You Get the Government You Deserve

Not here, but in Venezuela.

Betty Rojas has every reason to feel disenchanted with the government of President Hugo Chávez. A resident of the sprawling La Pedrera shanty town in the south-west of Caracas, Ms Rojas says Venezuela’s government has been slow to help after landslides last month made her home unsafe and cut off supplies of water and other services.

She now faces the prospect of eviction and a spell as a resident in a former pasta factory that has been converted into a centre for the homeless, and is bewildered by the prospect. “Nobody is providing any answers,” says Ms Rojas, a 32-year-old dressmaker.

But her disenchantment with the government will not lead her to vote on Sunday against the president’s plans to change the constitution and accelerate Venezuela’s transition towards 21st century socialism. “I voted for Chávez last time but I will not vote at all on Sunday.”

Other residents of La Pedrera are equally exasperated by official inaction and complain that lack of maintenance made disaster inevitable. Norma Valero, 40, who sells clothes on a market stall, is upset at the prospect of living in the refuge. “Chávez builds houses in Bolivia and Cuba. Why doesn’t he do something for us. We are forgotten. They move at the speed of a tortoise,” she says. But angry though she is, Ms Valero says she will abstain rather than vote against the government. “I have no time for any of them.”

{...}But it is not clear that this will be enough to defeat Mr Chávez’s project to reshape the constitution. Even in La Pedrera Mr Chávez can still count on many votes. Margarita Lopez Maya, a sociologist who has studied La Pedrera for many years and says its problems could easily have been avoided, says the unwillingness of the residents to oppose Mr Chávez is hard to believe. But for “the poor people there still really is no other option”.

{my emphasis}

There's no other option? Really? Maybe---and I would like to emphasize this is only a suggestion---you might want to ditch the victim mentality and go out and do something for yourself. Like protesting or even---gasp!---voting against constitutional reforms which would guarantee you'll never have the chance to get out of the slums you live in.

Because, if it hasn't already dawned on you, Lippy McLipster wants you to be in the slums. He wants you running to hell and back simply to obtain milk, bread and other daily necessities. Why would someone who's so fond of claiming he's fighting for social justice (!) seemingly want these things? Why, it's really quite elementary, my dear. You're easier to control that way.

UPDATE: Well, way to go Venezuela. I'm happy to be proven wrong.

CARACAS, Venezuela - Humbled by his first electoral defeat ever, President Hugo Chavez said Monday he may have been too ambitious in asking voters to let him stand indefinitely for re-election and endorse a huge leap to a socialist state.

"I understand and accept that the proposal I made was quite profound and intense," he said after voters narrowly rejected the sweeping constitutional reforms by 51 percent to 49 percent.

Opposition activists were ecstatic as the results were announced shortly after midnight — with 88 percent of the vote counted, the trend was declared irreversible by elections council chief Tibisay Lucena.

Narrowly defeated, yes. But who the hell cares? Lippy McLipster is actually recognizing the vote and isn't claiming that the US meddled with the election as an excuse to nullify the returns. That's progress!

Of course, there are still some who aren't happy:

{...}Nelly Hernandez, a 37-year-old street vendor, cried as she wandered outside the presidential palace early Monday amid broken beer bottles as government workers took apart a stage mounted earlier for a victory fete.

"It's difficult to accept this, but Chavez has not abandoned us, he'll still be there for us," she said between sobs.{...}

{my emphasis}

No, Lippy hasn't abandoned you. As if. Sha. He needs you. After all, what's socialism without idealistic people who willingly sign up to be impoverished in the name of social justice (!)? I'm sure he'll promise you an overarching subsidy within days, just to keep you satisfied, so that you'll vote for whatever "reforms" he proposes next.

Posted by Kathy at December 2, 2007 01:20 PM | TrackBack