Free Software, not as in ‘free speech’, nor as in ‘free beer’
The most well known problem with sanctions is that they fall hardest on the people, not the government. And in most cases, those sanctioned governments are non-democratic, meaning the people who are hit hardest by the sanctions are people that have no say in the matter at all.<p>But the <i>biggest</i> problem with sanctions is that people in the sanctioning country are so removed from the problem that it never quite seems to become a priority to remove them. Americans typically don&#x27;t know a thing about Iran, the people that live there, the problems that they themselves have with their own government, and the problems we cause them by sanctioning them. We cannot put a face to the name. So because it costs us nothing, we do nothing.<p>While I do think that sanctions can be an effective tool against authoritarianism, I do think that we should be forced to put a face on those who we are sanctioning. Since in the US our sanctions are applied at the Executive Branch level, I would propose a Legislative Branch check on the issue: If we sanction a country, for whatever reason, we automatically remove all Refugee visa and green card quotas for that country.<p>I believe this could actually enhance the power of a worthy sanctioning action: it not only causes the standard economic harm to the country&#x27;s trade system, but it also imposes a brain drain on them as well. It also gives the voteless a way to vote against their country&#x27;s leaders. And if the sanctions aren&#x27;t actually effective or worthy enough of a cause, then we at least are exposing that via the cost of supporting a large refugee population.<p>We&#x27;ve already effectively done this with Cuba, and it has turned out extremely well, IMO. Cuban refugees very quickly adapted to our country and have become an economic powerhouse of their own, while depriving undemocratic cuban leaders from the benefits of those people staying in their country. Let&#x27;s make that the standard.