Squad’s lesson in Cuban socialism didn’t last long enough

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Conservatives are outraged that two members of the "Squad," Reps. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Ilhan Omar, D-Mich., made a secret visit to Cuba to meet with its socialist leadership. I'm not outraged in the least. In fact, I wish they would have stayed a little longer. Let me explain why.

Half a century ago, when President Richard Nixon visited China, one of his congressional opponents cracked, "I have no problem with President Nixon going to China. I just have a problem with him coming back home."

I wouldn't go that far, and I respect the members' right to fight for their political agenda, no matter how much I may disagree with it. But had they stayed a little longer in Havana, they might have seen what a socialist "workers paradise" really looks like, and perhaps they might change their politics as a result.

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Had they extended their visit by a week or two and asked to meet with duly elected members of the opposition to the socialist regime, they would have discovered that such opposition is nonexistent … behind bars … or in the cemetery. The Cuban dictatorship would never allow opposition members to serve in the government, let alone campaign for office, or even remain out of prison.

Had they stayed a little longer, they might also have discovered that the living wage policy for which they fight here in the United States would be nothing more than a grim joke for Cuba's workers.

The entire country (except for the leadership, of course) lives in dire poverty, just 90 miles from Miami, where Cuban exiles are one of the greatest engines for entrepreneurship the world has ever