Silly Little Country

Is the Love Affair Fading?

How to become a hero - call George Bush 'Satan' in a large public setting. You will certainly become a hero in a large part of the West, with a reflexive leftism no longer informed by the great principles of the Enlightenment, as my leftism certainly was and still is.

But if your hero is a clown - when do you start to recognize it and actually speak honestly? This is hard to do, and has been particularly so for the Western left, sections of which apologized for the Communist states behind the Iron Curtain for decades, and now romantically lean to an affection for Islamic totalitarianism, and also, an odd ally in a way, Hugo Chavez, the clown, but who probably inspires romantic notions of Castro.

But now even the New York Times (not far left, but quite prone to the apologetics described above) has a correspondent starting to see the red nose and funny hair on Chavez.

The report is funny, in that one sees exactly what anyone would have predicted.

The contrast between revolutionary language and the consumption of imported luxury items by a new elite aligned with Mr. Chávez’s government, known as the “Bolivarian bourgeoisie,” has led to questioning of the priorities of his political movement.

For instance, Mr. Chávez warned Monday that he would nationalize large food distributors caught hoarding groceries.

The shortages are an entirely predictable consequence of the stupid price-setting policies for essentials. The irony is that the shortages are for things that ARE essentials.

It has been an interesting few months for Venezuela, with Chavez picking fights with Colombia, and endorsing FARC. Nobody in his right mind can endorse such an endorsement. Though I bet we have a bunch of lefties who still reflexively do.

posted by Alan Adamson @ 7:36 AM