By: Michael Dawson
What’s democratic about term limits? If you’re an anarchist, isn’t arbitrary restriction of choice one of your most hated things? A term limit is an arbitrary restriction of choice. And, tellingly, the...
View ArticleBy: HR
Term limits for the presidency here were abolished because a bunch of damned right-wingers who were afraid they would lose power forever, which would have been a good thing. As long as a person has to...
View ArticleBy: Binh
What if the people keep voting for Chavez? Barring him after a set number of terms is undemocratic if the majority support him.
View ArticleBy: Kim Petersen
This article does not argue for term limits. It does not argue against the people’s right to choose whichever Decider they desire; it argues for the right of people to be the Decider. Anarchism,...
View ArticleBy: Daryl Davies
The problem is that there would be no revolution in Venezuela without Chavez. It is his vision and charisma that is holding the left together and driving the process forward. Chavez needs to stay in...
View ArticleBy: Kim Petersen
And how do you prove these assertions Daryl? Certainly Chávez has been an important figure in Venezuela … but that he is the only person who could have pulled off the political changes in Venezuela is...
View ArticleBy: Michael Dawson
Kim, one wonders what you think is happening in Venezuela! Are there not a huge number of new institutions of participatory democracy being built there? Unless a whole lot of reporters are being duped,...
View ArticleBy: JE
Where did this inane idea that term limits are democratic come from? Term limits are authoritarian and a pitiful, desperate attempt to temper democracy. Term limits were actually reactionary...
View ArticleBy: greybeard
Term limits have not prevented the rise of a pseudo-democratic regime in the U.S. An informed, educated (even politically sophisticated) electorate can decide for itself whether to limit an...
View ArticleBy: Steve Jordan
So, in what way is Cuba a democracy? That one somehow slipped past any observation skills I have. I have interacted several times with Cuban Athletes overseas and found them worrying constantly about...
View ArticleBy: Steve Jordan
Term limits has traditionally been used to restrict the power of political leaders becoming too entrenched in their offices and gaining much power to enrich their own pockets and personal power....
View ArticleBy: Steve Jordan
The best argument for democracy is a five minute conversation with your local dictator, most Caudillos will do. Hugo Sanchez is just another caudillo in a long line of corrupt Latino Caudillos, from...
View ArticleBy: Daryl Davies
Ultimately it’s not outsiders decision whether he stays or goes. The overwhelming majority of Venezuelans believe he should to stay on. And that’s good enough for me. Steve Jordan your contempt for...
View ArticleBy: Lloyd Rowsey
Kim. I want to look at one paragraph only. And I’m going to shoot from the hip a bit here, but my basic point is that the questions you raise in this one short paragraph dealing with Fidel Castro are...
View ArticleBy: Binh
Kim writes: Binh, it was Chávez, himself, who initially decided there should be presidential term limits in the constitution, thereby barring himself from his own ambitions. So it’s not OK for him to...
View ArticleBy: Kim Petersen
Thanks everyone for your comments. Michael, you are arguing for participatory democracy in Venezuela. I’m with you. I would like to see that participatory democracy extended to the people: let the...
View ArticleBy: Lloyd Rowsey
Thanks, Kim. The paragraph I wrote about in my post above DID concern the “best interests of Cubans,” and whether “one person can be placed above the rest of the people in society to make decisions.”...
View ArticleBy: Kim Petersen
Lloyd, I see your point, but I demur because a revolution is not embedded in one human.
View ArticleBy: Lloyd Rowsey
Maybe I should have written: “Obviously, Kim, I never said that the factors that put Castro in power in 1959 have substantiated his holding power until (the) present time.” Obviously, Kim, a revolution...
View ArticleBy: Bob Greene
Isn’t what Chavez is proposing really little different from what is the case in many other parliamentary nations? We Americans are simply not used to that way of “electing” a president, but what he is...
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