From Chavez to Medvedev -- to Obama?
War on the Democratic process

By Toby Westerman
Wednesday, July 15, 2009

A war is being waged on the democratic process around the world, a war which poses ultimately a greater peril than the bombs and bullets from militant Islam.

The two, however, are closely allied, at least for now.

The pattern of attack is similar around the world: a popularly elected leader uses his office to ensure that he remains perpetually in office and establish a socialist/communist regime allied with similar governments; freedom of the press is muted, freedom of expression is suppressed through militant youth gangs, and all meaningful opposition is criminalized.

The most obvious example of this perversion of the democratic process is the bumptious Latin American communist, Hugo Chavez, president of oil-rich Venezuela. A self-described follower of the long-dead Bolshevik revolution leader Leon Trotsky, Chavez used his election victory in 1998 to install a neo-communist dictatorship.

Chavez controls most major media outlets, and uses a youth gang called the Bolivarian Circle to intimidate those protesting his regime. Chavez has criminalized his opposition and forced politicians, military officers, business leaders, and oil executives to seek asylum outside Venezuela.

Waging an open war against capitalism
Waging an open war against capitalism, Chavez is nationalizing all major commercial and financial interests in his nation.

Sympathizers of Chavez who have gained power in Bolivia and Ecuador are following a similar program of oppression. Chavez’s brand of Marxist totalitarianism, known generally as “Chavizmo,â€