Venezuela's Chavez: Socialism is the Cure

Castro clone Hugo Chavez has come out and admitted what everyone has known all along - he's a socialist. He believes in order to cure the problems that capitalism has failed to address, "We have to invent the socialism of the 21st century."

From the looks of what Chavez has been up to in Venezuela, the socialism of the 21st Century isn't much different from that of the 20th. Chavez's government has demonstrated little respect for civil liberties and even less for private property. In his favor, he doesn't seem to have imprisoned or murdered quite as many people as his good buddy Fidel has. So, maybe Chavez is trying to create a socialism with a kinder face.

Whatever the case may be, socialism is a dead-end path for any nation that chooses it. It attempts to alter the unalterable - human nature - leading to the inevitable conclusion that it can only be implemented at gunpoint. There is no reason to believe that its results will be any different now, under Mr. Chavez's leadership, than at any other time in history. I just hope that the good people of Venezuela come to their senses and kick this despot out before he ruins their country like his mentor has ruined Cuba.