This past weekend President Obama made an historic trip to Cuba and many Republicans were furious. Ted Cruz and Donald Trump criticized the move, Fox News reporter Kate Pavlich took to twitter to voice her views on the matter, and many, many other conservatives spoke out against President Obama’s decision, and for good reason. Cuba’s oppressive regime, lead by Raul Castro, imprisons political dissidents and has committed countless human rights violations. They’re despicable, but does that really mean America shouldn’t interact with them?

Russia has a history of killing reporters that the government doesn’t agree with, but I don’t see any widespread outrage to end US-Russian relations. Saudi Arabia has an oppressive regime, for example women aren’t even allowed to drive, yet I don’t see people up in arms about America’s relationship with them.

The bottom line is that the world isn’t always a great place outside of America. Sometimes we have to interact with countries and governments that we don’t necessarily agree with. It’s part of being in a globally connected world and economy. Cuba isn’t a bastion of human rights and in an ideal world their regime would be toppled and replaced with a system that represents the people.

However, this isn’t an ideal world. Trade and interaction with Cuba can benefit our country, just as our relationships with Russia and Saudi Arabia do. Closing the door to Cuba for over 50 years didn’t put an end to their regime. It just prevented America from having open contact with a country a mere 90 miles from our shore. I get that the macho thing to do is bash the opposing party’s President for opening relations with a country that’s been closed off over half a century, but it was the right move.