makes passing this test the more difficult for so many, beyond their estrangement from their divine family, and their Divine Creator, is the fact that Fidel Castro puts a lot of effort into putting a pretty face onto his Atheist Revolution. But that mask, painted with the thick black mascara of free education, free health care, and the various other trappings of a worker's paradise, will appear benign only to the spiritual and emotional toddlers who have not taken even their first wobbling steps along this auspicious path that leads to the discovery of truth.

     To these, the tastebuds of the child mind are still easily overwhelmed by the sweet lollipop of social justice offered by Castro and his revolutionaries. The internal illumination of knowledge hasn't yet even begun to form into the counterforce of common sense, no, not even the most basic lessons of history are incorporated into the drive chain of the mind. The fact that the world has seen tens of millions of lives destroyed as a direct result of taking the assertions of Communist leaders at face value, a fact that should have been impressed upon the entire collective mind of all peoples, in all nations, is left in the glove compartment, like one of so many neglected and unused maps.

     The illusion is that Castro's Communists have only the best of intentions. The illusion is that Castro's Cuba holds no particular danger for Elian Gonzalez.

     But this is the truth of the matter: it is the unrelenting magnet of the criminal mind that pulls Elian Gonzalez inexorably back into the arms of Fidel Castro. Allow your divine soul to penetrate the surface illusion to touch the true nature of this criminal force and thereby position your own soul to resist it. For a truth, there is no greater example of robbery, and larceny, than to allow the Communist Party of Cuba to steal the soul of Elian out of the arms of God.

     The truth of this assertion will become clear as you follow with your mind's eye the thrust of principle through the surface layers of fabricated good will, and into the deformed and twisted interior of the Godless heart.

     We have selected for this purpose a very sharp and well defined principle that we have found embedded in Title 18, Section 242 of the United States Code, which shows us clearly, and unmistakably, that the desire to deprive another person of his or her inalienable rights is defined as a quality of the criminal mind. That is exactly what it says. (The text of this law is reproduced in the course of the discussion below.)

     Taking this principle from the law as one might take the gleaming sword Excalibur from its scabbard, and thrusting the radiant blade through the surface fabrication, we can easily expose the fact that the forces of Communism in Cuba, or anywhere, cannot possibly represent simply another political lifestyle choice. The truth is quite to the contrary. When this principle is applied, we are able to see clearly that because Communism represents a highly organized and passionately driven conspiracy to deprive the people of their inalienable rights, it must be a conspiracy that is fundamentally criminal in nature.

     The people of America need to understand that under the laws of the United States, Fidel Castro, and all those who support the machinery of repression in Cuba, which includes Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, qualify as criminals under the spirit of American law. I believe that it is very important to grasp the significance of this fact.

     From the United States Code, Title 18 - Crimes and Criminal Procedure, Part I - Crimes, Chapter 13 - Civil Rights, Section 242. Deprivation of rights under color of law, we read the following:

Whoever, under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, willfully subjects any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States ... shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both ... (source)

     Under this section of the U.S. Code, cited as 18USC242, it is a criminal act for any city, county, state, or federal official to suppress anyone's freedom of speech or of the press, freedom of religion, freedom to assemble, or freedom to petition the government for redress of grievances. Whoever does this, if it can be shown in a court of law that he or she actually did use the power of their office to deny these rights, are considered criminals, and they will be fined, or sentenced to jail, depending upon the severity of the unlawful act. The amount of jail time prescribed by the law increases if there is any physical abuse associated with the deprivation of rights.

The following is a list of human rights reports that provide documentation for the widespread extent of human rights crimes in Cuba: U.S. Department of State 1999 Human Rights Report - Cuba 1998 Human Rights Report - Cuba 1997 Human Rights Report - Cuba 1996 Human Rights Report - Cuba 1995 Human Rights Report - Cuba 1994 Human Rights Report - Cuba 1993 Human Rights Report - Cuba Human Rights Watch Cuba's Repressive Machinery

     One need not travel to Cuba to find a fresh example of this criminal behavior. On Friday Evening, April 14, 2000, a group of people were gathered in a peaceful protest outside of the Cuban Interest Section in Washington D.C. Without warning, a group of thugs poured out of the main door of the Cuban Interest Section and dove into the protestors, punching them, grabbing away their signs, and then beating them with their own signs. When police sirens were heard they scurried back into the protective sanctuary of the Cuban Interest Section where, because of diplomatic immunity, they cannot be apprehended or prosecuted for the crime of assault and battery. (This account is taken from the report of two of the protestor/victims who were interviewed on the April 19, 2000 edition of Fox News Channel's Special Report with Brit Hume). It is of course amazing that anyone would believe that Juan Miguel Gonzalez does not have serious, very serious, second thoughts about saying anything that might conflict with the wishes of Fidel Castro, for this is the way Castro handles dissent in Cuba, and everyone who lives in Cuba knows it. Now a small number of Americans also have first hand knowledge of it.

     Let us be crystal clear about the question of what represents criminality in the domain of civil rights:

• If any government official, anywhere in the United States, corrals people in jail for speaking their minds, this would be a crime under 18USC242. In Cuba, these crimes occur on a daily basis with the approval, and at the direction of the Communist Party.

