Sounds like Hugo Chavez is clearly making a play for power. However it seems he is asking the citizens to change the system to his advantage. In other words, he is playing by the rules, using the system to change the system. Whether this is a good thing or not is not what I'm focusing on here. If in fact, the citizens willingly choose to surrender their rights, and essentially pledge legal fealty to 'the leader' (what's the word in... um... German?), I suppose they have the right to surrender their rights. Isn't that the irony of democracy? ...that it's a value-neutral tool that is only as good or bad as the citizens who avail themselves of it?
That's what has me so depressed. Everywhere I look, I see people who will gladly trade away their hard-fought birthrights for magic beans or shiny stones. The fact that we will be cursed (and rightly so) by future generations, who will have to re-fight the battles our own ancestors already won, is of no concern to the short sighted, greedy, lazy people who see their citizenship as a bunch or rights, and are oblivious to the concurrent responsibilities.
I think it was Dwight Eisenhower who said (from personal experience) 'the price of liberty is eternal vigilance'. While these things may seem to be 'inherent human rights', they should not be taken for granted, since the briefest look at human history shows that these 'rights' seldom exist without a struggle.
It's amusing that most of the role models I see for what might be called basic human rights are people who used to be called Republican. Though judging by actions, rather than labels, clearly separate people like trust-buster Theodore Roosevelt, and the guy who warned us of unsavory collusion of Industry Military & opportunistic government decisionmakers, was a General who saw it all too clearly as he helped lead the fight against the German Nazis & Italian Fascists.
I have little doubt that these courageous, thoughtful, citizens would spin in their graves if they knew what was going on in the country they devoted so much of their lives to... as would Harry Truman, who led the Senate investigation into war profiteering.
However, if the citizens truly have bought the con and allowed themselves to be swindled, then we deserve whatever we brought upon ourselves. If however, our failing is not noticing that we were robbed, by people who couldn't win by using the system against itself, and instead 'gamed' the system to achieve their goals, then our failure is a lack of righteous indignation at the fact that we were robbed. Whether it's a pickpocket, or corrupt officials, if you're robbed and you passively accept it, then it's your own damn fault. So quit whining or stand up and demand what was stolen from you while you still can. Whatever hasn't already been squandered that is.
Labels: As goes Caracas...
posted by Joe public @ 4:11 AM
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