From: Bill Lucy 

In article ,
rgparker{at}west.net says...

> Well, doesn't the kid get taken away from its parents from around 12 to
> adulthood?

That has been reported. How do we know it's actually true? It seems to me
the parental relationships are established there given the continued
interaction of the grandparents.

> And if the Cuban government decided _on a whim of its leader_ to
> separate them sooner would there be anything that the father could do
> about it?

I've heard of *way* too many stories in *this* country where the same thing
happens to feel that Cuba is "wrong".


> Its not a free society. Therefore any value that a person there might
> achieve could be taken from that person with no warning, no rules to
> govern it, and no means of appeal to courts or to public opinion.

From your perspective, it may not be. But we return to that question of
what freedom is.

> Bill, Obviously you value family a lot more than freedom. Do you deny
> this?

Obvious to you perhaps. I treasure family above almost everything. My grasp
of what is considered freedom is less sure.

> How can you call this a delegitimizing of your position? I'm working out
> the logic of your position.

No, you're not. You believe you are being logical, but you appear to rely
on a typical Randian position -- that emotion has little or no value in
making judgments. I don't take that position and never will. The
emotional/unconscious choice for me has provided me with a good life. I
don't *have* to make conscious decisions.

*All* of the decisions Elian Gonzalez has made thus far have not been logical
-- they've been emotional. He's been held, he's been given things to play with,
he's been talked to. None of those are "free" choices from a
Randian perspective. Actually, they are decidedly un-Randian.

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