Here is the final gasp of Hugo Chavez’s socialist utopia. Where is the Hollywood left now? Venezuela's current president has given power to the military to control prices as the threat of hyperinflation destroys their currency. What only a few years ago seemed like endless prosperity, has turned into shortages of everything—and Venezuelans are left struggling to buy whatever food and basic goods remain on their store shelves.
This is just one more example in a very long line of failed socialist Utopian ideas that have lead to military dictatorships in the region.
There will be the inevitable claims that America (in particular, the political right) sabotaged their success. The reality is that former president Chavez, more than a decade ago, commandeered their most profitable industries and nationalized them, turning them over to socialist cooperatives to run. He also discouraged foreign investment and relied heavily on government spending to help drive his social agenda, all of which was funded by the belief that oil prices around the world would remain high.
Chavez's takeover of the countries agricultural industry, likewise, resulted in less food production, not more, leading to an increased need to import food to sustain the people. Eventually, all the unproductive government spending overwhelmed the nation's economic output, resulting in out of control inflation, harming the very people Chavez intended to help.
You could call it shortsighted. That, however, would probably be too kind. It’s more like a complete indifference to reality. But that would be nothing new for radical leftists as far back as Rousseau and as recent as our current president.
Why is it, then, that intelligent people still believe that social justice can be achieved by handing over great power to political leaders.
The answer may be as simple as sensing a need for justice where there is injustice. Where injustice occurs, an enlightened leader can make a difference. But, when the solution is the accumulation of new powers by government officials to regulate individual behavior, individual freedom is given up as well. This is inevitable, and the historical record of powerful, centralized, governments is universally horrific. More than 100 million people were killed by allegedly progressive regimes in the 20th century, mostly during peacetime, not war. That is the historical reality. Whether they intended to do evil or not is beside the point.
Mark Magula
This is just one more example in a very long line of failed socialist Utopian ideas that have lead to military dictatorships in the region.
There will be the inevitable claims that America (in particular, the political right) sabotaged their success. The reality is that former president Chavez, more than a decade ago, commandeered their most profitable industries and nationalized them, turning them over to socialist cooperatives to run. He also discouraged foreign investment and relied heavily on government spending to help drive his social agenda, all of which was funded by the belief that oil prices around the world would remain high.
Chavez's takeover of the countries agricultural industry, likewise, resulted in less food production, not more, leading to an increased need to import food to sustain the people. Eventually, all the unproductive government spending overwhelmed the nation's economic output, resulting in out of control inflation, harming the very people Chavez intended to help.
You could call it shortsighted. That, however, would probably be too kind. It’s more like a complete indifference to reality. But that would be nothing new for radical leftists as far back as Rousseau and as recent as our current president.
Why is it, then, that intelligent people still believe that social justice can be achieved by handing over great power to political leaders.
The answer may be as simple as sensing a need for justice where there is injustice. Where injustice occurs, an enlightened leader can make a difference. But, when the solution is the accumulation of new powers by government officials to regulate individual behavior, individual freedom is given up as well. This is inevitable, and the historical record of powerful, centralized, governments is universally horrific. More than 100 million people were killed by allegedly progressive regimes in the 20th century, mostly during peacetime, not war. That is the historical reality. Whether they intended to do evil or not is beside the point.
Mark Magula