It’s interesting that you use Chavez as an example.
A friend of mine in an online MMO we play is from Venezuela. He’s a college student but very much against Castro and his regime. He said that during the elections, the media pumps up Chavez as this great leader, indefatigable, perfect in every way, and they actually go so far as to pay the homeless and sick to vote for him. Freedom-minded citizens cannot compete with the machine that the regime has become.
I fear the same is coming true here in America. Obama’s followed every trick of the trade and avoided most of the pitfalls of famous Communists such as Castro and Chavez to grip control of the media and shut down opposition across the country. All that remains is to shut down talk radio, or radio in general, and disarm the populace, and Obama has full and unfettered control of America.
Does is not strike anyone completely dumb and fearful that the only freedoms standing between us and totalitarianism is our right to bear arms and our right to free speech? Obama’s literally trying to shut down our right to free speech. Is it any wonder what he’ll strike at thereafter?
Chavez came to power by democratic means and has used a mixture of bribery, intimidation, nationalization, force and censorship to maintain power while preserve a thin veneer of democracy. This sounds just like the road that Obama is following.