Elections have consequences. Freedom doesn’t always advance. Millions of people voted themselves into grinding oppression in countries around the world and in cities here at home. If you aren’t sure whether to vote and be politically active, these examples of failed democracies should motivate you. They certainly scared me.
One of our neighbors to the south, Venezuela, voted itself into communism. This country has the world’s largest oil reserves, yet Venezuelan oil workers are selling their uniforms to buy food. Children are literally starving. These kids, the coming generation of Venezuelans, will never recover. Their mental development has been permanently stunted by malnutrition.
The Venezuelan news media lied about communism. Today in Venezuela, corruption and armed suppression are routine. The richest person in this “worker’s paradise” is now María Gabriela Chávez, the daughter of the now dead communist dictator. She stole billions and put it in foreign banks. The Venezuelan military is trained by the Cubans. Opposition leaders disappear in midnight raids. Venezuelan citizens believed the lies reported in their media and voted themselves into slavery. Today, they are starving as the electricity grid fails and they can’t store food.
Politicians can destroy a country in no time. The Venezuelan downfall happened in only a dozen years. The Obama Administration doubled the national debt and nationalized the health care industry, one-sixth of the American economy, in only 7 seven years. It really doesn’t take long.
Now, Venezuelans are selling all they have in order to leave their country. Venezuelans flee knowing they will be robbed and penniless if they and some of their surviving children make it to Mexico.
Any economic similarity with US politicians and Detroit, Michigan are purely coincidental. The US media is imitating their cousins from Venezuela. We’re told that “Democratic Socialism” in the US means free education. We’re never told about the starving children when the dictators run out of other peoples’ money.
There are dozens of other examples across the globe. More than a third of the world’s countries are ruled by dictators who rob their country and then use their military to stay in power. We don’t expect things to magically get better in dictatorships like Cuba or Iran, even though their citizens originally voted their ruling oligarchs into power. Progress isn’t automatic in the US either, despite what our dear leader says.
We have our own examples in the United States. Detroit is our failed city. It was once the richest city in the US, but has now shrunk to a third its former size. Chicago is following in its footsteps. No one expects Detroit or Chicago to recover.
California used to be a major producer of oil, durable goods, and electronics. Things change. Now California exports businessmen and their companies. California now imports illegal immigrant so it can maintain its congressional seats and the Socialists grip on power. That is today’s reality.
Some of us are waking up. The consequences of Socialists policies have driven voters away from the Socialists. We’ve seen growing examples of voter fraud and manipulation as the socialist political machine struggles to maintain power here in the United States. Socialist politicians are importing immigrants not only as guest workers, but as “guest voters”. Remember when politicians said that illegals wouldn’t get Obama care? Yeah. They lied about that too.
We could lose this election in a huge way. There were 23 candidates seeking the nomination so there are many disappointed voters. Some voters turned their back on politics when their favorite candidate didn’t win. Whether our preferred candidate wins or loses, we must still stay involved.
The politicians have figured out that we won’t hold them accountable because we are too distracted by the latest celebrity gossip. So the politicians get to do what they want. We can see from Venezuela that the politicians will still get theirs, even while the rest of us starve.
We need to stop staring at our cellphones and look at the world around us. The Political Establishment could not be as unresponsive as it is, if more of us ordinary competent people insisted they respond to us. Too few of us study the candidates’ record. Too few of have a yard sign or bumper sticker to advocate for our chosen candidates. Fewer still make phone calls and campaign for the candidate of our choice.
I’m asking you to do exactly that. Do not go quietly into slavery.
photo credit: Jangra Works Handcuff and Locked With Smart Phone via photopin (license)
