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Originally Posted by oneupper
My father fled Hungary in 1946 as it turned communist. I left Venezuela with my family two years ago due the same fears.
"Communism" itself is not the problem. It's the stripping away of freedom.
That is what is happening in Venezuela...not necessarily communism. The goal is as much power as possible. For that goal, institutions are dominated, the "private" or free economy is cornered. Not to necessarily "own" it, but to dominate. (sorry, this is hard to explain).
As for the US as the enemy. It is simply NOT true. Venezuelans, in general, have no special feeling for the US. However, a small group of cold war dinosaurs have made their way into power with Chavez and are trying to stir up hatred. Sure, if your president (who many admire) is on the air daily saying you're poor and unemployed because of the US...well the hatred picks up.
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Thanks for the explanation of your experiences.
I agree that Chavez is bad news, and I have little doubt but that he rigged the most recent election. Anybody who pals around with Fidel Castro is not someone whom I respect.
All that said, I totally disagree with Robertson's statement. I cannot support a policy of assasinating political leaders, even despots, with whom we disagree. I have real moral misgivings about such a policy, and the unintended results of such a policy can be severe. I'm sure that you can recall all the reports that the attempts of the Kennedy Administration to kill Castro possibly resulted in Castro in turn deciding to try to kill JFK.
Could I accept limited exceptions to a no assasination policy? Sure. Once war commences, then I would regard a nation's leader as another soldier. Absent actual war, no.
With 20-20 hindsight it is easy to say the world would have been much better off had someone put a bullet in Hitler's brain in 1933 or 1938 or any other time prior to his actual death in 1945. Unfortunately, we usually do not have the benefit of 20-20 foresight to state with certainty who is such a monster that he should be killed before he kills millions. Henry Kissinger once speculated that had Hitler been deposed in 1936, many pundits today would argue that it was an overreaction, that Hitler was a simple German nationalist who was no real threat, etc.