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]
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