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Dictator Chavez?
BillieTheBot
Posts: 8,721 Bot
The 'populist' leader of Venezuela, now can rule be decree for the next 18 months, is this their version of the Enabling Act of early Nazi Germany?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6315819.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6315819.stm
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This is actually the third time Chavez has received such authorization during his presidency and Chavez is the fifth Venezuelan president to take advantage of this power, which both the 1961 and the 1999 constitutions permit.
The majority of legislators discussed in depth how they trusted Chavez to pass laws that would increase democracy in Venezuela and the need to act rapidly because this is what the Venezuelan people are expecting.
'We in the National Assembly do not vacillate in giving the president the enabling law to legislate. The laws that Hugo Chavez will decree are laws destined to satisfy the immense majority of Venezuelans.'
When asked by international media if this decree signified a movement towards aggressive dictatorship, Venezuela's Vice-President, Jorge Rodriguez, posed a question of his own..."What kind of a dictatorship is this?" The enabling law "only serves to sow democracy and peace."
The last time Chavez was granted an enabling law was in the year 2000.
Did the shit hit the fan then?
So why then now?
This is a worrying move. However Chavez appears to count with the support of the immense majority of his people.
The man is by no means a saint but it is still disgusting that a certain nation keeps ceaselessly trying to overthrow him by any means necessary, no matter how illegal or dirty.
Seeing as they have tried numerous times to impose regime change in Venezuela it is possible he has genuine concerns of yet another US-sponsored coup d' etat. Then again he might just be becoming more power-hungry as time passes and starting to see himself as some kind of emperor.
In either case he's still far more preferable than the odious regime a few thousand miles to the north.
What's wrong with Canada? They're all hippies and goths!
Indeed, but many regiemes have been popular with the majority by punishing the minority.
With the oil prices the way they are its boom time for the country, I just hope the money gets put to good use, and the economy isnt managed too tightly from the centre.
Why?
The US is one of the most free countries on earth, more so than Venezuela I would hazard.
if it was Venezuela that was the superpower and the US the relatively small country I dread to think what woe that a man like chavez would impose on the world.....
and that's why we got to nuke'em!
But there is a lot more to a regime than whether it is a democracy isn't it? The US government might not be odious to some of its citizens, but sure as hell it is to no fewer than several billion people around the world for various reasons ranging from warmongering and unwarranted attacks to political interference to pollution. Not since the darkest days of WWII there has been a regime that has generated so much hatred and despair.
I wouldn't want to see Chavez with too much power either. I don't think he'd be worse than your average Republican US President though... certainly not worse than the chimp.
Only if you have money.
Yeah, cos the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights only apply to the rich.
Come on Dis, you're not that thick.
They do if you have to fight your cause in the courts.
yeah, yeah, yeah: Positive and negative freedoms and all that but seeing as the US has more rich people than anywhere else they probably have more positive freedoms than anywhere else as well......
Ever heard of public defenders? Or the ACLU?
Maybe you are forgetting , as George W Bush so correctly points out, "that`s just a goddamn piece of paper" ?
No, I wasn't even thinking about +ve Vs -ve freedoms. I was thinking about the response to Hurricane Katrina actually.
Come on dis, you're not that thick.
Or maybe you are?
What about it?
Have you been defended by a public defender? Would you want to be? Justice is most certainly for those who can afford it in the US, and will be here soon too.
Do you really need it spelling out to you? That the response to the poor inhabitants of New Orleans was very different to the rich?
Already is.
I can't say that I've ever needed to be defended by a public defender. Although, I do know one in Chicago. She went to a good law school and if I was in trouble in Illinois I'd be happy calling her. If you're saying that public defenders are crap and that because it pays less than working for a law firm it only attracts useless people you're talking bollocks. Admittedly it varies between different states - anyway it's the untrue idea that justice is 'only for those who can afford it' that I oppose.
Poor communication between the state and federal government and downright incompetence are slightly more accurate explanations.
As I said, you are rather out of touch with reality.
Watch the Spike Lee film about it.
*awaits the predictable slagging off of Spike Lee* :rolleyes:
Of course, there are diamonds in the rough, but in large part the conditions they have to work under and the pay means that public defenders are largely only those who cant get jobs elsewhere.
The rich are still a minority.
The US punishes the majority of poorer people by making them pay what the rich don't. It is completley unfair - but, I suppose, that's how capitalism works. Reward those who are a sucess, or had sucessful parents, regardless of morals... and punish those who tried and failed, or were just so low down they had no choice but to join the army.
Anyway, back on topic NOW!
Chavez isn't the first to do this, nor is it the first time. He does so with popular support only for 18 months - and who cares if he takes dictatorial power? He'd be a popular South American dictator for a change - not one instated by the USA of the Fascist kind!
He is a good leader, and takes actions that benefit people, with thier suport. He is doing a very good job.
I hope he does well, and the US don't kill/overthrow/murder/attack him.