Bolivia has a new Constitution. For the first time in its history the indigenous people were allowed to vote. The Constitution gives indigenous people effective control of the government. Indigenous people are the majority. Naturally the Wealthy Minority are angry and threaten secession.
Most of you will be too young to remember, but Franklin Roosevelt saved American capitalism, in the teeth of her Capitalists, who fought him every step of the way. Folks were getting desperate; angry mumblings ewe re heard in the cities; Anarchist picnics were held by Bavarians in Chicago; preachers in the South were urging a March on Washington; and angry mobs were forming. Revolution was in the air.
FDR put the country back to work; hope stirred; revolutionary fervor died down, WWII took our minds off everything else,and Capitalists were again allowed to make obscene profits.
The excesses of Capitalism have once gain become manifest; millions are out of work and millions more are going to lose their jobs; corporate executives and manners of hedge funds and he like are still making more money than is reasonable.
Hussein is trying to head off a revolution which will surely come if the Capitalists, represented by Republicans in Congress, sauced in thwarting Hussein's plans. Capitalists are as short-sighted now as they ever were, being mesmerized by the bottom line
My Anarchist soul hope Hussein fails. Perhaps a more egalitarian social order would emerge.
The Humanist in me quails at the thought of the suffering that Hussein's failure to rescue the economy would bring about.
I wish I had never read Hamlet. I wish I were not a soul divided. "Thinkpads doth make cowards of us all," as some Hippie paraphrased Hamlet.
But I digress. Hussein has passed another test I set for him.
You may remember that Bushco supported the Wealthy Minority against the Indigenous Majority, resulting in a breach of diplomatic relations between out countries [and, incidentally, interrupting cocaine interdiction out of Bolivia, until Brazil's president provided helicopters to replace the ones that Bushco took away].
". . . the Obama Administration responded positively to Bolivia's vote. Responding to a reporter's question, acting State Department Spokesman Robert Wood said, "we congratulate the Bolivian people on the referendum... we look forward to working with the Bolivian Government in ways we can to further democracy and prosperity in the hemisphere."
So good for us. Pretty soon I'll start referring to our president as "President Hussein".
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For a solid, though Leftist, view of the new Morales government in Bolivia, click here.
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And for those of you who are more interested in U. S. Marines, cavorting, I give you:
Labels: anacharcy, Bolivia, capitalism, Hamlet, Obama. Chu