Elections

Is there anything that makes people happier than elections? College football polls, perhaps?

This week two important elections took place outside of the United States and Asia and therefore my expertise. However, I wanted to call people's attention to the obvious ramifications of it all.

President Hugo Chavez, lost two ballot measures 51% to 49% -- one to put the national bank under control of the president, and the other to get rid of term limits. If they had passed, these two referenda would have gone a long way to giving Pres. Chavez unlimited and perpetual control over Venezuela.

Chavez lost because of a concerted opposition effort from students at Caracas University. It says a lot when the young educated are against you and only the poor vote for you. Chavez still plans to push through changes that will allow him to suspend the free press in times of emergency and seize private property. This is why the United States of America must learn from it's mistakes in Vietnam in the 1970s and China during Tienanmen Square. The USA must give support to the students now, so they can solidify their support of democracy and capitalism and work to stem President Chavez's disastrous changes.

On the other hand, President Putin of Russia won his elections and therefore his referenda to help Russia become the URRP (United Russian Republics of Putin). He has steadily moved Russia away from Democracy, and Gary Kasparov, the opposition leader, didn't gain enough votes to stop him. To make things more muddy, his dictatorship also infuriates those that want to return to true socialism -- giving Russia two bad paths to tread.

America needs to vocally oppose Russia and Putin. Gone are the days were Russia wields the extreme power that America has and China nears. Gone are the days where we seem to worry about the United Nations, so why worry about it's veto vote? Demand democracy from a has-been country that wants to be. If we don't demand it, they will never achieve it.