Actually the elections haven't been crooked enough to sway the elections the other way. In 2007 he lost the bid to remove term limits in an election. He's curbed the free press to some extent which is a horrible wrong. There are still freely operating opposition papers, and news outlets. There are opposition parties in existence as well. The problem is that what was before Chavez was so horrible, and exploitive of the people, especially the poor, that Chavez' reforms have helped the poor, and they don't want to go back to the way it was before.
You seem a bit hysterical about Chavez. Also your perspective seems to be only from an American middle class or abstract intellectual perspective. If one can barely eat and lives in a shanty town with your kids dying at the age of two from malnutrition or easily treatable diseases etc. , Chavez is rightlfully going to look pretty good--even if he doesn't behave like a moderate American politician. Venezuela has squandered a lot of oil money before Chavez, with an abysmal level of development for most of the people, despite formal democracy, which they still have under Chavez. As the policies of Chavez create a much larger middle class I think that we will eventually see Venezuelan democracy develop in a direction that you and I as Americans would feel more comfortable with.
I wasn't standing on any ground. Just asking for clarification. I don't know a heck of a lot about Venezuelan politics.
Hysterical? That would aptly describe the "democracy in action" Chavez is busy laundering. Not hysterical as in funny, but how you are using the word. Why is the situation pre-Chavez always brought up when discussing everything Chavez does that makes a mockery of what he says? Yes, the masses were treated badly. Yes, the upper-classes took advantage of the people to feather their nests, and the middle class, such as it was, largely stood by and did nothing. Why does that excuse anything Chavez is doing to Putinize Venezuela? I thought you were in favor of democracy? What Chavez is doing, in my opinion, is marginalizing democracy while he cements himself in power for the rest of his life. The people of that country, if they are not careful (or lucky), will wake up one day and discover that their democracy has become a farce. Chavez is well on his way to making that farce a reality. And it's not even funny, much less hysterical. "Also your perspective seems to be only from an American middle class or abstract intellectual perspective." No, my perspective is based on watching democracies become tragedies, because the people lost control of the process. For decades we've seen it happen. Sometimes, our own country was an enabler. Strong men (or women) take advantage of the system to break it, while taking and increasing their own power. That is what I'm seeing, IMO, in Venezuela. It's a bummer, glynch. Why are you playing at enabling Chavez? You honestly can't see what he is doing?
What a joke. Chavez is running the country into the ground. Not all left wingers support him. You don't have to support him just because he is politically left of center. I know that's what you are doing, glynch, just automtically supporting him.
Don't be silly. There are plenty of opposition media sources in Venezuela. Exaggerate some, why don't you.
You calling Deckard hysterical about this is so funny that I just spat A&W Root Beer across the room. Deckard is one of the most well reasoned posters on this board, although we disagree on a good many things. You sir, on the other hand, are a knee jerk, reactionary, everything-is-a-right-wing-conspiracy leftist. You accusing ANYBODY of being "hysterical" about anything is comedy gold. Thanks for that. Excuse me while I mop up that Root Beer.
Hey, can't say your post caused me to spit up anything, but it did cause me to snort a bit. Generally Deckard stays pretty cool except with Batman and seemingly Chavez.
My biggest problem with Chavez is not his politics but that he is so unoriginal. He is basically stealing the Putin playbook and implementing it almost word for word. I think Chavez is allowing elections for now only because he knows for a fact that he still holds a safe margin of popularity among most Venezuelans. Another reason is that he has not, yet, adequately consolidated his power in a way that, say, Saddam Hussein had or any other durable dictator in the third world. I think when he does the latter, and if there is ever a point at which he feels like the tide is turning against him personally and that there is a real formidable opposition forming, he will clamp down hard on his own people and will show his true colors. Until then, democracy is a serviceable mean to an end for Chavez. But as we speak, Chavez is still working at it.
There is a possibility you are correct. In the mean time I think Chavez has done a lot of good and despite going ape **** because they have lost power I don't think it has been that bad for most of the upper crust.
Now guys, I like A&W root beer, so let's try to keep the root beer from flying around the room. OK, Refman? Batman? I've got nothing to say about Batman, except that the Batmobile has got to get terrible mileage. At least the Batmobile isn't hypocritical about it, burning the gas without apology. And my wife finds me hysterical. Chavez is uncool, IMO, especially for Venezuela. He might be cool in Havana and Moscow, but he's bad for Caracas. I think the comparison to Putin is apt and likely to be more obvious as time goes on, glynch.
