Do Wealthy Liberal Democracies Fail?
Dave Price
This doesn't sound good:
"He who says he supports Chavez but votes 'no' is a traitor, a true traitor," the president told an arena packed with red-clad supporters. "He's against me, against the revolution and against the people."In the past, such statements have been the prelude to some of the worst democides in history.
The proposed revisions would do away with presidential term limits, extend terms from six to seven years, let Chavez appoint regional vice presidents and eliminate Central Bank authority, among other changes.Venezuela could be the first relatively wealthy free democracy to fall into dictatorship in a long time, perhaps the first ever at this income level.
Critics warn he would also have the power to shut down Venezuelan newspapers, television and radio stations by declaring a state of emergency, and the government could detain citizens without charges during such a period.
Of course, arguably democracy has already fallen, since Chavez almost certainly stole the last election.
This vote happens on Dec 2nd, a day that may live in infamy. I haven't been able to find out if they're still using the same voting machine technology they did last time, or whether the election monitors have changed their audit procedures, but I am not optimistic.
Chavez insists he will only stay on as long as Venezuelans continue to vote for him.Or at least as long as he can keep up the pretense that they are.
Could be a factor.
It's not the worst democracy in this regard, Mexico and India have at least as large a disparity. But when you rile up the population with populist cant, you can expect bad things to happen.
1. Appeals to envy.
2. Appeals to hatred.
3. Appeals to nationalism.
4. Flattery.
Chavez has been using all three with a great deal of success - and in spite of his various shennanigans, I'll bet that a majority of Venezuela's population has heretofor voted in favor of him (that might be coming to an end as his promises of riches for the poor paid for by the rich are, as always in such situations, coming a cropper).
Chavez has told the poor of Venezuela how rich the rich are (appeals to envy), told them that the rich hold them down (appeals to hatred), told them that he's under threat from foreigners, chiefly the United States (appeals to nationalism), and told his people that they are wonderful (flattery). Chavez doesn't seem like all that smart a man but, then again, Hitler and Mussolini weren't the sharpest knives in the drawer, either. The only real genuis amongst tyrants of the last century or so was Lenin, and so he ended up being the most evil of them all (only Lenin hagiography on the left and lack of time in office - really, only about four years - prevented Lenin from entering the popular mind as a monster like Hitler or Stalin) - Chavez, like his exemplars Mussolini and Hitler, has a keen eye for the ways and means of appealing to masses on a purely emotional level. Take them down to their base instincts, tell them that these instincts are the highest manifestations of human existence, and then just run with it. And, of course, there is the sense of omnipotence which comes to such a man after he's bet it all again and again and come up a winner - he starts to think of himself as a man of destiny who can't lose.
I would not, however, say that this is a failure of liberal democracy - it is the failure of democracy which isn't crafted on a very American plan. Only in the United States have we worked out the ways and means of making it functionally impossible to do what Chavez has done in Venezuela (or Hitler did in Germany, or Mussolini did in Italy). Chavez didn't make his initial grab for power with a system he created - he grabbed for power in the system he won in a democratic election.
In the United States, any President who tried what Chavez successfully pulled off would be swiftly smacked down by a Congress which wouldn't go along, a Supreme Court which would rule it unconstitional, and a military which would balk at obeying the repressive orders of a man clearly seeking to suppress legitimate political opposition. Of course, we also rely on the respect our government has - for all our carping, we do expect that the government will be amenable to the will of the people...for a very long time, the Venezuelan government clearly ignored the plight and desires of the people in favor of a privileged class. Frustrated with endless promises of a better tomorrow which never arrived, the poor people of Venezuela swiftly fell for the siren song of a tyrant who said, in effect, "give me all power, and I'll give you what you want".
Of course we all lose our tempers now and then. Dean freely admits to being imperfect in this regard, which is why regulars to this establishment will generally be cut more slack than people who we don't know very well.
Still: behave like an adult, or go find somewhere else to play. Thanks.