Assignment 4-- Daniel Mendoza Vasquez--Not about religion

My father is Cuban. He was born in Havana barely a decade after Fidel Castro's ascent to power in the revolution. Because of that, he got to see the remnants of a pre-communist Cuba— very unequal, but also picturesque and the gleaming example of a Caribbean paradise — as well as its descent into a situation where everyone was equally poor and where the iconic pastel colonial buildings became decrepit and haunting. So, understandably, someone who was forced to survive on single food items for months at a time holds a substantial amount of disdain for anything remotely resembling Castro-esque policies. I've always generally agreed with that, but as I've grown and become more politically aware, I also find myself agreeing with solidly socialist ideas like universal healthcare and free college tuition. The line between socialism and communism is thin and sometimes arbitrary, and my beliefs began to converge into conflict within myself, but more importantly with my dad.

As the Democratic party debates in search of the presidential nomination, we often find ourselves at odds over my dad's refusal, for example, to accept Bernie Sanders' ideas as valid. At the core of that is fear of finding himself back where he started, and I frequently argue along that fine line between the concepts with evidence from Scandinavian countries. He counters by noting the cultural differences of this country and cites his own experience. "After you do [insert socialist idea], where does it stop?" he says. My conflict is, therefore, not so much that I don't believe what I've learned over most of my life, but that I also believe something that almost contradicts it. Almost, not totally. It's a small margin to argue within, but so far I've been able to stay within it, and I stand by what I think.