My friend Doug Ross has come up with the perfect illustration for the proposed Venezuelan constitution:
(Special thanks to Larwyn)
You can read the proposed reforms here (PDF file in Spanish).
Today’s article at PJM, Chairman Hugo’s Little Red Constitution explains how Chavez is trying to abolish private property:
In practice this is an opening for the government to decide on how you could sell your house, your businesses, your land, and even any stock you might own. And in the future – why not – even your personal possessions such as a valuable antique or a painting. What this will do to inherited estates is anyone’s guess. But if disposing of your property at will might not be an option anymore, the mere holding of property can be questioned at any time since it will have to be “legitimately acquired”. The question of who decides what is legitimate or not becomes crucial in a country where separation of powers has become a fiction, where the highest court of the country has demonstrated that it all but receives direct orders from the executive branch.
Chavez is clearly trying to control each and every aspect of Venezuelan society, including an individual’s right to pursue an occupation of his or her choice:
The new text goes further albeit in a more disguised form. Lines are eliminated from the old article referring to individual freedom of occupation – to pursue the business or office of their choosing. Instead, there is a required, vaguely defined general cooperation between all sectors to create a social state since the common interest is above the private interest. Obviously the state can eventually decide what economical activities are acceptable or not, what careers citizens are permitted to pursue.
If you still can’t believe that Venezuela is well on the road to total state control of people’s private lives, read today’s article in the NYT: A Culture of Naming That Even a Law May Not Tame. A new law proposed in the Chavez-controlled National Assembly wants to limit the names that people can use for naming their children to a list of 100 acceptable names:
If electoral officials here get their way, a bill introduced last week would prohibit Venezuelan parents from bestowing those names – and many, many others – on their children.
The measure would not be retroactive. But it would limit parents of newborns to a list of 100 names established by the government, with exemptions for Indians and foreigners, and it is already facing skepticism in the halls of the National Assembly.
I bet you $5 Fausta is not among the listed names.
OH! I love this graphic! May I ‘snag’ it?
Definitely – just please make sure you credit Doug!