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Thanks for signing on. I’m Bob Carkhuff, and this is Freedomblog.com from our series “Case Study Venezuela.”

The theme for today is The Price of Freedom.

For thinking people, this means “Eternal Vigilance!”

It is an old Hispanic proverb that says that parents whose children precede them in death live lives of hell here on Earth. Having reached the threshold of our maturity at precisely the same time as Venezuela’s in becoming South America’s first free democracy, we mourn Venezuela’s fall into the oblivion of totalitarianism.

How fragile the freedom!

How fleeting its time!

How profound its fall!

Nowhere is this more true than in the fallen Venezuelan people.

• They did not relate collaboratively across classes.
• They did not initiate entrepreneurially in free enterprise.
• They did not engage participatively in democratic government.

In short, they did not pay “The Price of Freedom”—the “eternal vigilance” that it demands. Now it is gone. Perhaps not forever!

It is not our purpose to define a democratic revolution that was stolen from Venezuela by its current dictator, in an election “blessed” by a former U.S. President, Carter, and the OAS, and condemned as fraudulent by scientists from M.I.T. and Harvard. It is not simply the intimidation and fraud before, during and after the referendum that destroyed Venezuelan freedoms. It is the lack of the “eternal vigilance” to protect the freedoms that Jefferson cautioned. Now the Venezuelan people must suffer the consequences:

• This precious democracy, the first in Latin America and not yet 50 years old, is being transformed into a totalitarian state under the harsh repression of an “elected” dictator.
• The leading economy in Latin America where workers earnings have been cut in half, the most precipitous decline of Per Capita GDP in recorded economic history.
• The class relations that were exemplary among all Latin countries have been “incendiarized” into class struggle and violence.

So where did a Free People go wrong? How did they allow themselves to become “inmates in jails” of their own making?

Signing off for Freedomblog, this is Bob Carkhuff.

Remember, We the People cannot relax our vigilance. Think about it!

We invite your comments. Send to Bob at Freedomblog.com.

“May the road rise to meet you,
And the wind be at your back.”

(Listen to the audio of this blog.)

Thanks for signing on. I’m Bob Carkhuff, and this is Freedomblog.com from our continuing series on “Case Study Venezuela.”

The theme for today is Cultural Relating.

For thinking people, this means continuous class conflict for the totalitarians.

The fundamental principles of freedom are labeled The Freedom Functions:

• Cultural Relating,
• Economic Enterprise,
• Participative Governance.

We will compare the operations of Freedom and Totalitarianism in Venezuela on these functions.

For Venezuela, the issue of relating is the issue of relating across classes rather than cultures. Basically, the Free Cultural Relating Mission was to empower class mobility:

• To enable the underclass to become members of the working class;
• To enable the working class to become members of the middle class;
• To enable the middle class to become members of an upper class that invests in economic projects benefiting the other classes.

This Freedom Mission was to produce people who were independent, yet disposed to contribute collaboratively to the welfare of all.

While progressing in her short 50-year life, Venezuela failed to fulfill her mission “in time:”

• Too many members of the underclass were left behind in the barrios as poor and helpless members of the Informal Labor Market.
• Perhaps more important, while the middle class was growing, Venezuela had not accelerated systematic ways of transforming more of the working class into middle class.
• Most critical, no progress was made in “bridging the gap” between the middle and upper classes, thus leaving a few to dominate the investment class.

To sum, while Venezuela’s intentions were to produce independent people disposed to collaborative efforts, she succeeded mostly in producing largely dependent people who were adaptive to authority. This made Venezuelans very vulnerable to takeover by Totalitarians.

Whereas the Freedom Functions emphasize relating between classes and among cultures, the Totalitarian Protocol emphasized directly the opposite: fomenting continuous class struggle and even violence. Basically, the Totalitarian Mission of Venezuela was to create a new privileged class comprised of leaders of the Protocol and members of the Proletariat.

• To intimidate the investment class to leave because it, alone, possessed the resources to resist a complete “takeover” by the state.
• To demote or eliminate the middle class in order to reduce its strategic balance of power in influencing the nation’s direction.
• To promote the working and underclasses to take over the positions previously held by the middle class.

In short, whereas the Freedom Mission was to produce independent and collaborative people, the Totalitarian Mission was to produce dependent and adaptive people. They are beginning to succeed, especially with the underclass “Bolivarians” whom they pay, promote and arm.

