According to Daniel Kovalik, who recently wrote an op-ed in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about this issue, Venezuelans are much "better off" because of the actions of authoritarian president Hugo Chávez, and are right now enjoying "free and fair" elections because of his wonderful system of government.
Kovalik believes that the ongoing collapse of Venezuela is somehow "inspiring," and that the only reason things aren't even better for the people living there right now is that U.S. "meddling" in the country's affairs is causing too many problems.
"Venezuela's electoral system ... is an inspiring process that guarantees one person, one vote, and includes multiple auditing procedures to ensure a free and fair election," Kovalik wrote, in what appears to be covetous longing for a similar type of system to be implemented here in the U.S.
Kovalik also says that the problems Venezuelans are dealing with have nothing to do with their own corrupt system, but are rather being caused by the U.S., which he says represents the "greatest impediment to democracy" in Venezuela, as well as all "throughout Latin America."
Venezuelans being run over by tanks and beaten to death is preferable to police shootings in America, says Kovalik
These are unusual claims to make, especially considering that a 2017 World Report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) found that Venezuelans have had to bear extreme physical abuse simply for opposing their political system. Representing the exact opposite of what one would expect in a supposedly "free and fair" election system, the report continues on by explaining that:
"... security force personnel have shot demonstrators at point-blank range with riot-control munitions, run over demonstrators with an armored vehicle, brutally beaten people who offered no resistance, and staged violent raids on apartment buildings."
The United States Attorney General's Office has also reported on at least 124 deaths that have occurred in Venezuela during "incidents related to the protests. A corresponding report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights determined that "more than half of the deaths had been caused by security agents."
"Security forces often held protesters incommunicado on military bases for 48 hours or more, and in some cases, committed egregious human rights violations, including severe beatings, electric shocks or burns, and forcing detainees to squat or kneel without moving for hours," the HRW report added.
Does this sound like "free and fair," or anything resembling the utopia that Kovalik seems to think exists in today's Venezuela? Hardly. But he says it's still better than the situation here in the U.S., pointing to a few widely-publicized incidents in which black thugs were shot with guns by police officers.
A few cases of alleged police abuse, in Kovalik's view, are somehow far worse than millions of people starving in Venezuela because their corrupt government stole from them their means of subsistence. This is apparently what passes for "rational thought" in mainstream liberal thought these days.
"While [the poor] have been given a voice in Venezuela, it remains muzzled in this country, and by a press which passes off pro-intervention and pro-war propaganda as journalism," contends Kovalik, again criticizing the U.S. while giving a free pass to Venezuela.
"It is no wonder the United States continues to careen into one disastrous military adventure after another."
Liberalism really is a mental disorder. To keep up with the latest ridiculous news about it, be sure to check out Stupid.news.
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