Transformation

As Donald Trump prepares for his inauguration, the Democrats seem mired with excuses for their loss. At the same time, they revel in claims of illegitimacy concerning the new Trump administration. More than a few of my Democrat friends have lamented the DNC's treatment of Bernie Sanders (exposed by the "Russian hacks of the DNC). They argue that Sanders would have "easily" beaten Trump in a head to head matchup. Maybe they're right, and maybe they're not, but they really should be careful what they wish for.

It seems that the majority of Democrats feel quite strongly that the party needs to become more progressive, i.e., that it needs to move even further to the left. After all, many Dems think that their losses in recent elections occurred, not because they have been too moderate, but because their candidates were not left-wing enough. Hence, Bernie Sanders and his shrill compatriot, Elizabeth Warren, and their push toward a socialist version of the USA. Sort of like the late Hugo Chavez and his socialist version of Venezuela.

It's worth taking a fresh look at South America's socialist paradise, so we all fully understand what could happen if Sanders and Warren somehow prevail in their attempted take-over of the Democratic Party. Thor Halvorssen reports:

Venezuela is no longer a country with a government, institutions and a civil society. It’s a geographic area terrorized by a criminal enterprise that pretends to govern, with a civil society made up of two sets of people: accomplices and victims.

More than 30 million of the latter.

The Hugo Chavez-led looting spree began in 2000. By “looting,” I mean fraudulent government contracts, a celebration of bribery, phantom payrolls across all government ministries, bogus government-grant programs, the sacking of Venezuela’s gold reserves and a massive currency-exchange scam.

More than $1 trillion has disappeared — some of it wasted on social programs that produced nothing — and a staggering amount has ended up in bank accounts in Andorra, Panama, New York, Hong Kong and Switzerland.

And the pillaging has turned Venezuela into a dystopian landscape. There are shortages of every imaginable foodstuff and basic necessity; diseases once thought eradicated are back with a vengeance; and a crime wave that has given Caracas the highest murder rate in the world.

To be honest, it's hard to imagine a Sanders/Warren party take-over of the Democratic party resulting in the chaos that now reigns in Venezuela, but then again, I'm certain that the left wing Glitterati who lionized Chavez and the many Democrats who enjoyed his venomous criticism of George W. Bush never thought that Chavez' socialist experiment would cause Venezuela (a country rich in oil) to become the equivalent of a failed state.

I know, I know, if you listen to Bernie or Liz, it's all because the socialist experiment in Venezuela wasn't properly conducted, just like every other failed socialist experiment of the past century. I'm sure they have the proper solution and their transformation of America will go very well. After all, that's what Chavez believed and look how his transformation turned out.