The real socialism that disappeared in Eastern Europe has been maintained in Cuba, though with severe spending cuts and some variation. The methods used by the government to kidnap the freedom of Cuban citizens over these 50 years have had at least three elements: law enforcement, ideology, and economics. Paternalism stripped citizens of their civic, family, and work responsibilities, as well as the responsibilities each person has to himself. In response, U. S. president Bill Clinton, pressured by the Cuban-American lobby, felt compelled to sign the Helms-Burton Act, strengthening the trade embargo. As a result, the "court reformists" lost what little ground they had gained. The Fourth Communist Party Congress, had made the unexpected concession of allowing people with religious beliefs to become Party members, and everything pointed the way to an opening for the proposals of the reformist sectors.