Elected dictators?

by John Olmsted

    The president of Venezuela is about to become a dictator!  What another Latin American military coup?  No, this time the horror amounts to the national assembly placing before the people a series of constitutional reforms which include eliminating presidential term limits.  This has sparked vigorous open debate in Venezuela.  Similar debates have gone on in all democracies for decades with some (including Ronald Reagan) stating that term limits are undemocratic.  U.S. democracy had no term limits until 1951. Chicago’s Mayor Daley has been elected to 5 terms in office.  There are no term limits for the prime minister of England, the president of France and many other countries.
    Venezuelans have been voting with great regularity since Hugo Chavez was elected president in 1998.  They voted to establish a constituent assembly and to ratify a new constitution.  Chavez was the subject of a recall vote in 04 (defeated) and was again reelected in 2006 by a substantial majority. Brazilian president Lula de Silva recently commented: "You can invent anything you want to criticize Chavez, but not for lack of democracy."
    I, like many others who have visited Venezuela, was amazed by the pure volume of political discussion and debate going on constantly.  The debate is free and open in the press, on TV and in the streets both for and against what they call the “Bolivarian Revolution” to bring about “Socialism for the 21st century”.  This is a massive sea change in what had been one of the most corrupt oil states.  Despite the world’s 4th largest reserves of oil the large majority of the population lived in shanty towns in abject poverty. For the first time the standard of living is rising for the poor across the country. A recent UN report noted: “Thanks to rapid GDP growth and the ongoing implementation of broad social programs, in 2006 alone the poverty rate was lowered from 37.1% to 30.2% and the indigence [extreme poverty] rate from 15.9% to 9.9%."  
         The whole package of proposed reforms in Sunday’s election includes proposals to lower the voting age from 18 to 16 and transfer more power to locally elected community councils.  The work week is to be reduced from 44 to 36 hours.  The right to free education would be expanded to include all university schooling.  Street vendors, homemakers and maids would have state-mandated pensions.
    There are other more controversial changes including establishing a national bank to administer the funds generated by the country’s abundant natural resources.
    The U.S. has had little problem with undemocratic regimes in oil rich states such as  Saudi Arabia where oil wealth goes for private jumbo jets for the rich.  The real problem is the oil wealth in Venezuela and now Bolivia and Ecuador  is going to raise the standard of living of the poor rather than profits for the oil cartels.  The Venezuelan oil company Citgo has the gall to try to raise the standard of living of the poor in the U.S. by selling heating oil at below market rates in cities in the northeast.
    More extreme commentators claim that Hugo Chavez is personally raising the price of oil threatening our economic security.  The not so subtle message is for him to be overthrown.  The sad fact is that oil prices are going up the old fashion way as rising demand meets falling supplies.  Demonizing individuals is an old trick to distract us from the task at hand which is shake our addiction to oil and with it the lust to control oil producing countries.