131–140 of 180 posts
Where is the worldwide leftist intelligentsia that supported this totalitarian regime from the beginning with wet dreams of "21st century socialism"? They are all quiet now and will surely soon claim that things went wrong there and misrepresent the original intents of the "revolution". It's time to recognize that, once again, socialism resulted in the same results that it has always achieved: hunger, death, lost fre…
I lived in Venezuela as the son of a diplomat in the late 80s. It was a wonderful country. As a middle schooler (grades 6-8) I rode my BMX bike all over Caracas with my buddy with no fear in the world. The funny thing is, at that time, Venezuela was known to have suffered quite a decline from it's heights in the late 70s and early 80s when it was on the cusp of being a 1st world country thanks to the oil boom and (re…
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I think you did. It's hard to imagine why you'd have cited Michael Moore in the same breath as "leftist intellectual elite" otherwise. How credible would I sound talking about a right-wing intellectual elite after referencing something Ann Coulter had said? Because that's who Michael Moore is: the Ann Coulter of the left.
Because 1) the GP referred to a Michael Moore twit and 2) the leftist intellectual elite did support Chavez. I have never claimed Michael Moore belongs to the intellectual elite, much less that he somehow leads it. Both have supported Chavez and therefore I have mentioned both "in the same breath".
Just three years ago: https://twitter.com/mmflint/status/309124649244057600
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The other thing that needs to be understood is that Venezuela has decided to become a socialist country. When that happens, it is normal that the GDP decreases as the economy reorganizes itself. But as income is shifted from the rich to the rest of society, most of the population will benefit, even if there is no real GDP growth.
Do you actually believe that an orderly transition to socialism is what's happening in Venezuela, or are you just presenting that as a theoretical framework for some kind of ideal case?
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Also, Hitler was a national socialist.
Again with "trying to reason from the word socialist is not making you more credible".
Again with "trying to use the word socialist without a clear definition is not making your argument any more credible."
As is too often the case, the "it's official" in the headline really means "it's not actually official, but this makes the headline more provocative". The article goes on to describe the remaining fig leaf of a supposedly independent judiciary.
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It's all just one poorly elected candidate away I guess. Look at what's happening in the Philippines with Duterte for a taste of why people are so concerned about Trump(regardless of whether the concern would end up founded or not).
It's why I'm concerned about Clinton.
I wonder which has the higher correlation to instability: 1 formOfGovernmentX - ie democracy, socialism, dictatorship, etc 2 On america's shit list ?
Someone(s) down-voted you, but I think you have a point. In 10 years we'll probably find out that the CIA orchestrated this whole fiasco. I mean, that's pretty much the story of, like, every thing that ever goes wrong in every country. Or near enough. I don't mean to sound hyperbolic, but yeah c'mon.
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> a population of homeless people hunting dogs and cats on the streets in order to not starve to death - only possible with Socialism. Or the United States in the early 20th Century. Grapes of Wrath and all that.
The United States was an extremely wealthy country with exceptional freedom up until the Great Depression. And this was only a short episode in US history.
US citizens, esp those under so called middle class, rank worse than most other western countries. Ya know all those Eurpean socialist ones.