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http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/V/VENEZUELA_ELECTION?SITE=KFWB&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE =DEFAULT

[Everyneurotic]

you mean "totalitarism wins"

[nature scene]

let the exodus begin

[Pacafeliz]

hell yeah!
don't worry, he's harmless. i kinda like him, though...

Pat.

[Пятхъдесят Шест]

Wow. What a surpise. I'm just taken back with shock. What is the world coming to.

[nature scene]

He's dangerous in the sense that he is seeking increased control of all aspects of government. He realizes that if he can't keep power, by amending the constitution, his programs will be his own downfall.

The benefit of his tactics are that he is directly addressing the poor people in Venezuela. It's hard to argue against bringing poor people up the ladder. In fact, this is what tends to happen in the early stages of a command economy - rapid economic growth. The problem for Chavez is, if the nation's poor suddenly become the nation's middle-class he no longer has a base of support. As these people start to make money and get into their own, you can bet that they are going to want to be able to keep the fruits of their labor, rather than redistributing it. Chavez knows this, he's smart, and that's why he is dangerous.

[Pacafeliz]

he's been in power for (i believe) 9 years, and has won his re-election democratically.
i hope there's gonna be no probs, since my brother is working in venezuela.
and not to get too deep into the swamp, but i think there's SOME presidents that have to be feared MUCH MUCH more (and you know who i'm talking about)...

be calm, don't panic, nothing's gonna happen - as long as the US don't try to invade venezuela... or so.

rock on!

Pat.

[Пятхъдесят Шест]

You realize he was running against a comedian, right?

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by nature scene

He's dangerous in the sense that he is seeking increased control of all aspects of government. He realizes that if he can't keep power, by amending the constitution, his programs will be his own downfall.

The benefit of his tactics are that he is directly addressing the poor people in Venezuela. It's hard to argue against bringing poor people up the ladder. In fact, this is what tends to happen in the early stages of a command economy - rapid economic growth. The problem for Chavez is, if the nation's poor suddenly become the nation's middle-class he no longer has a base of support. As these people start to make money and get into their own, you can bet that they are going to want to be able to keep the fruits of their labor, rather than redistributing it. Chavez knows this, he's smart, and that's why he is dangerous.

well if he was actually capable of bringing people upt to middle class levels, that would not be completely bad. the problem is that this creates a dependency on the government that cannot be supported-- well, the thing is, maybe in venezuela it can (oil money), but in most countries it can't. a fluctuation in oil prices could seriously crash his plans and...oww!!

in a way, oil is to venezuela what the soviet union was to cuba-- a source of subsidies.

the problem is that when one butterfucker has so much control, well, corruption ensues, and then the thought police, and then... ayy!!! do we need to describe this whole story?

[Pacafeliz]

i don't think he's SO extreme as CNN etc. paints him on the wall. i mean yeah he hates Bush (and man we all do, don't we?), but his #1 oil client is still the USA. he's a Castro imitator, in a country that -yeah- has too much oil. that's good for them. i don't see a similarity with cuba yet, though.

he's a great talker, but -honestly- i think he's full of poop. same with lopez obrador in mexico etc.

we all know SOME history and KNOW that socialism/communism has failed (EVEN IN CUBA!) and it's nothing but an utopic idea.
yes, people in latin america are rising, the poor are sick of getting poorer, and i understand that. but a REVOLUTION comes from down under, the poor people. once they have a "big" representative, it comes down (they get infested with ambition and desire for more power...)
look at castro, stalin, lenin, hitler, etc. etc. even villa and zapata. oh yeah and subcomandante marcos.
hear me well: NO POLITICIAN on this planet thinks for more than himself.

sad but true.

Pat. - a "right" sounding leftist, eh?
ah, the school of life...

[k-krack]

Originally Posted by Pacafeliz

hell yeah!
don't worry, he's harmless. i kinda like him, though...

Pat.

Just so ya know, you don't need to put yr name with everything you say. (Not being a dick, just a word of advice)

[k-krack]

The other day, another Quebec-er won the leadership of the Liberal party. I'm hoping he wins the next federel election, because it's under conservative power right now...

[static-harmony]

Originally Posted by k-krack

Just so ya know, you don't need to put yr name with everything you say. (Not being a dick, just a word of advice)

I was going to say that too.

[Pacafeliz]

oh sorry...
i'll try. i hope i don't get withdrawl syndrome...

(me)

[nature scene]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

well if he was actually capable of bringing people upt to middle class levels, that would not be completely bad. the problem is that this creates a dependency on the government that cannot be supported-- well, the thing is, maybe in venezuela it can (oil money), but in most countries it can't. a fluctuation in oil prices could seriously crash his plans and...oww!!

in a way, oil is to venezuela what the soviet union was to cuba-- a source of subsidies.

the problem is that when one butterfucker has so much control, well, corruption ensues, and then the thought police, and then... ayy!!! do we need to describe this whole story?

I was about to get to that, you beat me to it. You know, when I first joined this board I was a junkie of the political threads (still am), and as far as I can remember, you and I didn't agree on too much. Nowadays, it seems that we agree on a lot of things. My views of the world haven't really changed, and I doubt yours have either, but for some reason we're uncovering a lot of common ground.