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Chavez is a master at blending what we traditionally consider left wing and right wing politics into a single brew. Most of us have always recognized that they were but two sides of a single coin, but Chavez combines them effectively.

A key part of his appeal is trans-latin nationalism. Latin America's default political philosophy is a kind of populism that tends easily toward leftist solutions, but his anti-americanism inspires nationalist pride that drives a lot of his popularity. It started as Venezuelan nationalism but he has effectively reached out to the rest of the region, his agents have worked with Salvadoran officers, Ecuadorian officers, Peruvian officers, and so on, and he has blended Cubans into the mix.

Nationalism reaches where simple marxism can't, and together they are a heady mixture. Together they are tough competition for us because on a strictly philosophical plain, we can compete with marxism. But if classic liberalism, what Chavez calls "neo-liberalism", is seen as alien, it is seen as domination by the Americans, nationalism has done its work, preventing debate from ever taking place.

He is pushing the idea that Colombia, under attack by narco-marxism, is an American peon for not surrendering to them. He pushes the idea that coca is authentic to Bolivian culture, and that hydrocarbons will enslave them to the Americans, thus using nationalism to shut off energy competition and to isolate the Colombians at the same time.

Chavez is a master at blending what we traditionally consider left wing and right wing politics into a single brew

errr, i think this has been tried before -- like Italy beginning in the 1920s and Germany in the 1930s. in each case, a socialist party decided it could be more effective by modifying the typical nationalization of industry and allowing a bit more decentralization and profit to non-state owned companies, all the while maintaining control of the industry by regulations and oversight boards...

i think it is called fascism.

it is not by accident or coincidence that fidel castro's role model and hero when he was a university student was -- benito mussolini

"Chavez is a master at blending what we traditionally consider left wing and right wing politics into a single brew. Most of us have always recognized that they were but two sides of a single coin, but Chavez combines them effectively."

inaccurate statement; communism is not "left wing" and fascism is not "right wing". communism and fascism are both extreme right wing ideologies. total left wing is anarchy, total right wing is total statist control. communists do it for the "people", fascists do it for the "nation". the communists and fascists in reality do the same thing to their subjects, just for different reasons.

chavez is a pig, he can not be confronted given the current (global) political environment and therefore must be isolated. the third world is what it is because of people like him, and have to be left to their own devices for another generation apparently.

after all, we would not want to upset the french and the pygmies at the un.