El Presidente por Vida

It was only a matter of time.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who is Sean Penn's wet dream of a political leader, has announced that he is going to attempt to change the country's constitution to allow him to remain in power indefinitely. Since his party is currently ruling the country, it seems to be a foregone conclusion that this change will happen in the near future:

"All but a handful of the National Assembly's 167 members are Chavez loyalists, and critics expect lawmakers to approve most—if not all—of the president's reform proposals."

The train is barreling right down the track, just like in 1933 Germany.

You see, Chavez is currently limited to two six-year terms, the second of which he is currently serving. It appears that twelve years in office just isn't enough for him, so he wants to change the rules in the middle of the game in order to be Big Cheese of the Revolution For Life, just like his pal Uncle Fidel.

Actually, this isn't the first time Chavez has done pulled this kind of stunt:

"Chavez pushed through a new constitution in 1999, shortly after he was first elected."

I guess that being in office less than one year was a little early to seize absolute power, even for a banana republic dictator. One has to first soften the peasantry up a little bit, in order to lower their defenses and get them used to being told what to do.

"[Chavez] denies copying Cuba and insists that basic freedoms will be respected under his government."

And he's already proven that. How? By shutting down the top-rated TV station in the country, which had been airing commentary critical of his government. He has also stolen privately-owned property and resources by "nationalizing Venezuela's several of [sic] key industries including the oil, telecommunications and electricity sectors".

So you can't be critical of him, and you can't own what he doesn't want you to have. There's not too many basic freedoms left worth having down there, if you ask me.

Situations such as this are why the Founding Fathers put the Second Amendment into the Constitution where they did, second only to free and unfettered speech. Unfortunately, there are times when a populace has to take their country back from power-hungry worms that seek to usurp control of a country and keep it forever. Hopefully, average Venezuelans will wake up and take their country back before it's too late.