Venezuela: An Aberration or an Abomination?

https://canadafreepress.com/article/venezuela-an-aberration-or-an-abomination

By Dennis Jamison —— Bio and Archives--February 11, 2019
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Last Tuesday, President Trump finally was able to deliver the official State of the Union address to the American people, and in his speech, he referred to Venezuela. He declared that “We stand with the Venezuelan people in their noble quest for freedom, and that the “United States officially recognized the legitimate government of Venezuela, and its new interim President, Juan Guaido.” Looking at the faces of many of the elected representatives and senators that were shown on television during the voicing of this support, it could be detected that there were several elected officials who were disappointed in U.S. support of Venezuela and Guaido. Yet, many appeared ready to throw a fit when Trump stated emphatically “Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country.”

This strong statement resounded much like one of those “line in the sand” statements that show up every so often in history. The American legend ties to the decisive act of Lieutenant Colonel William Travis drawing a line in the sand at the Alamo when it seemed the 180 - 250 men inside were doomed. It is said Travis drew a line in the sand with his sword, and requested that those who were willing to remain in the fortified Misión San Antonio de Valero, and who were willing to fight, step over the line. Within five days, in the ensuing siege and bloody battle, all of the Americans were killed. Yet, the United States today seems besieged by enemies within the nation and by enemies outside the borders. Trump’s statement is reassuring to the Americans who still believe in the founding documents—specifically the ideals and values expressed within the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.

Nevertheless, Trump was correct in recognizing the allure of socialism, which is enticing young people, possibly because they do not know any better. Yet, struggling scholar that she is, Joy Behar, of “The View” is concerned socialism is getting a bad reputation. Apparently, a couple of days after Trump’s SOTU speech, Joy Behar expressed outrage toward the Conservatives for ‘Distorting’ Socialism. Her defense: “Nobody Really Understands It!”

Truly, it is likely Joy Behar does not understand it, and it is good that she included herself as the unfortunate uneducated. But, it is likely that her statement expresses more truth than she may actually realize. People from California to New York probably do not truly understand socialism, and it is even more likely that most have little clue about socialism’s big brother: Communism. To many, they are just big words that most people have little desire to take the time to investigate.

It is also true that the millions of human beings fleeing from Venezuela over the past few years probably do not understand socialism. Just like the average person does not truly know what Socialism is, or how Communism works, neither do many people around the world. However, there are many people from around the world who prefer not to know. People from Eastern Europe saw Socialism or Communism up close, and experienced the real effects of the policies of the Communists in their countries. People in China and in North Korea live with the realities of Communist oppression every single day. Those who are fleeing from Venezuela are just the latest population to flee from an oppressive Communist dictatorship.

Of course, though it may prove Joy Behar wrong, there are the educated elite who may or may not know what socialism is or how Communism truly operates, but they usually have a carefully formulated opinion either pro or con. One has to carefully probe such educated individuals to determine whether some agenda is behind the opinion, and who stands to benefit from it. Educated Socialists in the United States have been running for office since before the turn of the twentieth century. Yet, it has not been since the 1960s, when socialists and communists operatives on college campuses began organizing a bit more successfully. From that time, American young people were attracted by the allure of socialism or communism. Yet, the allure is an illusion. It is an intellectual construct based upon an illusive utopian state.

Ask the people of Venezuela why they have been fleeing from their beloved country. It is because the Socialist state, or Communist government could not transform intellectual or theoretical promises into an adequate food supply, or enough medical supplies to run a civilized society. The U.N. Refugee Agency verified that the Venezuelan refugees had fled Venezuela because of serious shortages of food, because of the fear of losing even more of their shrinking supply of government allotted food rations, because of shortages of medicine, and the relative collapse of the health care system. Additionally, amidst the increasing escalation of violence in their homeland, which features the highest murder rate in the world, these people simply wanted to survive. Flight was their last desperate act to leave the nightmare behind.

Of course the educated Socialists in the world would likely claim that what has taken place in Venezuela is merely an aberration of a poorly run Socialist economy, or the national leadership that trended autocratic. However, intelligent people with common sense need only look at Cuba as a shining example of the wonders of Communism in the Western Hemisphere. Intelligent people with common sense need only look at China as a shining example of the wonders of Communism in the world, or more specifically to look at North Korea to see the miserable situation of the suffering of those people who risk their lives in fleeing. Are these aberrations? Or, are they abominations?
Intelligent people with common sense need to ask why did so many professionals flee Cuba to the U.S. when Fidel Castro finally took over that nation in 1959? It has been reported that since 1959, the refugees that fled Cuba had been “one of the most significant migrations… in modern times.” Around 700,000 Cubans fled to the U.S. prior to the 1980s. What is the big deal? Why is it important? For one thing, Fidel Castro was Hugo Chavez’s mentor, and Chavez was Nicolás Maduro’s mentor. There is a trend because they followed the Communist ideology, and when the public reaction to the realities that come with Communism, that is when the oppression hits.

At that point the promise evaporates and the practice of dominion kicks in.

There are still many Cubans alive who fled to the U.S. after Castro’s revolution, and those people from Cuba have their own stories to tell. Ask them why they fled from their beloved country. Ask the people from China, or Vietnam, or Cambodia why they came to prefer living in the United States as opposed to living in their nation. Ask the people from Venezuela who left their country to come to the U.S. why they prefer not to go back to their homeland. Look at how many millions are fleeing the U.S. due to the oppression that the Left is claiming that exists in this nation. Common sense is all one needs to see how socialism or communism affects people’s lives and their livelihood.

Trump was clear in his SOTU address when he claimed: “Here, in the United States, we are alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our country. America was founded on liberty and independence –- not government coercion, domination, and control. We are born free, and we will stay free.”

One of the ways to remain free is to take the time to study the practical application of socialism in all stages of its development - not just the retarded development of homogeneous societies that are not self-sustaining. Or, take the time to study the practical application of freedom in all its stages of development. Education, not indoctrination, in which there exists a free exchange of ideas and a basis of genuine comparison of the value of such ideas will help more people become free. The essence of remaining free in an incredibly coercive global environment requires more than just fleeing to safety, it requires a willingness to stand and fight for freedom. It is how America was born, and it is what makes America unique in a world that tolerates tyranny.