During dinner, he waxed on and on about Hugo Chavez -- free education, free health care, the social programs, etc. Of course, we got into a heated political discussion. I saw him a Communist dictator who will bring the country down. He saw it as the new workers paradise, what every Catholic should push for.
Today, thanks to Hugo:
- Human Rights Watch representatives have been expelled from the country
- banning of Radio Caracal Television, one of the few voices of opposition, in 2007 (does the Fairness Doctrine come to mind here?)
- vandalism of the Caracas municipal city hall, with the destruction of all of the vehicles and equipment (since Hugo's man lost the local election)
- inflation is apx. 30%
- crime is 2.5 times higher then when Chavez took office
- Caracas is the murder capital of the world, with more crime than in Sao Paulo or Johannesburg
- PDVSA, the state run oil company, is rife with mismanagement and corruption.
- Oil production is only 25% of what it was when Chavez took office
- PDVSA has a debt of apx. $10 billion, with workers and contractors complaining of no salaries or payments for work done
So the other day I asked myself, after story after story about Hugao, where is the Social Justice/Catholic Left?
Almost a decade ago, Hugo was held up as the model of what the US should be and what is wrong with the US. He was to Catholic Left's role model. Today, we hear nothing about him from them.
Maybe they have finally learned what many of us realized long ago, but cannot admit to it.
He is a typical socialist/communist dictator. Plain and simple.
Yet the Catholic Left/Social Justice crowd is silent.++++++
Fight Maryland Senate Bill 238!
