Venezuela: Stumbling towards Communism

Hugo Chavez is little more then a statist dictator. His closest allies are Cuba, Iran and China. He has cracked down on internal dissent, muzzled the media and now he has begun the process of redistributing land. The new plan for "social justice" i.e. communism will undoubtedly produce the same dreadful results as it has everywhere else that it has been tried. Why so many leaders have failed to learn from the lessons of history is a mystery to me. Redistribution has never made a country stronger or a people more prosperous, yet it continues to be the mechanism of change of preference for the political left in many parts of the world. The U.S. should know better, but more government and more redistribution of assets remains a popular political sell. Witness Medicare drug benefits and foreign aid. Only freeing markets, capital and land from political control can lead to prosperity. It may not "feel" as good as attempting to use the power of the state to create an equitable society, but as a practical matter, the less government there is, the greater the chance of prosperity.

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The never-ending Milosevic trial continues this week in The Hague. Anyone that wonders why the U.S. refuses to endorse the World Court, I give you exhibit A. Not only is the World Court unconstitutional under U.S. law, it also undermines the sovereignty of the nation by giving jurisdiction over an American national to foreign agents.