The Totalitarians are succeeding because Free Venezuelans did not accelerate the goals of their Class Relating mission. Too many uneducated and unskilled people were “left behind,” to be “harvested” by the Totalitarians. These hapless people would gladly exchange the dictator’s promise of security and stability for the surrender of freedom! They had no “soulful stake” in freedom.

Signing off for Freedomblog, this is Bob Carkhuff.

Remember, We the People, this means relating to everyone. Think about it!

We invite your comments. Send to Bob at Freedomblog.com.

“May the road rise to meet you,
And the wind be at your back.”

(Listen to the audio of this blog.)

Thanks for signing on. I’m Bob Carkhuff, and this is Freedomblog.com from our continuing series on “Case Study Venezuela.”

The theme for today is Economic Enterprise.

For thinking people, this means state control of the economy for totalitarians.

The second Freedom Function is Economic Enterprise. Basically, the Free Enterprise Mission was to empower the economy through private ownership:

• To motivate the people to the acquisition, development and protection of private property;
• To motivate the people to the privatization of the economy, including especially the nation’s natural resources;
• To empower the people to become entrepreneurial initiators in leading the Free Enterprise Economy.

This Freedom Mission was for the private sector to own, operate and profit from the means of production while “spreading the wealth” in a “flow-down” economy.

Again, while Venezuela was progressing, she failed to accomplish her mission in time:

• Too much of her wealth in oil was focused in the hands of the state with few of the directors disposed to sharing the benefits with the general population.
• While the middle class was increasingly affluent, the process of building wealth in the middle class was far too slow.
• Most disastrously, the working class accepted an unchanging peasant fate while the underclass was left to fend on its own.

Perhaps her greatest failure was Venezuela’s inability to accomplish her mission of producing an entrepreneurial class that would lead and generate Free Enterprise Economics.

To sum, Venezuela in the late 1990s was a product of “too little, too late.” Her citizens simply did not have the attitude of urgency in empowering people that is prerequisite to true freedom. In a sense, Venezuelans accepted their “European” fates: survival for the lower classes; comfort for the middle class; luxury for the upper class.

Whereas the Freedom Functions emphasized the Free Enterprise Economy, the Totalitarian Protocol emphasized directly the opposite: to destroy the private sector economy and build a state-controlled economy. Basically, the Totalitarian Mission of Venezuela was to destroy private ownership of anything:

• To tear down the centerpiece of freedom, private ownership;
• To control the sources of production and the benefits derived therefrom;
• To undermine the development of individualism and true entrepreneurship because this, like all other initiatives, threatens state control.

In short, whereas the Freedom Mission was to produce entrepreneurial initiatives that would drive the Free Enterprise Economy, the Totalitarian Protocol was to “communize” the economy: undermining private ownership; emphasizing state ownership; destroying individualism and entrepreneurism.

Once again, the Totalitarians are succeeding because Freedom-Loving Peoples did not accelerate the goals of the Free Enterprise mission. Because they did not fully share the wealth that they helped to produce, the dependent-adaptive people of Venezuela willingly accept the redistribution of asset-derived wealth (oil) as a market mechanism.

Signing off for Freedomblog, this is Bob Carkhuff.

Remember, We the People must motivate people to the free enterprise mission. Think about it!

We invite your comments. Send to Bob at Freedomblog.com.

“May the road rise to meet you,
And the wind be at your back.”

(Listen to the audio of this blog.)

Thanks for signing on. I’m Bob Carkhuff, and this is Freedomblog.com from our continuing series on “Case Study Venezuela.”

The theme for today is Participative Governance.

For thinking people, this means building a dictatorship for the totalitarians.

The third Freedom Function is Participative Governance. Basically, the Free Governance Mission was to empower all citizens to participate fully and directly in government:

• Transitionally, to build a Republic, with representatives to represent citizen concerns;
• Ultimately, to build a Participative Democracy where citizens participate directly in governance;
• Finally, to empower people through education to become enlightened citizens who guide the democracy through Policy-Making.

This Freedom Mission was for enlightened citizens to participate directly in the means of governance, offering their input to legislation and feedback from its effects.