• If any government official, anywhere in the United States, destroys a printing press, or otherwise makes it impossible for a person to publish a flyer, a newsletter, or any other kind of printed material which might criticize the government, this would be a crime in America under 18USC242. In Cuba, such crimes occur on a daily basis with the approval, and at the direction of the Communist Party.

• If any government official, anywhere in the United States, moves to arrest people who gather peacefully, for the purpose of criticizing the government, outside of a city hall, a county government center, a state capitol, or the national capitol, this would be a crime in America under 18USC242. In Cuba, such crimes occur on a regular basis with the approval, and at the direction of the Communist Party.

• If any government official, anywhere in the United States, moved to shut down any religious worship service, this would be a crime in America under 18USC242. In Cuba, such crimes occur on a regular basis with the approval, and at the direction of the Communist Party.

     If, in our hearts, we have no doubt about the criminality of such acts when they are committed in the United States, but dismiss the commission of the same crimes against the Cuban people, we are saying in effect that these rights apply only and exclusively to the American People. But could that be true? Is it possible that a crime is in fact committed only when these rights are denied to Americans? This cannot be. As Thomas Paine put it more than 200 years ago, what we are talking about here are The Inalienable Rights of Man. The denial of these rights is a criminal act everywhere on this planet.

     In America, when members of the Republican Party have the preponderance of power in city councils, county governments, state governments, or the federal government, members of the Democrat Party, and all other parties can speak freely if they have anything critical to say. Our laws guarantee this.

     In America, when members of the Democrat Party have the preponderance of power in city councils, county governments, state governments, or the federal government, members of the Republican Party, and all other parties can speak freely if they have anything critical to say. Our laws guarantee this.

     In Cuba, the Communist Party holds a monopoly on power, and they use the power of the state to deny all of the aforementioned rights to all citizens. The only public expressions that are allowed, are those that coincide with the views of the Communist Party Leadership. At the point of a gun the spines of the people are bent into the posture of fearful subservience, and in this way are made a party to the criminal conspiracy that suppresses an entire culture. The government of Cuba is not a legitimate government. It is a cabal of smooth talking thugs with a monopoly on military and police power.

     Therefore, under the standards of universal human decency, what are considered crimes in America, must also be considered crimes when they are committed in Cuba, and Juan Miguel Gonzalez, being a member of the Communist Party of Cuba, is a co-conspirator in the commission of these crimes. Therefore, it is not a question of whether Juan Miguel Gonzalez should get his son back. The question is this: Should the American people become co-conspirators in the commission of these crimes against the person of Elian Gonzalez? I say, that to be involved in this conspiracy is a betrayal of everything noble America has ever stood for.

     But unfortunately the ill-informed, though highly opinionated, and often simple minded masses of America are being lead in exactly the wrong direction by co-conspirators Bill Clinton and his Attorney General Janet Reno who, in cooperation with Fidel Castro, the Communist Party of Cuba, and Juan Miguel Gonzalez, are using the power of their offices, under the color of law, to inflict a gross deprivation of rights upon Elian Gonzalez. When they say that American law requires this conspiracy of criminality to be outplayed to its ultimate conclusion, the Clinton Administration is doing what it has always done so well, which is lie to the American people. Read the law for yourself. After having done so, not one person in a thousand would agree with them that U.S. Law requires Clinton, Reno, or anyone else, to cooperate with Castro's criminal intentions.

     Freedom of speech, of religion, of the press, and of assembly is deemed so valuable in America, that we consider the denial of these freedoms an expression of a criminal mindset. Sending Elian back into a system ruled by people who routinely exhibit behavior that is defined as criminal under our laws, has to be considered criminal in itself by our own definitions. And who can doubt that those who have a taste for this conspiracy (once they know of it) have a corresponding taste for lawlessness itself. I have no doubt of it.

     When confronted with the question of what to do with Elian Gonzalez, Bill Clinton and his Attorney General had a clear choice before them.

     The other option was to throw their lot in with the conspiracy of criminality represented by Fidel Castro, the Cuban Communist Party, and their puppet Juan Miguel Gonzalez.

     Make no mistake about it. The desire to deprive another person of his or her inalienable rights is defined in U.S. Law as a quality of the criminal mindset. Therefore, the forces of Communism in Cuba, or anywhere, do not represent simply another political lifestyle choice. Communism represents a highly organized and passionately driven conspiracy to deprive the people of their inalienable rights. And therefore, as we have shown, this conspiracy is intrinsically criminal in nature.

     And so, who were Bill Clinton and his Attorney General more comfortable with? Elian's Miami relatives who want to guarantee liberty for the boy? No. Bill Clinton and his Attorney General chose to throw their lot in with Castro's conspiracy of criminality.

     Thus, Bill Clinton, descending ever so smoothly down his gentle and non-jarring glide slope of moral relativism, continues to achieve new lows in the debasement and corruption of American tradition.

     Now, if evil has the face of a monster, it represents only a very small threat because it is easy to remain vigilant before the clearly visible signs of danger. But the kind of evil that takes on the smiling face of a glad-handing, and baby hugging politician, with a self-supporting phalanx of smooth talking and apple- polishing yes-men, poses a level of danger that the American people haven't even come close to recognizing.