Socialism in Latin America is now called “pragmatism,” writes Colin McNickle in the Pittsburgh-Tribune Review in a column that borrows heavily from Mises. The hook here is the installation of Tabare Vazques as president of Uruguay. McNickle says old-fashioned anti-capitalism is the cultural force behind the rise of these types, but one wonders, too, whether and to what extent these populist-leftist governments in Latin America are riding the wave of a wholly justified resentment against American imperialism (trade hypocrisies, drug wars, policy impositions, political manipulations), which then gets all mixed up with socialist ideology. Certainly these silly overtures that these governments make to Castro can only serve a symbolic purpose of showing political independence from the US.
Source link: http://archive.mises.org/3269/new-names-for-socialism/
New Names for Socialism
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1. Vazquez wasn’t “installed” as president of Uruguay, he was *elected*. Colin McNickle is not a Libertarian, he is yet another statist who disagrees with the Republicans on minor issues (presumably to burnish his independent credentials), but toes the line on the big issues (like Social Security Reform).
2. Why the hell shouldn’t Uruguay have diplomatic ties to Cuba? What business is it of anyone in the USA who the people of Uruguay talk or trade with? Sheesh.
Perhaps more banana republics and American dictators are needed. George Orwell had it right in Animal Farm
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