Gotta Admire Their Spunk
In 2000, the Democrats in this country won the presidential election, but were gracious enough to let the Republicans steal it from them. The opposition in Venezuela isn't about to make that mistake, even though they lost the recent referendum in a landslide, 59 to 41 percent. Gracious they ain't. The same can be said for their imperialist sponsors here in the US. Someone named Mary Anastasia O'Grady wrote an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal a few days ago, chewing out Jimmy Carter, the Organization of American States, and even the Bush administration for not immediately backing the opposition's insane claims of victory. Michelle has Jimmy Carter's response, and much more about the wealthy crybabies of Venezuela.
Obviously, having only been in Venezuela for ten days, and having only minimal Spanish skills, I can't possibly vouch for everything that Chavez has done. He was a part of a coup attempt back in 1992, and he has probably used the tyranny of the majority to arrange Venezuelan politics to his liking. But I can say that it seemed quite apparent that he does have majority support, and his millions of supporters are extremely devoted to him. And the extent of whatever tyranny of majority that he has exercised seems to have been limited to the political sphere, and is probably more benign than what we regularly experience here when power changes from one party to the other--patronage appointments, pork barrel projects, control of congressional committees. It has not extended at all into suppression of people's liberties--even Chavez' most vocal opponents are free to speak out, and they control most of Venezuela's media.
It would be a great surprise to me if there was no cheating in the referendum vote; probably some on both sides. But Chavez' enjoys overwhelming support among the poor people of the country, and the poor people are about 80% of the population. As long as they were counting votes instead of bolivares (the Venezuelan currency), Chavez was not going to lose. And THAT's what the opposition is so upset about.
Obviously, having only been in Venezuela for ten days, and having only minimal Spanish skills, I can't possibly vouch for everything that Chavez has done. He was a part of a coup attempt back in 1992, and he has probably used the tyranny of the majority to arrange Venezuelan politics to his liking. But I can say that it seemed quite apparent that he does have majority support, and his millions of supporters are extremely devoted to him. And the extent of whatever tyranny of majority that he has exercised seems to have been limited to the political sphere, and is probably more benign than what we regularly experience here when power changes from one party to the other--patronage appointments, pork barrel projects, control of congressional committees. It has not extended at all into suppression of people's liberties--even Chavez' most vocal opponents are free to speak out, and they control most of Venezuela's media.
It would be a great surprise to me if there was no cheating in the referendum vote; probably some on both sides. But Chavez' enjoys overwhelming support among the poor people of the country, and the poor people are about 80% of the population. As long as they were counting votes instead of bolivares (the Venezuelan currency), Chavez was not going to lose. And THAT's what the opposition is so upset about.
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