Why don't you just shut up?

An LCS graduate, who says he continues to occasionally read this blog, stopped in for a visit on Friday. He related an incident in his university classroom in which he said that a certain type of equality was impossible because humans are competitive and always want to get the upper hand, and, once they achieve that position of power, they want to retain it. The professor’s reaction was “That sounds like something Hitler would say.” The intellectual revealed a fairly typical socialist/progressive reaction to any conservative challenge. Instead of dealing with the substance of the argument, just start yelling “fascist” or “Nazi” or “Hitler.”

This past weekend, King Juan Carlos of Spain actually told the communist president of Venezuela, “Why don’t you just shut up?” As if to add to the insult, the article relates that he used a form of speech used for personal acquaintances or children (Wow—so he said tú and not Usted). Apparently, at the Ibero-American summit, Hugo Chavez had said that the former prime minister of Spain, Jose Maria Aznar,was a “fascist” because he had been an ally of the United States in the war on terror. So the king reminded him that Aznar had been duly elected by the people of Spain and needed to be shown respect. Chavez, of course, would have none of it. The Spanish people agree with their king, however.

Yes, there are many people in the world who do not like the United States. Many of them also happen to live here. Actor Sean Penn made a trip in August to Venezuela, claiming that he was a journalist looking for a story. There the star of “Fast Times at Ridgmont High” and “Mystic River” was, though, applauding Chavez’ claims of “American Imperialism.” Penn was welcomed by Chavez as an honored guest because he was clearly “anti-Bush.” Little did he know that Chavez also believes the US film industry to be “imperialistic,” so he has started to make movies himself. It’s part of his fight, he says, against US imperial hegemony (that’s for you, Julie and Lisa). Hmm, Der Führer and Leni Riefenstahl, anyone?

Sometimes the blindness of these foolish dupes is amazing. Hugo Chavez is sitting on a lot of oil, so he spreads around his wealth to make himself popular in Latin America. As he does so, he guarantees universal health care and says that if the United States wasn’t building its empire in Iraq, they could actually do some good in the world, both of which are very popular with our nation’s liberals. However, they seem to have no idea of the nature of the wolf they are lying down with. In an upcoming vote, constitutional reforms that will enable Chavez to consolidate power in the central government and to allow him to continue to rule perpetually are on the ballot. And this is the same Chavez who closed down television stations, claiming that they were corrupting Venezuela’s youth, and who wants to forbid his countrymen from giving their children unusual names.

I wonder how James Monroe would feel if he could somehow see what has happened in Latin America since the United States declared the newly independent nations to be off-limits for imperial expansion by the European powers (the Monroe Doctrine) and extended its promise of protection around them. It seems as though these nations and their communist leaders, supported by the likes of American leftists like Sean Penn, simply cannot help blaming America rather than acknowledging the uselessness of their own economic and government system.