John Edwards: Restrict Freedom of Travel [View All]

[RafterMan]

Here's a downer:

In 1999, John Edwards joined his Republican colleagues in blocking an amendment which would have restored Americans' freedom to travel to Cuba (1). Maybe you're not itching to go to Cuba, and this doesn't seem like such a big deal to you. But a penchant for ill-considered authoritarianism should concern everybody in the Patriot Act era.

As Chris Dodd (who sponsored the amendment) puts it:

"Because Fidel Castro does not permit Cubans to leave Cuba and come to this country is not justification for adopting a similar principle in this country that says Americans cannot travel freely. We have a Bill of Rights. We have fundamental rights that we embrace as American citizens. Travel is one of them. If other countries want to prohibit us from going there, then that is their business. But for us to say that citizens of Connecticut or Alabama cannot go where they like is not the kind of restraint we ought to put on people."(2)

Why is keeping Americans out of Cuba so important to John Edwards? Mojitophobia? It's hard to say, but his website claims "Edwards believes that we need to get serious about political reform and human rights in places like Cuba, North Korea, and throughout the Middle East."(3) If his travel ban is part of a larger pro-democracy push, can we expect to be banned from travel to undemocratic countries like Egypt? Syria? China? Edwards isn't saying, but he has declined to retract his Cuba position, abstaining from a 2003 vote on the same issue (4).

It seems to me that John Edwards just wants too much control for too little reason. Maybe that's why so many of his supporters in Wisconsin claimed to be "satisfied" with President Bush.

Sources:

(1) http://thomas.loc.gov/home/r106query.html page S7888 (June 30, 1999)
(2) http://thomas.loc.gov/home/r106query.html pages S7888, S7889 (June 30, 1999)
(3) http://www.johnedwards2004.com/foreign-policy.asp
(4) http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=108&session=1&vote=00405

Added: link to 1999 vote
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=106&session=1&vote=00189