The rightwing stupidly boycotted the last by-elections, so its "gains" in this one were
expectable. Looks like the millions of U.S. tax dollars poured into 'training' of the opposition, in Bushwhack USAID-NED programs, paid off for the Bushwhacks. Their side kept gubernatorial control of Zulia (the oil rich state on the Caribbean that has been the target of Bushwhack secessionist plotting) and won the mayoralty of Caracas. But I'd say that the "gains" were more a return to normality, after years of the rightwing insanity of perpetrating coups, strikes and recalls, and wrongfully challenging election results in one of the best election systems in the western hemisphere. They have made themselves look like fools. The rightwing has the advantages of millions of dollars in support from the Bushwhacks, and control of the largely corpo-fascist media. Sans a stupid boycott of the elections, they were bound to make "gains." Their USAID-NED "trainers" obviously saw this, and could even have designed things this way, and, if that is the case, then the few governorships and other offices they won (compared to the overwhelming overall Chavez victory--17 out of 20 states) cannot even be described as "gains." It is all just a Rovian 'news' manipulation--which, of course, assholes like Simon Romero at the NYT, play right into.
The country as a whole remains very much pro-Chavez. Chavez candidates won the great majority of offices. Chavez's personal approval rating remains in the 60% range.
-----
"Equivalent elections to those on 23 November took place in Venezuela in October 2004. Chávez's coalition of supporters won the elections in 80 per cent of the local authorities and 22 out of 24 governors.
"However, it should be noted that, during the run-up to the previous regional elections in October 2004, much of the opposition called on their supporters to abstain in an effort to discredit the Venezuelan electoral system, which they claimed was 'fraudulent' after their defeat in the August 2004 referendum on whether President Chávez would remain in office. These claims became increasingly unsustainable after electoral observation missions from the European Union, the OAS and the Carter Center repeatedly expressed satisfaction with the transparency, fairness, and inclusive nature of Venezuela's electoral system. As no such boycott will occur this time, it is reasonable to assume that this will strengthen the opposition's level of support, all other things being equal. It is hoped that accurate and honest media coverage will recognise this fact." --Venezuelan Information Office
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/3975 ------
The voters and citizens of Venezuela, their election system and their political system as a whole, continue to amaze and impress me. Imagine what things would be like here in the U.S., if we didn't have 'TRADE SECRET' vote counting run by very political rightwing corporations, with no auditability whatever in half the voting systems in the country, and imagine if we had a government that protected our voting rights, that encouraged citizen participation, and that operated with the transparency of Venezuela's government.
We would never have suffered the Bush junta, or, at least, we would not have suffered it for so long (8 years! --that have seemed like 8 decades). Now, no matter what Obama tries to do, he is hamstrung by a $10 TRILLION deficit (and counting)--a deficit that didn't have to be--and by a collpsing financial system (that also didn't have to be), and so much other damage to our government and society. It might as well have been 8 decades, because it is likely going to take that much time to recover, if we ever do.
South America suffered this corpo/fascist destruction and meltdown before we did. They were the testing ground for what is being done to us now--the looting of social programs and resources, the weakening of government in every respect--with secrecy, corruption and other means--so that it will not respond to the majority and see to the interests of the country as a whole; the privatization of everything, the rich getting richer, the poor sinking. But, by concentrating on democratic institutions--transparent vote counting, maximum citizen participation, grass roots organizing--the South Americans are now recovering, having elected leftist governments all over the continent.
What I fear, there and here--but it is more of a danger here, because of the weakness of our democratic institutions--is that a little recovery, a little prosperity, will attract the vultures again, to plunder and loot once again. We are facing 2012 with a nearly completely non-transparent vote counting system. The corpo-fascists who control it (as well as virtually all news and opinion in the country) could easily install another nazi regime, and we would be helpless to prevent it, especially with our Democratic Party leaders colluding on the non-transparent voting system. Venezuela--and most of South America--does not have this problem. The votes are counted in the public venue, and Left and Right contend on a more even playing field. If the voters there forget WHY socialist measures and strong government action and regulation were needed, well, that will be the fallout from democracy (and from continued corpo/fascist control of the media, there too)--forgetful, brainwashable voters (like those who voted for Reagan--who started the dismantling of the "New Deal" and the looting of the country by global corporate predators).
Here, the reversal of any gains for the people, under Obama, is much, much more easily accomplished. One insider hacker, a few lines of self-erasing code, and millions of votes can be switched.
You gotta laugh--sometimes that's all you have, laughter--at the Bushwhacks and their corpo/fascist media calling Chavez a "dictator" (and our benighted Democrats, even Obama, echoing in). It is so ludicrous. The "dictatorship" is HERE. WE are the ones with NON-TRANSPARENT voting counting. WE are the ones whose government tortured prisoners and slaughtered a million innocent people for their oil. WE are the ones who couldn't stop global corporate predators from destroying our country and hijacking our military for a corporate resource war.
WE are the ones who have suffered a dictatorship--and it's not over yet, just because the global corporate predators who rule over us permitted a liberal-seeming leader to take the reins for a while. Whatever he does, they can and will loot; they still have that power. Venezuela, on the other hand, is no longer ruled by Exxon Mobil and Washington DC. That's why they call Chavez a 'dictator'--just as the corpo/fascists called FDR a 'dictator'--a total reversal of the truth. They don't want us to remember who rules in a democratic country--the people!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3615896#3616292
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