nspoken in the arguments of most left-wing advocates of sending Elian back to Cuba is the idea that Castro's island really is a worker's paradise, or at the very least a pretty damn nice place to live. It is this weak spot for Communism — rather than a defense of fatherhood or "the rule of law"--that explains the Left's zeal for shipping out the six-year-old boy. If Cuba isn't that much different from — or is even preferable to — the United States, the case isn't even a close call. Some Elian-deporters are even willing to make this argument frankly.

Take the "edgy" filmmaker Michael Moore, who in an open letter to Elian published on his web site writes: "The worst that could be said is that, in Cuba, you were in jeopardy of receiving free health care whenever you needed it, an excellent education in one of the few countries that has 100% literacy, and a better chance of your baby brother being born and making it to his first birthday than if he had been born in Washington, D.C." Later in his letter, Moore acknowledges that, in Cuba, "you cannot freely elect your president and your basic rights are limited" — but, hey, universal health care has its price.

The price is freedom, but some Elian-deporters aren't even willing to acknowledge that there is less of it in Cuba (of course, the health care stinks too). Take this extraordinary exchange between Chris Matthews and pro-Castro Rep. Jose Serrano on "Hardball" Monday night:

Chris Matthews: Is [Cuba] a free country?

Rep. Serrano: It's a country with a system different than ours.

Matthews: Is it a free country?

Rep. Serrano: I don't know if it's a free country. I don't live there...

Matthews: Is Cuba a free country? You can't answer the question.

Rep. Serrano: Well, I can answer it. They have a system different than ours. But I don't live there.

Matthews: Does it allow personal freedom in that country to make decisions?

Rep. Serrano: It allows some — it — yes, it allows personal freedoms. Absolutely.

Matthews: Freedom of speech? Freedom of speech? It allows freedom of speech in Cuba?

Rep. Serrano: But, you know — you know what you're doing, you're — you're simply doing...

Matthews: Absolutely. You said there's absolute freedom of speech in Cuba.

Rep. Serrano: Well, do they allow — do they allow a father to love his child in Cuba?

Matthews: Do they allow freedom of speech?

Rep. Serrano: Sure.

This candor is, at least, refreshing. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the idea that there was no deep disagreement about Communism and foreign policy during the Cold War — that it all so much "simpler" then — has become received wisdom. We all supposedly regarded Soviet Communism as evil. But this is nothing more than a convenient fiction. For evidence, look no further than how the Left now regards one of the few remaining bastions of repressive revolutionary socialism in the world — a "different system" indeed.

This view is shameful enough. That those holding it would make a little boy pay the price for their own noxious delusions is almost unspeakable.