Feel the Bern: Chavista celebrities refuse to say they were wrong about socialism

By John Dietrich June 14, 2017

The New York Times published an article on Venezuela titled "Dying Infants and No Medicine: Inside Venezuela's Failing Hospitals."  It reads like an apocalyptic horror story and begins, "By morning, three newborns were already dead."  The author provides an explanation for this tragedy: "This nation has the largest oil reserves in the world, yet the government saved little money for hard times when oil prices were high. Now that prices have collapsed – they are around a third what they were in 2014 – the consequences are casting a destructive shadow across the country."  No other explanation is offered.  Perhaps we will be receiving reports of massive starvation in Saudi Arabia soon.

The article is a far cry from the glowing reports that greeted the assumption of power by Hugo Chávez When Chávez was elected, Venezuela's people were the wealthiest in Latin America.  Celebrities flocked to Caracas to pay homage to the new socialist leader.  Sean Penn, Michael Moore, Danny Glover, and Harry Belafonte are just a few of the entertainers who have visited.  Oliver Stone has made a film, Mi Amigo Hugo, about the Venezuelan leader.  Now Venezuela appears to be suffering a food shortage.  A survey by three universities found that 75 percent of Venezuelans lost an average 19 pounds this year.

Have the Venezuelan revolution's early supporters admitted they were wrong?  Are they at all embarrassed?  According to John Stossel, they believe they were right to praise Venezuela's move to socialism.  Stossel corresponded with college professor Noam Chomsky.  Chomsky's reply to Stossel's question about his support for Chávez was "I was right."  Chomsky blamed Venezuela's problems on capitalists: "Capitalists were free to undermine the economy in all sorts of ways, like massive export of capital."  Stossel quotes Marian Tupy, editor of HumanProgress.org, who said, "More countries will refuse to learn from history and give socialism 'a go.' Useful idiots,' to use Lenin's words ... will sing socialism's praises until the last light goes out.".......socialism is a religion ..........It is a form of Christianity without Christ..To Read More...