Are We There Yet?

From Reuters:

Venezuela marches continue, Chavez shuffles cabinet

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned on Wednesday that he may quicken his drive to build a socialist state, as he shuffled his cabinet amid opposition demonstrations sparked by closure of a television station.

The leftist leader is already facing a tough start to 2010 with growing complaints over shortages of electricity and water and a sharp currency devaluation that could harm the chances of his supporters in congressional elections in September.

In a sign he may be preparing for a combative year, Chavez has responded to these challenges by designating a vice president known for radical views and pushing the opposition station RCTV off subscription TV networks.

The move against RCTV has sparked opposition protests this week during which two students have been killed.

"If you're going to head down the path of destabilization, I'm warning you it will yield the opposite result of what you're seeking -- that we may decide to speed up the changes," Chavez, who recently declared himself a Marxist, said in televised
comments.

It is apparently axiomatic in socialist dictatorships that whenever the citizenry decides that enough is enough, the Thug-In-Chief doubles down and hastens the journey to national disintegration. Calling citizen dissatisfaction and alarm "destabilization," Chavez has authorized the use of deadly physical force to deal with protests and is shutting down opposition news outlets who criticize his policies.

Chavez has nationalized large swathes of the economy in recent years, including the telecommunications and the electricity sector -- which now faces deepening problems.

This month he took over a hyper-market chain run by a French retailer after accusing the company of price gouging.

Opposition and pro-Chavez students held rival but small rallies on Wednesday, gathering on campus and in public squares, and prepared a wave of marches in the coming days.

Local media reported minor disturbances between security forces and protesters in the cities of Maracaibo and Puerto la Cruz.

We have seen the same tactics in the Tea Party demonstrations that have been conveniently ignored and misreported in the Obama loyalist MSM and the demonization of Fox News.

The SOTU speech was another example of Chavez-like tactics as Obama characterized dissent as obstructionism to his socialist ideals. Then the brain dead Republicans invite President Chavez-Clone-In-Chief Obama to their caucus love fest so they can be excoriated again in public.
It is a miracle that we aren't there yet.