December 3, 2007

• I do love it when voters do the right thing....especially when it includes giving a poke in the eye to a wannabe dictator...and that's exactly what the sensible people of Venezuela did. 

  They voted down each and every one of Hugo "Don't criticize me or I won't let you buy our oil!" Chavez desired amendments, which would have removed term limits for the presidency, thus setting in place his ability to remain in office indefinitely and made huge strides toward socialism.

  That last simply baffles me.  Is there a successful-in-the-long-term socialist nation anywhere on the planet?  I can't think of one.  Even the USSR couldn't manage to hold together longer'n about 80 years, for pity's sake.  China's socialist society is unraveling, albeit slower than the rest of us would like.  Fine, there are certainly countries such as some of the Scandinavian nations that are largely socialist, with cradle-to-the-grave goodies being doled out, but they've not been doing so for more than a very few decades.  Give 'em another 30 years or so and dollars-to-donuts they'll likely have seen their economies go flat and civil unrest take place.  The world economy of the recent past has allowed for "socialist democratic" nations such as Finland to flourish.  If the world economy goes bust, welfare states such as Finland's are going to find themselves sailing in rough waters in boats taking on water.

  Fortunately the majority (though a bare majority, granted) of Venezuelans realized the odds of their being able to be a "South American Finland" are somewhere between slim and none, particularly with Chavez manning the rudder.

  What a shame yesterday's parliamentary election in Russia didn't give that country's leader a similar poke in the eye. 

  Oh well.  Can't win 'em all!  At least the Venezuelans made Chavez look no-how.

  • 10:09 am
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