Friday, December 07, 2007
The Commie that didn't bark
Hugo Chavez held an election last week, and the voters turned down his proposal for lifetime rule. Holding such an election is not unusual: Commie leaders have often taken power through elections. What's deeply strange, even unique in history, is that Chavez allowed the election result to go against him, and that he hasn't [yet!] dissolved the Parliament and grabbed total power anyway. Thus violating Manweller's Rule, the deepest law of human political nature.
Most American commentators are (quite properly) cheering the result, but they seem to take it for granted that election results are automatically valid and automatically followed. This is obvious nonsense, even in the US. Plenty of elections, from county-seat choices to Presidential votes, have been 'thrown out' by all sorts of methods.
We should be both puzzled and happy that Chavez has followed the will of the people. Maybe he isn't such a dumb thug after all? Or maybe his real power was never as great as he wanted it to appear. ¶ 11:52 AM
Most American commentators are (quite properly) cheering the result, but they seem to take it for granted that election results are automatically valid and automatically followed. This is obvious nonsense, even in the US. Plenty of elections, from county-seat choices to Presidential votes, have been 'thrown out' by all sorts of methods.
We should be both puzzled and happy that Chavez has followed the will of the people. Maybe he isn't such a dumb thug after all? Or maybe his real power was never as great as he wanted it to appear. ¶ 11:52 AM
