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Originally posted by citizen:
By Manila Ryce
Chavez conceded defeat and said, “To those who voted against my proposal, I thank them and congratulate them.” He remains steadfast to further the reforms he has already put in place, which have vastly improved the lives of the country’s poor.

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Originally posted by Geezer:
"Whether you agree with the constitutional reforms or not, Chavez’s gracious reaction to the defeat certainly does not match the actions of a dictator."

Time will tell.

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Originally posted by rallem:
I think people get the terms Democracy and Republic mixed up and of course our News Agencies and even the Politicians don't seem able to tell the differences between the two.

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With that said I looked up Venezuela on Wikipedia and it says that it is a Social Democratic Republic which means it is a socialist state.

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The nations of the Soviet Block were all referred to as Democratic Republics because they were Socialist States, so the nation of Venezuela it seems went one step further and called itself a Social Democratic Republic.

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I do not know that much about the workings of a Socialist State other than it is neither a Democratic nor Republican form of Government, but I doubt this so called loss in the polls by the President was actually a loss at all, and in some ways it might be an avenue of a victory, because I have no doubt this topic will be voted on again and he will win.

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The differences in my mind to a Democracy and a Republic are that in a Republic its citizens are regionally represented and in a Democracy it is one vote per Citizen, also in a Republic a Citizen’s rights are paramount, but in a Democracy only the rights of the majority are considered.

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Originally posted by rue:
I think people get mixed with between form of government and form of economy.

They think somehow 'capitalism' is written into 'democratic' constitutions (it isn't).

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Originally posted by rue:
Universal health care, strict environmental laws, consumer protection and job safety. Sounds good to me. Then the US could be like
#1 Iceland: 94%
#2 Netherlands: 91%
#3 Denmark: 91%
#4 Sweden: 91%
and be among the happiest countries on the earth.
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/lif_hap_net-lifestyle-happiness-net

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/10/happiest_countries/index_01.ht
m
Or perhaps be like Denmark now reputed to be the happiest country on the earth "Heading up the list: Denmark, which rose to the top thanks to its wealth, natural beauty, small size, quality education, and good health care." "And the U.S. ranked only 23rd, due to nagging poverty and spotty health care."

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"Global warming - it's not just a fact, it's a choice."

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GinoBiffaroni wrote:
Tuesday, December 04, 2007 14:27
...now we have progressed from lying and creating evidence to saying so what, evidence is irrelevant

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Originally posted by rue:
B/c I have family that lives here that needs my help. However, a sufficiently large fraction is considering moving out of country. Once that happens I'll be freer to decide.

And you ? Why would you prefer to stay in a country that's relatively unhappy ? Have you never been anywhere else ? Is your experience so limited you really think this is the best there is ?

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"Global warming - it's not just a fact, it's a choice."

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Honestly I am happy where I am as an American, but I have given some thought to moving to an out of the way country like New Zealand

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Originally posted by SignyM:
I think Chavez might have won quite handily if he'd left off the "reform" that allowed him to be "President for life".

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Always look upstream.

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