Lessons from Venezuela

      Venezuela is near the top of the list of places where you do NOT want to live these days.  The Socialist government created under the reign of the late Hugo Chavez, and continuing today under Nicolas Maduro, has really made a mess of things.  (Imagine that!)  Food and other necessities are practically non-existent, and violent crime is rampant.  The downfall of the Venezuelan economy is even more astonishing considering the vast wealth of OIL there!

     But a quick glance at global human history shows that Venezuela is not a unique phenomenon.  Indeed, history is littered with tyrannies and despotic totalitarian regimes and all manner of failed societies where the people starved while the rulers basked in luxury.  The crazy part is that, with all those millennia of history to use as a guide, you'd think that by now people would have figured it out.

     Anyway, back to Venezuela:  Today, a bright, charismatic, charming young (age 35) man named Juan Guiadó has emerged to challenge Maduro and his reign.  The starving, desperate people are praising Guiadó as the savior who will bring them out of poverty.
     On the positive side, it is somewhat encouraging that a sizable chunk of the Venezuelan people realize that Maduro must go.  There is absolutely nothing good one can say about Maduro.

Juan Guiadó

     So I did a little digging on this Guiadó fellow to find out something about him.  He is a member of the Voluntad Popular, or "Popular Will" Party.  According to Wikipedia, the party is "a pluralist and democratic movement that is committed to progress, i.e., the realization of the social, economic, political, and human rights of every Venezuelan."
      In other words:  same song, second verse.
      Yeah those are great words and they sound wonderful.  After all, who does NOT want "social, economic, political, and human rights", eh?  But underneath the eloquence, it's basically just the same old garbage. 
      The mistake that the Venezuelans are making - again - is the same mistake that humans have made uncountable times all throughout history, all over the world:  they put too much faith into one single individual.  It's what I call the "cult of personality".  Political leaders emerge with the gift of eloquence, charisma, leadership, great salesmanship, and the will to do whatever it takes.  And the people go ga-ga.  If Guiadó succeeds at actually becoming the leader of Venezuela, then at some future day, everything will be just as it is today. 
     Remember:  you read it here first.
     There is only one kind of political revolution that will break this cycle, and actually provide the people of a nation with a decent chance to have a life of peace and prosperity.  What you want is a revolution based, not on a person, but rather on an idea or concept.  Of course the best example of this is the American Revolution, which occurred some 240 years ago.  The outcome was a nation based on the idea of limited government and maximum freedom.  This resulted in an explosion of wealth and peace like the world has never seen.
     At least, that's what happened for the first century or so of America's existence.
     But gradually, that noble experiment in limited government is becoming unraveled.  The size and the cost of the U.S. government has exceeded the European regimes that our forefathers fled all those centuries ago. 
     There are many reasons why this is happening, but the number one reason is because we have morphed from a nation founded on an idea into a nation centered around one single individual: 
      The President. 
      Article Two of the U.S. Constitution outlines the powers and duties of the President.  Basically, there ain't that much there.  Most of the day-to-day governance of the country was vested, in fact, with Legislative branch.  Originally, the President was not even elected via popular vote, but rather was selected by the Congress.  That way, Congress could deliberate the candidate's qualifications, and verify that he/she has a thorough understanding of the role and its limitations.  The founding fathers wisely knew that voters tend to be influenced too much by personality and "star quality".  Voters could, conceivably, elect a popular Reality TV star with zero government background.  (Yes, I know, television did not yet exist back then, but you get the idea.)
       Nowadays, the President can, and will, send military troops anywhere in the world, any time, for any reason.  Yet, according to the Constitution, only Congress can declare war.  The current occupant of the White House is preparing to declare immigration a "national emergency" so that he can deploy military troops to the border.  We can debate over whether Article Two actually gives him that power - but we can clearly see that this blatant power grab is not what our forefathers envisioned for this role.
      So let's use Venezuela as a guide.  No, the United States is not going to become the next Venezuela.  But it's a fact that our government, at federal, state, and local levels, continues to grow exponentially with no end in sight.  Wealth redistribution programs are expanding, and the military is fighting more and more wars over the globe.  At home, the police are busting down doors  of innocent citizens looking for illegal substances.  
      Trump's actions on the border are setting a REALLY bad precedent.  If this keeps up, who knows what ill fortune the future holds.  We all need to wake up and recognize that the cult of personality has hijacked the office of the President.
      Meanwhile, the far left continues to clamor for the government to provide free-this and free-that and guaranteed-income and free-everything-you-can-think of.  The people of Venezuela were promised all that too, and fell for it big-time.  Great model of peace and prosperity you picked there, Democrats.