Again, while Free Venezuela was progressing in democratic functions, she failed to accomplish her mission in time:

• Too much of her political power was converged in the hands of too few “leaders.”
• While the middle class was enlightened, it was also complacent to have the “good life,” subsidized by Venezuela’s abundance of natural resources.
• Most destructive of democracy, the lower classes were not inspired, educated or reinforced to participate in the democratic freedoms.

Perhaps the greatest failure was the success of the members of the middle class who “patted themselves on the back” for their “enlightenment” in understanding democracy. They loved themselves too much and their poorer brothers and sisters not enough! They did not have “a Passion for Freedom!”

To sum, Venezuela was again a product of “too little, too slow!” Its middle class citizens simply were caught in self-congratulatory complacency. Those who bowed to no one in their understanding of democracy now bow to autocrats in their implementation of Totalitarianism!

Whereas the Freedom Mission emphasized Participative Governance, the Totalitarian Protocol emphasized directly the opposite: to destroy Participative Governance and build Totalitarian Dictatorship:

• To destroy the exemplars of democratic leadership;
• To control the sources of representation of the people;
• To surround and penetrate the people with an intelligence system: surrounding them with “block leaders” and district supervisors, and penetrating them with 20,000 “urban guerillas” from Cuba in Caracas, alone.

In short, whereas the Freedom Mission was to produce directly participative and ethically representative leaders, the Totalitarian Protocol was to replace the democratic leaders with underclass “stand-ins,” and to establish “chain-of-command” authority from the dictator down to these “make-believe” leaders.

Once again, the Totalitarians are succeeding because Free Venezuelans did not accelerate the goals of a Participative Governance mission. Because they did not fully share the freedoms that were generated, the dependent-adaptive people were reinforced by their apparent empowerment and elevation.

Signing off for Freedomblog, this is Bob Carkhuff.

Remember, We the People, this means empowering every citizen to participate fully and directly in governance. Think about it!

We invite your comments. Send to Bob at Freedomblog.com.

“May the road rise to meet you,
And the wind be at your back.”

(Listen to the audio of this blog.)

Thanks for signing on. I’m Bob Carkhuff, and this is Freedomblog.com from our continuing series on “Case Study Venezuela.”

The theme for today is A Passion for Freedom.

For thinking people, this means that the totalitarians are committed to leveling down everything and everyone.

We may view the individual goals of Freedom and Totalitarianism in sharp relief in Table 1 below:

• Interdependent versus Dependent Relating;
• Generative versus Distributive Economics;
• Leader versus Follower Participation.

At their highest levels, the Freedom Goals empower and free interdependent relating, wealth-generating participants with leadership qualities.

At their highest levels, the Totalitarian Goals control dependent-adaptive, wealth-redistributing followers of “chain-of-command” systems.

It is noteworthy that the highest levels of Totalitarian Performance are the lowest levels of Free Performance. And vice-versa! Which world do you choose?!

Right now, the Totalitarian Leadership holds the reigns of power. But, with no history of success anywhere—ever—and no investments to meet the changing conditions of the Global Marketplace, Totalitarian Venezuela has nowhere to go but down! At some point soon, the authors of this “Concrete Utopia” will be asked, “Where’s the money?”
In transition, Free Venezuela sought to follow this model and become Latin America’s exemplary performer of the Freedom Functions. Unfortunately, she “got caught from behind” because:

• She moved too slowly!
• She moved too little!
• She was too satisfied!

In short, she lacked the vigilance that is “The Price of Freedom.”

Finally, there is the story that Venezuelans often told about themselves good-naturedly:

When God created the world, He gave an abundance of resources to Venezuela.

When His helper asked, “Why?”, he answered mischieviously:

Ah, but now I am going to populate it with Venezuelan people!

Perhaps many Venezuelans will no longer find the humor in this story.

Perhaps the Venezuelan people will never again see the humor in anything!

Perhaps Venezuelans may never feel passion again for anything, for if they cannot experience “a Passion for Freedom,” then they cannot experience passion at all!

Perhaps there is a message here for the citizens of the U.S.!

Signing off for Freedomblog, this is Bob Carkhuff.

Remember, We the People, if we do not have a passion for freedom, we cannot have a passion for anything. Think about it!

We invite your comments. Send to Bob at Freedomblog.com.

“May the road rise to meet you,
And the wind be at your back.”