e diel, dhjetor 02, 2007

Voting under way in Venezuela on changes to Constitution

1 koment:

Phil Marx tha...

In my country (U.S.A.), when a candidate wins with only a narrow majority of the votes he/she typically acts as though the vote were unanimous. As a result of this over-confidence, they often propose absurd changes to the law. This, in turn, then causes many people to turn against them and their party.

This is why the same people who elect a President will often send him a Congress of the opposite party. We don't trust any individual/party to have complete control. That is why we value our Constitution, because it keeps anyone (even the one's we like) from taking too much power.

During our nation's great depression of the 1930's, some of President Roosevelt's programs faced serious challenges from the judiciary branch. His response was to propose increasing the number of justices so he could appoint more of his own people. Neither the Congress nor the American people approved this. Yet at the same time, we continued to increase his party's congressional strength. In essence we were saying "We like your ideas, but we like our constitution even more."

Regarding the situation in Venezuela, I think one can easily find some truth in Chaves’ criticism of imperialism. But his brashness probably hurts his own cause. He does not
seem to take criticism well, and gives the appearance that he would prefer fighting over talking.

If I were a Venezuelan citizen, I would be a bit worried. Even if you agree with some of the specific changes that Chavez wants, to change the Constitution itself in such a drastic way might be dangerous. Chavez is asking for these new powers because he say's he'll use them to help his people. But these same expanded powers could be used by someone else to harm his people.

That being said, I find it amazing that something as revolutionary as this is taking place through a referendum rather than a civil-war.

Phillip Marx
Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.A.