Autocratic Tendencies

The prevailing sentiment among productive Brazilians is fear. They fear random violence and unequal justice. Their government tells them that violence is to be expected in a country where the gap between rich and poor is so uncompromising. The Brazilian media has elevated the reporting of common street thuggery to high art. If you were housebound anywhere in the country and had only the newspapers and TV to let you know what’s going on outside, you would think it’s nothing less than a bloodbath in which only the fittest survive to live another day. The left-of-center government does very little to address this situation. Obviously it works in its favor.

Obama sides with Zelaya, because he is from the (far) left-of-center school regarding political survival. He knows exactly how dictators achieve power and remain there. Intimidation, chaos, fear and violence are the tools that dictators find most effective. Do not think the current administration will not make use of any and all of these as the next election cycle approaches.

Zelaya is an ideologically kindred spirit. All the lefties will automatically rush to his aid the moment he’s in trouble. It’s an entirely reflex impulse, even more indicative of deep-seated autocratic tendencies than carefully parsed public pronouncements.