April 14, 2004
Different Country, Different Branch, Familiar Sound
Andrew Morse has written a primer column about Victor Chavez and his democratically tinted takeover of the Venezuelan government:
Since his election in 1998, Hugo Chavez has engaged in a methodical campaign to eliminate dissenting voices from Venezuelan politics. He has provided the world with a clinic on how to set up totalitarian rule. First, get control of one branch of government. Then, eliminate all opposition within the government by making all other branches subordinate to the one branch you control. Next, use the power of government to prevent any other segment of society from organizing. He has attacked the labor unions, the independent media, the church -- any source of people organizing that is an alternative to the state.
Sounds familiar (though of course much further along).
Posted by Justin Katz at April 14, 2004 11:41 PMGovernment
Comments
Yep, that about sums it up. And which branch would someone in our system choose? That is to say, which is totally unaccountable to the electorate? Which can make decisions that are almost impossible in short order to reverse? In which is the most effective control concentrated in the fewest number of people?
Interesting observation, Mr. Katz.
Posted by: Sage at April 15, 2004 12:32 AM