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before and after everything?

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As for regulation, having lived so far through a decade that started with Enron proceeded through dozens of e.coli food scares, lead-based paint on toys being imported into my country, a fuel spike caused by Enron speculation and a full-scale financial meltdown stemming directly from the deregulatory genius of Phil Gramm's wife, I'm all for more regulation.

And seriously, you think we should invade Venezuela to impose democracy on them? What? You think they have oil or something? Oh, that's right.

I have to say, I'm not sure Republicans are ever going to get past having three or four ideas ever.

You're right about the handshaking, though. It's just another ridiculous distraction.

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So there's a reason Chavez hates the U.S.

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What I am trying to say is that there is a documented campaign of intimidation. So it is not so cut and dry why he is still in power. A lot of the social programs have failed, and were failing before oil prices went down. But PDVSA is nationalized so the $3 billion deficit it registered in 2007 was covered up in the government media. I could go on, but it is just too depressing. But my bet is that Chavez will at times applaud and insult Obama and antagonize as he has done for a decade.

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And Chavez may not be a perfect leader, and he makes a lot of mistakes. The term limits thing was pretty stupid, as was the government voting campaign. But it's not as clear cut as you seem to think it is. He still has the support of a lot of Venezuelans. Probably the majority, even if its maybe not a big majority.

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<- some of us do.

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@Mediahohoho: The problem is that government spending rises regardless of which party is in power. Up until Bush, the general rule of thumb is that it rose at a slower rate under Republicans. Well, Bush did outspend Clinton, but it looks like President Obama is going to restore validity to the rule of thumb by outspending every President in US history combined.

I agree that you can't deregulate every industry. I heard a piece on NPR about the one person that is in charge of U.S. safety control for the entire toy industry. His name was Bob. The reason that deregulation of the financials didn't work is that we just had no idea how suicidal they were. A good dose of not bailing them out might make them a little more careful in the future.

The three or four ideas to which you refer is the reason that I am a Republican. I have some very liberal leanings when it comes to issues like free speech, separation of church and state, gay marriage, the teaching of evolution in schools and a few other things. However, I'm not a Democrat because I don't think the solution to every problem is creating a huge government bureaucracy. Other than the military, I can't think of an industry that the government currently runs that private enterprise could not do better. I work for government. I know exactly how inefficient we are.

@Pope John Peeps II: @zkemeny: Hitler came to power through a democratic process. I believe that Democracy is the best method of electing national leaders, but I'm not naive enough to believe that it always works out to be in the best interest of he country. Do you remember the Ukraine elections that Colin Powell heavily criticized in 2004 because of all of the corruption and fraud? How about when the Socialist Party won the election in Spain as a result of an al Qaeda attack? Bush won two terms in this country, but I'm guessing that there are a few people on Gawker that would argue that 2000 was stolen and that 2004 was an enormous mistake for the country.

Democracy works...usually.

@gawkimo: I actually agree with you about something. I was kidding about the invasion, but I think Chavez will find it harder to govern an oil country when the ppb is $50 instead of $120. Other than that, you are a gadfly.

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As for government-run bureaucracies that function better than the private sector, well, first of all, talk about setting a low bar these days. Better than Enron? Better than AIG? Better than United Healthcare? Better than Mattel? Of course, the automatic response used to be the U.S. Military, but now that its functions have been largely outsourced to Halliburton and its subsidiary KBR (attaboy, Dick!) we've got soldiers being electrocuted in showers (about 20 in Iraq) and taxpayers are paying a $20 premium to have the Army's towels embossed with the KBR logo (I wish tea baggers would be their balls clinched over that little tidbit). So...yeah, I'm less impressed by the private sector's ability to efficiently deliver services (United Healthcare) than I am by the government's (Medicare). At least with Medicare, I know that my premiums won't be going to the CEO's eight-figure bonus.

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