Taking Elian Gonzales by force makes it a foregone conclusion that he will be returned to Cuba with his father. President Clinton has made that decision, probably as part of a deal with Fidel Castro, and probably as the prelude to normalizing relations with Cuba.

    Indeed, Clinton is probably doing all this in his blind pursuit of a legacy, which probably includes the Nobel Peace Prize. A disturbing notion, unless we ask ourselves why Clinton risked condemnation in taking Elian by force.

    Why is President Clinton and his administration turning its back on a mother's sacrifice in seeking freedom from communism for her child? It has nothing to do with giving Elian to his father, or the fact that there are people from other totalitarian countries seeking liberty on our soil.

    Instead, it has everything to do with the administration's sympathy for Castro's Cuba. Clinton and Castro are equals when it comes to the deployment of propaganda, and communism next door is compatible with Clintonism and the media.

    Indeed, the answer has been hammered into the public psyche for months. It wreaks from hypocrisy oozing from television screens and dripping from news pages simply because the Clinton administration and his loyal media elite decided that it's in the best interests of Elian Gonzalez to be with his father. And, as usual, they have done it by praising Cuba, exploiting the child, demonizing Florida's Cuban-Americans, and manipulating the American mind.

    This political sham is a major policy-shift from sustained attacks by the a against men in general and fathers in particular. Elian's mother gave her life for his freedom. Yet her dying wish has been distorted. Alas, not unlike the plight of all the president's women, the silence of feminists is deafening.

    At first glance one might think this is just another media obsession, just another saga they've created for profit. Still, it doesn't seem to matter to them or President Clinton that communism is the antithesis of democracy. Or that this whole thing smacks of supreme government and state-controlled media. Especially, when they accepted and reinforced the Castro-manipulated father's contention that Elian was manipulated on video when he said he wanted to stay in America.

    Castro, Clinton and the media made Elian an issue. A test between communism and democracy. This may not be a missile crisis, but the test of ideologies doesn't matter to Clinton and company. Clearly, it should matter and that's a little scary to say the least. But, as they've proven time and time again, this administration is shameless by ignoring the "rule of law" unless they need it, and conscienceless when comes to betraying democracy.

    America will mean less from the experience and democracy will remain in parenthesis. And lest we forget, only time will tell what becomes of Elian.