Currents

Venezuela committed suicide today.

To broad public applause (since opposition parties and private dissent are essentially outlawed) Venezuela’s legislators voted unanimously to give President Hugo Chavez the right to rule the country by presidential decree.

Living in Canada, where the election of a non-status quo governing party starts panicked citizens into a rant in all forms of media against the oncoming totalitarian order, it’s hard to imagine an officially democratic country essentially handing over the reigns of government to a single person - in particular, a cartoonish sloganeering Castro-style socialist who previously attempted to take over the country in a decidedly undemocratic (and failed) coup. But that’s exactly what Venezuela has done.

This doesn’t mean the end of Venezuela as a country. But it does mean the end of Venezuela as the kind of country where anyone with a brain and a hope for the future would want to live.

Unfortunately, some Vancouverites are still taken in by the argument that anyone who is against US President George Bush must be a good guy - and anyone against Chavez is by default a war-mongering, baby-killing stooge. Hopefully, even these useful idiots will see the light as Chavez’ regime goes from bad to worse to Cuba.

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