The New York Times International section of April 22-23, contained an article entitled “Venezuela’s Unequal Socialism.” Citing the country’s many economic problems, its basic thesis was as follows: “Venezuela is increasingly a country of haves and have-nots, and one of the world’s most unequal societies….”
Simple, unequivocal fact: Our species will always contain individuals willing to abuse whatever advantages they may acquire in attempting to improve their lives. That includes a certain percentage of wealthy Capitalists. But in our Western Democracies those guilty of such can always be held to account. Socialists, of course, will cynically assert the wealthy inevitably find ways to circumvent the law. That is a gross exaggeration. But it is no exaggeration to point out that regimes established by reputed Idealists who place themselves above the Law in their pursuit of a Socialist Utopia, invariably decline into ludicrous parodies of “social justice” where the rich and powerful become more and more so, all the while unrestrained by legal restrictions of any sort. History books are filled with examples of such. Indeed Western “liberals” often manifest symptoms of the very same hypocrisy, flying private jets here, there and everywhere to various exotic locations where they inevitably stay in ludicrously expensive hotels, all the while lamenting the horrid gap between the rich and the poor.