But Hugo acts as an x-ray machine, showing us just what hypocrites these Hugo supporters are.
At the center of the argument is that Hugo is good and holy, helping the unfortunates, while Bush is evil and conspires with his cronies to make money and trip old people and murder poor people.
The reality could not be any different.
Not that I believe Gini coefficients matter, but an article in The Economist shows that under Hugo Chavez the Gini coefficient has increased, increasing the disparity between rich and poor.
Additionally if you read the whole article (or just the next paragraph) you'll see Hugo is infinitely more corrupt and cronyistic than Bush ever was, dealing out contracts and deals to his buddies and those loyal to him on levels that make Bush seem like a Swede when it comes to corruption.
But the hard core leftists won't believe it, simply because they don't want to. They have a rationale to hate Bush and love Hugo, to fight capitalism and advance socialism, even if it doesn't carry out their self-proclaimed aims of helping out the poor and fighting off corruption. But that's the rub of it all. It isn't about the poor, the poor are just pawns in this game. It is again, as it always has been, about making the left feel good about themselves. Reality be damned, freedom be damned, economic growth and prosperity and the abolition of poverty be damned, I want to think of myself as a good person.
Though deep down inside, you wonder if they really believe it themselves.
Please, please stop associating Bush with capitalism. I understand your point that love of Hugo and hatred of Bush with regard to economics makes absolutely no logical sense, but I don't think it helps capitalism when you substitute it with big government conservatism.
ReplyDeleteI think that, in many instances, the left is projecting (a psychology term, not that it made the tuition worth it) when they criticize the right.
ReplyDeleteFor example, when they accuse the administration of censorship, while supporting speech codes. Or claims of litmus tests, while demanding that their candidates toe the line with abortion, Iraq, etc.
And tolerance is my favorite one. They tolerate everything but dissent.
"At the center of the argument is that Hugo is good and holy, helping the unfortunates, while Bush is evil and conspires with his cronies to make money and trip old people and murder poor people.
ReplyDeleteThe reality could not be any different."
Looks like you're missing a word in that last sentence, Captain. :)
Great post though. I wonder if NPR will find Venezuela's increase in inequality worth mentioning, since apparently Chile's one point bump was found newsworthy. Yeah... right.