No time or desire for anything more than a quick comment. Careful not to be blinded by your preconceptions and ideology out there-- especially all that pontificating about how Chavez blew it with the proposal to remove term limits. From here, I'd say that the original 33 proposals ('without changing a comma') would have won despite their complexity--- before the National Assembly in its wisdom added 36 additional complex clauses with such crowd-pleasers as the national emergency provisions and the increased numbers of signatures necessary to trigger referenda. Even more to the point, I'd say that if there had been one constitutional change alone--- the one related to removal of term limits, it would have won handily! You out there with your faux democratic precepts may think the mass of people were primarily concerned about the possibility that Chavez might run again next time, but it was the fear of their children being taken from them, the loss of their homes, etc that really resonated. The one provision alone (or a politically constructed package) would have concentrated the Chavist support instead of confusing it and organising the enemy. michael Michael A. Lebowitz Professor Emeritus Economics Department Simon Fraser University Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6
Director, Programme in 'Transformative Practice and Human Development' Centro Internacional Miranda, P.H. Residencias Anauco Suites, Parque Central, final Av. Bolivar Caracas, Venezuela fax: 0212 5768274/0212 5777231 http//:centrointernacionalmiranda.gob.ve [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.16.13/1169 - Release Date: 03/12/2007 10:56 PM