Wednesday - June 03, 2009

Who's to blame for Venezuela?

The mayor of the city of Carracas says that Venezuela is now a dictatorship.  Whose fault is it?

It's easy to point a finger and blame the dictator.  And to be sure the dictator is the focus of the blame, but his guilt doesn't absolve the rest of the guilty.

One man can't be a dictator.  It's impossible.  Not even a small cadre can do it, especially in a country with a tradition of democracy, individual rights and property rights.  Chavez can only be a dictator with the support of a lot of people.  Maybe not a majority of the people, but still it takes a lot of supporters to be a dictator.  

Some might support the dictator from love for him.  Some might support him for a desire to share in the spoils.  Some might support him out of apathy.  And some might support him out of fear.

Regardless, these supporters are all equally guilty.  Fear is no reason to excuse guilt.  We might sympathize with those in fear, but we should never excuse their crime.

A variation on this theme is the blame for the situation in Iran.  There are many, many people who buy into the theory that the United States orchestrated the rise to power of the Shah.  This is preposterous on its face.  There are millions of people living in Iran.  A handful of American agents cannot create power over those millions without the acquiescence and active support of a sizable part of the population.  Whenever a population chooses to resist the CIA in regime change, they succeed without a sweat.  Cuba still is communist.  Iraq's dictator did not fall until we brought in a few divisions of soldiers and Marines.  

A people are responsible for the government they allow to rule them.  This has always been true, whether the people understood it or not.  It is a hallmark of modern international law, and the reason for its failure to encourage peace in the Middle East and everywhere it is applied, that people are held blameless for their government's actions.  

If the people of a nation were held to be accountable for the evils perpetrated by that nation, there would be fewer dictatorships around.

Venezuelans may not, as a majority, support their dictator, but many do.  The people in the best position to do something about a dictatorship are the people supporting him.  When their peers fail to act, they have no one to blame but themselves.

Who's to blame for Venezuela?  The people of Venezuela, that's who.

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