We can learn a lot about the cycle of socialism by watching Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.<\/p>\n
To be clear, Chavez is not a well-intentioned, misguided socialist. He seeks the power, world attention, and hemispheric domination we associate with tyrannical forms of government. Chavez assumed the presidency in 1998 on a platform of radical change designed to aid the poor and disenfranchised. Once elected, he began to \u201ctake back what belonged to the people\u201d by nationalizing the oil, steel, and other industries. Revenues from oil\u2014the lifeblood of the economy\u2014financed many of his projects. As long as oil prices were high, things seemed to be going well.<\/p>\n
Socialism always stifles the incentive to produce and innovate. Unlike private oil companies, Chavez failed to reinvest sufficient funds back into the business. Declining oil revenues began to take a toll on the country. Facing mounting criticism and economic hardship, Chavez attacked the press, closing down many of his television opponents in 2006. Today, TV stations are required to air his frequent speeches or risk prosecution.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Chavez announced a currency devaluation to encourage Venezuelans to purchase more products manufactured at home, assuming local industries can actually meet the demand. The government also announced rotating blackouts to manage a power shortage. Meanwhile, frustrated Venezuelans have been told that they must sacrifice for the collective and think long term.<\/p>\n
Venezuela is a textbook case of the socialism cycle. A leader is elected by appealing to the masses on the basis of class warfare. Some nationalization and wealth redistribution occurs after the political victory, but the engine of production sputters due to excessive government intervention and a lack of incentives. The newly elected leaders blame this problem on the capitalists for being greedy and not acting in the interest of society as a whole. Opposition mounts, and we begin to see restrictions on freedom of speech to keep it in check. Capitalism is denounced as completely degenerate, so more nationalization and government control follows. The standard of living declines and the masses are told that capitalists and foreigners (Americans) are the cause of all social and economic ills. The socialist utopia simply can\u2019t work until all vestiges of greed are eliminated. Total failure is becoming more and more apparent, but the masses are told to stay the course.<\/p>\n
Could the U.S. follow such as cycle? The tradition of liberty is probably strong enough to keep our country from going as far, but we already see the same pattern here. Obama was elected on a platform of hope and change based on class warfare. Once elected, he immediately addressed the \u201chealthcare crisis\u201d by demanding that businesses make sacrifices for the good of the country. Those that did were spared\u2014temporarily\u2014from further punishment\u2014while that that did not were publically flogged as the villains. Although Obama has hinted at media control and a return to the \u201cfairness doctrine,\u201d such an effort has not yet materialized. Even after his massive stimulus spending, the economy remains in the tank. Obama is on the ropes and the public is waking up, yet he reminds us that our current problems are really Bush\u2019s fault and challenges us to stay the course.<\/p>\n
What does the future hold? History warns us that transitions from socialism to capitalism aren\u2019t always peaceful. For Venezuela, let\u2019s hope that the people get their country back soon without bloodshed. As for the U.S., Scott Brown\u2019s election may stave off the left\u2019s healthcare package for the time being, but more work needs to be done. Brown is not a real conservative, but he\u2019s certainly better than Massachusetts has sent to the Senate in a long time. Cautious optimism is in order, but let\u2019s not get too excited. A lot can happen between now and November.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We can learn a lot about the cycle of socialism by watching Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. To be clear, Chavez is not a well-intentioned, misguided socialist. He seeks the power, world attention, and hemispheric domination we associate with tyrannical forms of government. Chavez assumed the presidency in 1998 on a platform of radical change designed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}