How Democrats emulate Hugo Chavez

Posted: February 10, 2007
Henry Lamb / World Net Daily.com

Hugo Chavez is in the final stages of transforming Venezuela into his vision of a perfect system of governance, in which government holds all power and grants to its citizens those privileges the government chooses to extend. The Chavez system of governance is the opposite from the American system, in which all power resides with the people, who grant limited powers to government. This power is limited by the U.S. Constitution and by the ultimate power to remove any lawmaker at the ballot box.

If asked, most Americans would say they would deplore a similar transformation of government if it were to happen in the United States. But it is happening in the United States; it is happening differently – not because of the leadership of a single aspiring dictator, but at the direction of folks who subscribe to the same political ideology advanced by Chavez.

Chavez's agenda includes: taxing the rich to give to the poor; reorientation of schools to teach socialist values; empowering (and funding) community councils to supersede local governments; nationalizing major companies; and creating an egalitarian society.

Even a casual examination of the agenda of the new Democrat majority in Congress reveals striking similarities to the Chavez agenda. Since the November election, the mantra has been to eliminate the tax cuts granted to rich people by the previous Congress. This "tax the rich" idea is a fundamental tenet of both Chavez and the Democrats. Hilary Clinton said that she would "take" Exxon's profits and put them into a government-operated strategic energy program. More...