I knew I could depend on you to think that. And yes, I think that 10 years ago he did think he was protecting the poor and disenfranchised. History is littered with stories of a similar nature. Fighting for the little guy turns the person popular, the adulation gets to their head, they start seizing more and more power "for the good of the people" and the insular world they form around them and they become terribly corrupted.
That's why I worry about the consolidation of executive power under Bush and why I sure as hell hope that we get a greater balance of power in the coming administration between the branches than we did in the last one. You'll also never see me pushing for an amendment to allow President's to serve beyond 2 terms, no matter how much I might like a particular oval office resident. I do agree with you though that Chavez should not have been able to consolidate power the way he has. Checks and balances are an important part of any mature democracy. My greatest fear for the new administration is the temptation take the ill-gotten power of the previous administration and try to use it in a misguided attempt to correct the sins of the past. We must be a nation of laws, open and transparent. I hope that they can resist temptation...giving up power is never easy. Judah On Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 10:05 PM, Robert Munn <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I don't think Chavez took power with any intention of helping people. He > used populist rhetoric to win support from the poor and then consolidated > his power through a series of moves that would have never been allowed in a > mature democracy. He actually tried to get himself elected president for > life, but even the poor people who supported his version of Marxist class > warfare thought that was asking too much and they voted down the idea. So > now he's threatening straight-up Soviet-style repression of all dissent. > Just wait until he starts the "re-education" camps. > > Are you surprised? I'm not. > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:279822 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
