Hugo Chavez re-elected!!!

[Cormac]

Cormac, you don't tell us where your "information" is coming from either.

If you have a reliable source, link to it. Don't just expect people to believe it because you typed it.

It was a documentary, pretty sure either by the BBC or by C4. Interviews with folks across the spectrum in the country.

[Cormac]

Except really dangerous.

yes, dangerous to the current neo liberal capitalist model. Which is precisely why he is so popular and why I am extremely happy he was re-elected.

He has adjusted the constitution to centralise power in himself, and to allow him to stand again and again for the Presidency.

So? What is wrong with that? He should be able to run and win election after election. There is nothing wrong with that. In fact, it is a positive move. It takes into consideration long term planning, which is required to change an entire economic and social system. It's a slow process. This was not only a good move by Chavez, but a necessary one.

Yes. One of the problems with democracy is that the time frame is short for long term planning. Then again, long term planning has a level of assumption that long term planning can be successful, and this is not necessarily true. See Naseem Nicholas Taleb's books on the quantification of risk and the numerous fallacies exposed therein regarding predicting the future and planning based on it.


But apart from that, can you think of a reason that democracies all round the world set limits on the number of terms a president can hold?

[JimC]

I suppose you don't realise what an utterly bizarre statement that is. In effect, you are saying that a politician, as long as he is of your preferred political persuasion, should be able to set aside the will of the people in future elections, to cling to power...

Speaking of bizarre. How is it that he is "setting aside the will of the people" when he has been re-elected?

I may have misinterpreted your meaning from your original post - I took it to mean Chavez should get elected come what may, by vote-rigging if necessary.... I take it now that you were just meaning a change in the rule to allow him as many terms as he can get elected for...

However, as Cormac already pointed out, there are some dangers in allowing one person to have an indefinite number of terms; it concentrates power rather excessively... However, good luck to the people of Venezuela, I hope his current term at least works well for them.

[Tyrannical]

A Spanish news outlet is claiming Chavez stole the election, as exit polls showed him three points behind.

http://dailycaller.com/2012/10/07/repor ... z28fEnJTEI

[Seth]

Of course he fucking stole the election, he's a fucking Marxist, that's what they do. You can now expect his political opponents to start mysteriously disappearing as well. The only way to get rid of Chavez is to kill him, which someone should do right away.

[Cormac]

Of course he fucking stole the election, he's a fucking Marxist, that's what they do. You can now expect his political opponents to start mysteriously disappearing as well. The only way to get rid of Chavez is to kill him, which someone should do right away.

In fairness, in that part of the world, Marxist dictators don't have monopoly on rigging elections and disappearing people.

Still doesn't make Chavez Simone I'd like to have running my country.