The New York Times had a news story today about Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez. The story shows how “squatters” have burned down sugar cane farms of the wealthy landowners that, according to The NY Times, own 80% of the land, even though they make up only 5% of the population. Chavez seems to believe that the time has come for some land redistribution. That seems like a commonsense thing to do unless you believe in feudalism.
The Times story also reports that this is part of bringing the nation towards socialism. I’m sure that those words bring absolute joy to the hearts of those in the administration. I can see George W. Bush, walking in circles around the Oval Office, his hands clenched so tight you can actually see the white spots above his knuckles. People don’t realize it, but Dubya sees himself as “The Capitalist Avenger”. Any talk of socialism brings out George’s alter ego. Just as in the comic books of my youth, the word socialism turns our President into Dubya-man. Yes Dubya-man, who came to Earth from a swollen belly, kowtows to the right with both knees, and who disguised as The President of The United States, fights a never-ending battle for wealth, indifference, and the Neo-con way.
I can see him pondering his predicament. If only the Army wasn’t tied up in Iraq and Afghanistan. If only the Iraqi’s had done what Cheney and Rumsfeld said they would do, throw flowers at the feet of our soldiers. Instead of flowers, they are shooting RPG’s and exploding IED’s at us. This land redistribution thing in Venezuela must be driving him crazy. What if they did the same thing in the US? He wouldn’t put it past those Democrats. Everyday it costs more and more to keep them in line. The next thing you know, some wisenheimer will show up and claim that because corporations are recognized as individuals by the Constitution, and have the same rights as a person, you could conceivably say that in the United States 5% own 80% of the land. What with companies like ADM and Cargill among other’s, it’s the same situation here. Next thing they’ll be talking trash here.
Bush needn’t worry. Even the New York Times, the so-called “liberal elitist” newspaper had potshots at Chavez’s administration. They allude to the old fear of socialism with lines like this; “In an interview at the governor’s palace, where the halls are decorated with images of Che Guevara and Mr. Chávez, Governor Giménez said some friction should be expected on “the road to socialism.” And this; “This is agrarian terrorism encouraged by the state,” said Fhandor Quiroga, a landowner and head of Yaracuy’s chamber of commerce, pointing to dozens of kidnappings of landowners by armed gangs in the last two years.” But to give the Times credit, they also wrote this; “Bella Vista is one of 12 “communal towns” that Mr. Chávez plans to build this year. It has neat rows of identical three-bedroom homes for 83 families, a reading room, a radio station, a building with free high-speed Internet service, a school and a plaza with a bust of Simón Bolívar, Venezuela’s national hero.” That isn’t too shabby for families that were living in slums.
Still, nationalization does not sit well with our government. This hopefully, will not be another time that we intervene in another country’s affairs because they were on the road to socialism as we did in Nicaragua and Chile’. Another intervention at a time when the United States is looking like the pariah of the world would not be a good thing. It is time that our government learns how to keep out of our neighbor’s politics. We have enough problems here at home to keep us busy, without trying to solve what we see as a problem. The truth may be that Venezuela’s quest for equality in its class structure is a good thing. This could well be an experiment in Socialistic Democracy that succeeds. The poor that look up to Hugo Chavez should be left alone to succeed or to fail. Venezuela is not ours, and we have no business interfering in it’s internal policies. If as I believe, Bush has CIA agents in the country fomenting unrest, then we need an investigation from Congress. This sort of behavior from out government can no longer be condoned.
American interference in other nation’s internal policies has gotten us where we are today. By that I don’t mean wealth and having super power status, I mean being reviled by other nations and viewed with mistrust by even out own so-called “allies”. The time has come where we should learn to be a helpful friend to the rest of the world, and not an interfering bully. This might not be what Bush wants to hear, but hey, I don’t make this stuff up.
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Tim was banned from the site for posting private email from the publisher to him on his blog, and then attacking the publisher and the site in emails and articles. OEN has no responsibility to publish articles from people who attack the site.
Tim's accusations that he was banned for his political positions are untrue. Check his articles. He repetitively wrote about and had published exactly the things he claimed he was banned for doing.
Former Chairman of the Liberal Party of America, Tim is a retired Army Sergeant. He currently lives in South Carolina. A regular contributor to OpEdNews, he is the author of Kimchee Kronicles and is currently at work on a new novel.
Tim, you are absolutely right. Hugo Chavez was duly elected by the people. The only reason the extreme mainstream right wing media and GWB are concerned about Venezuela is because of corporate big money interests. The CIA was involved in a coop to overthrow Chavez and the people prevailed. Religious leaders here called for his assasination. If our leaders were as interested in equality here in the U.S.A. we wouldn't be in the situation that we're in today.
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Ron McCallie (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 74 comments)
on Friday, May 18, 2007 at 12:36:50 PM
I think Mr. Chavez may have learned the lessons of Vietnam better than we have. Early in that ill fated intervention JFK insisted that continuation of our support for the South would be predicated on agrarian reform. Much like Venezuela, most of the land was owned by a few powerful and rich people. The poor, and I do mean poor, rented the land they farmed and had lived on for generations. There was absolutely no possibility of ever owning that land. Kennedy knew that owning land would give those people a vested interest in backing the South Vietnam government. He knew that is those people were not allowed any of the benefits of capitalizim, it really didn't matter all that much who runs the government. The SVG never followed through and we never insisted that they follow through. And we never gained the "hearts and minds" of the general population. They had more to gain from the North.
Different country, same deal.
I absolutely agree that Venezuela has the absolute right to run their country as they see fit. What we are really afraid of is that they might succeed in their Socialism. Which would maybe make our predatory capitalistic system look bad. Problem is, Venezuela has oil, which means they have money. They don't depend on us for their economic well-being. It allows them to essentially thumb their noses at us. That's why we continue to keep out dated and useless sanctions on Cuba. Can't allow them to actually succeed so we try to insure their failure. If the rumors of the possibility of discovery of oil off shore of Cuba turn out to be true, that will no longer be possible either.
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bmobley (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 30 comments)
on Saturday, May 19, 2007 at 8:39:05 AM
What the Bushites, so-called Christians do not get, as they try to twist Jesus the Christ, The Prince of Peace, into Jesus the Mars, the God of War, is that true Christianity IS tolerant, benign Socialism. These Bushites are so hypocritical.
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Professor Emeritus Peter Bagnolo (144 articles, 1 quicklinks, 95 diaries, 1311 comments)
on Saturday, May 19, 2007 at 11:02:40 AM
The Evil Empire is back!! What would Ronnis think?
Speaking of socialism or communism ,most neocons equate them as the same, they are too stupid to understand we have finally caught on. My understanding of communism comes from college and a brief course on it. Where under revolutionary rule by elites, government will eventually be unnecessary and the proletariat will not need government. Now I know I left out some important components about the state supplying for the citizen's needs but I think that was the problem with functioning communism, as with capitalism, as set up by the noecons. Total absolute control of media and jobs. Keep the population hungry and working long shifts and they will not have time or energy to over throw the elites. Conquest and an ever expanding empire. The wages from work go to the military and the lifestyle the elites live. Thought control and identification papers wherever you go. Restriction on travel and monitoring the dissidents by the state.Rewrite the laws to suit the needs of the ruling class. Seems more like the functioning communism of the USSR 30 years ago. Karl Marx was around before Orwell. Hell the republicans have turned the US into a communist country while saving our sorry arses from ourselves. The Evil Empire is back.What would Ronnie think.Hell we are even building a wall to keep us alll in.
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cluelessfl (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 184 comments)
on Saturday, May 19, 2007 at 1:44:56 PM
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