Venezuelans Continue to Suffer

And they should. They deserve it.

"Oh!" You may say, "Wal Man, you're so heartless and cruel. Don't you have any sympathy for the poor people of Venezuela who have suffered under the Socialist Dictatorship of Nicolas' Maduro?"

Nope.

As I recall, Hugo Chavez didn't just materialize as the Dictator of Venezuela. The people VOTED him in on more than one occasion. They even came out into the streets to protect him when they thought he was going to be overthrown. All these people, they WANTED Hugo Chavez.

Any Why?

He promised them everything they wanted. They were poor. He promised them money and things like appliances, free healthcare and free schooling for their kids. They were jealous of those who had more. He promised to bring them down. Chavez promised to make them pay. They wanted security. He promised them the security of the State. Venezuela under Chavez will take care of all their needs.

And they all went and pulled the lever for Chavez.

And he did what he said he was going to do. He gave them stuff. He punished those who had more. He took away the businesses of the successful and nationalized foreign manufacturing plants as he took total control of the country, it's means of production and it's economy.

This is what the people of Venezuela wanted and they were happy...for awhile.

The funny thing about the motivation to bring down others. When people covet the possessions of others, they are looking up. They only see what lay just above their reach. What they don't think about and therefore do not see are the other people. The people below, looking up at them.

The people who vote for a totalitarian strongman do so in the expectation that it will be they who will be part of the controllers, that they will be a taker under the protection of the king. But as they reached up for what they felt was theirs, the people below reached for them for what they also felt now belonged to them.

And chaos ensued.

And here we are.

So now the people are fleeing the country they made. They are crossing over into Columbia but Columbia doesn't want them. I would have thought Columbia would do something to change things but they haven't and perhaps they feel it's not up to them to fix what the Venezuelan people themselves have broken...namely their Morality.

And although they lament their fate, you won't hear a word against Hugo Chavez, the architect fo the nation's downfall. They have no idea how things got this way and point to Maduro, Chavez's hand-picked replacement, as the source of all their ills. They maintain they are blameless and make no apologies.

But if Venezuelans want to right the wrong they've done to themselves and try to keep this from happening again, they can start by taking responsibility for their roll in their predicament. A lesson can be clearly drawn from all this.

The people wanted to rob from the rich and give to...well, themselves. They wanted something for nothing. They wanted what someone else had taken risks and worked to have that they did not.

They were trying to bring themselves up by bringing others down.

Now they have succeeded, in a way. They have achieved the ultimate in equality:

Everybody has nothing.

They should be celebrating their Socialist achievement for this has always been the result of "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs."

They got the government they deserved.