Never mind the referendum, that's a forgone conclusion. Men who want absolute power to complete their socialist revolutions don't let little things like democracy and the will of the people stand in their way. It's the new dictatorship. Gulags, mass executions, that's for the twentieth century. The new method means leaving in the populaist rhetoric, and the facade of democratic rule while undermining it at every turn.

Let's be clear, the only vote Chavez has not rigged is the one in 1998 that brought him to power. Venezuela has had nearly a decade of this clown to know that he's bad news. Any vote since 1998 has been a farce, usually it's been a farce certified by the U.N. or Jimmy Carter. The recall vote, the parliamentary elections, the Presidential elections have all been set up to increase Chavez's power base.

We have leftists in this country who insist that George W. Bush is a tyrant. Sure, he's a tyrant. A tyrant with an opposition party in control of congress, a free press that loathes him, and who is daily mocked and even threatened by the brain deads who are considered our cultural elites. If that's tyranny it's pretty pathetic. Chavez, with the lefts support and admiration, has reintroduced Latin America to tyranny. No opposition in parliament, no free press, and when the referendum of December 2nd passes it means no free elections and Chavez in power until the day he dies. Or until the Venezuelan people have enough of this semi literate boor, take to the streets and do to him what the Italians did to Mussolini.

What will cause the Venezuelan people to finally say enough? Well when oil prices start to fall and Chavez isn't able to buy anyone off that might get the ball rolling, or hopefully get his head rolling. Many a dictator has tried to keep the control of the masses by buying their loyalty, only to have the masses turn on them when the price of that loyalty gets to high for them to pay. That's populism for you.

Now, why should anyone in America care about what is happening in Venezuela? After all it's a long way from America's borders, and we've had anti American idiots in that region of the country before, and almost certainly will have them in the future. It's always bad when a country regresses from democracy to dictatorship. (Look at Russia, Turkey, Australia. OK, I'm joking about that last one.) But Chavez has both the resources and the ambition to make himself a problem to the United States. He's snuggling up to Iran like he's Mahmoud's prom date, and he's building an alliance of left wing nations throughout Latin America. With his hero, Fidel Castro, on the way out he's taken over as rabble rouser in chief, and with his subordinates in Ecuador, Bolivia, and let's not forget Daniel Ortega's return to power, his influence continues to grow.

Chavez is not only obnoxious, he's dangerous. Dangerous to the region and dangerous to the U.S. The people of Venezuela are not our enemies, but their leader is. If they allow him to get away with this joke of a referendum, (and odds are that they will) they will have voted Chavez in for life. Maybe it's time for the concerned citizens of that country to start thinking about regime change in Caracas.