Remember Obama’s fascist butt-buddy in Honduras?
South America has pretty much always sucked as far as Democracy for any extended period of time. So, many of those nations did something much along the line of our “term limits” concept. Let us quote:
Latin America has had a poor record of democratic government. There have been three competing political traditions: a feeble — but in recent decades growing stronger — democratic tradition and two pervasive anti-democratic ones. One of the latter is the too-familiar military coup, in which the armed forces overthrow the government and then a military dictator or a junta rules. But the other one, which is just as important but not as well known, has grown so common in the past two decades that it has its own name in Spanish. It is continuismo, meaning the continuity in power of a caudillo or strong man (not necessarily a military officer) who through demagogic means and repression extends his tenure for years, even decades. Regrettably, this authoritarian, antidemocratic tradition has become stronger in the recent past.
Right, there’s MUCH more over there. What it does do is point out the fascism inherent in both the South American general philosophy, and with the tiniest bit of comparison showing the similarity with our Kenyan pResident. Africa works the same way, or even MORE tribal, and this lump of camel shit at 1600 for damn sure is not an American.
Even were he actually born in Hawai’i, he was raised African and Middle Eastern. He is not an American. If it’s not truly in your heart, it’s not there in your soul.
*SIGH* Sick of it. Ready to get on with it. Fuck me running.
Hugo Chavez’ political rise is probably the best textbook example of this shit. Traditionally, South America has always leaned left. During our Revolution, it was Englishmen against Englishmen, those who had tasted freedom wanted it badly enough to fight for it. In South America, it was mostly indigenous people, who, tribalistic as they were, had no concept of individual freedoms. They fought off the Spanish rather late in the game, as it were. But they never learned the concept of individual freedom. Ergo, they are always ripe for despotic rule. They simply trade one tyrant for another.
Understood Aggie. But those that are trying to modernize should be assisted in breaking away from that ancient shit. They should be educated and helped until they understand how it’s supposed to work, and get on their feet doing it.
The problem with that, Chris, is that the very people who are trying to modernize are wanting to modernize in the model of Europe, not the model of the USA. They have been dependent for so long, they cannot conceive of personal responsibility.
Same thing with China. I got into it with a friend of mine who was visiting….she told me how beautiful, how advanced, how it had changed for the better, blah, blah, blah…. I told her Mao had done more to destroy China than any other emperor. Shocked, she kept babbling how wrong I was, since I have never been. I asked her if she got to see the hutongs, outside the main cities, even any of the countryside. She mumbled that she was escorted and was not allowed to go to small villages. She couldn’t even go to the older neighborhoods (hutongs). She comes back with Mao made everyone equal, and I told her about the Red Princes and Princesses. She countered with her belief that China is the most enduring civilization on Earth. I told her it was so because it refused to change. They simply traded one type of despot rule for another. She had no other argument to give after that.
It’s the same with South American countries. Even the president of Columbia, who is a conservative (as defined by our parties
) refused to back Honduras’ ouster of their despot.
There’s a saying. Fuck ‘em and feed ‘em fish heads. I’m nearly there.