The Venezuelan government looks like the old Soviet version of leftism, where dissent is suppressed, everything in sight is nationalized, money is tightly restricted, foreign companies are kicked out, etc.
American leftism is basically, let's raise taxes a bit and subsidize health care more. The two don't look even vaguely alike.
Precisely - but for some very odd reason, some people seem compelled to defend Venezuela, because it's part of "team lefty" or something. I suppose it's similar to how people have defended (and sent money to) some pretty horrible right wing regimes because they were fighting for "team righty".
I think it's a terrible mentality.
Edit: well, there's one, just above a little bit. I guess they are out there! But still, it hardly seems worth calling them out considering they seem to have zero (probably less than zero) influence.
http://progressive.org/news/2013/03/181214/hugo-chavez%E2%80...
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/03/02/the-legacy-of-hugo-ch...
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/03/rep-jose-serran...
http://www.thenation.com/article/legacy-hugo-chavez/
Edit: Not American: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/06/hugo-chavez-and...
I'm not surprised they exist, but they seem quite rare and thus not worth addressing. Most of your links appear to be random authors, unless they're influential and I'm just not familiar with them. The one about the Congressman is interesting but could just be a matter of finding something good to say about the recently deceased.
In any case, Chavez-defense hardly seems like a popular movement that needs to be spontaneously called out and debunked like this, any more than news of a satellite launch needs an "Ah hah, so there, Flat Earthers!"
What people? I've occasionally seem Americans on the left praise particular acts of the Venezuelan government, often while at the same time criticizing others -- and I've seen Americans on the left criticize US acts against the Venezuelan government, like overtly backing a coup.
But I haven't seen any substantial defense by notable American leftists of the Venezuelan government on a general level (and certainly nothing to compare with the closeness between, say, the Saudi royal family and notable figures on the right.)
Because, in spite of his many flaws, Chavez cut the extreme poverty rate by 70%.
I bet you've never wondered why this fact wasn't filtered down to you through the US media have you?
>I think it's a terrible mentality.
Indeed.
Just like most of the climate denialists (or other far-right bad ideas) are from people who first heard about global warming from all the Liberal professors and hippies making noise about it. And anything they want must be automatically wrong.
The typical egotistical reply is that "if they just did" or "we will do it right" when people point out the follies that you have it all if we do it right. Simple how they sold the ACA, after all the we are the US we can do it better than Europe.
So it is with most forms of governance which are based on exploiting jealously instead of good government spending. It is far easier to convince people that others have an unfair advantage that to admit the over regulation, lack of respect for property rights, political favoritism, and inefficient government programs are the cause.
This sounds more like American liberalism rather than leftism
I don't think there are many public figures supporting it, but something is going on in the population when you see a guy like Donald Trump in front of polls for that long. When you compare speeches, you can observe that D. Trump is pretty much Chavez from the other side of the street.
They are closer that you might think. For instance, they both have used the nationalism as a wild card (Trump when said that would force Apple to use USA based manufactures and Chavez when he "freed" companies from foreign capitals).
Well, sure, a right-wing nationalist populist is in some respects opposed (though in others aligned) with what a left-wing nationalist populist would pursue.