Since I know neither man personally, it is difficult to assess them in terms of personal honor. Obviously, as politicians they both would lie, cheat, and steal to advance their agendas, so the only question there would be to whom, and how often. Given the fallout of Mr Cheney's lying, cheating, and stealing as contrasted with the fallout of Mr Chavez's, if we wish to equate "honor" with some Millsean estimate of "the greatest good for the greatest number," then Mr Chavez wins that one hands down.
Ultimately, that is how I would have to call it, under a very specific notion of political "honor" which seeks to evaluate the question "who benefits?" Mr Chavez robbed from the rich to give to the poor, and Mr Cheney robbed from the poor to give to the rich, and waged wars to do so even more. As I am of the poor and not the rich, naturally Mr Chavez seems the more honorable man.
Certainly Mr Chavez had problems typical of many rulers of Latin American countries: poverty, colonialism, militarism, ethnic inequality... the list goes on. And certainly he ruled a country in a region where coups and instability are the rule rather than the exception, and thus resorted to quite a lot of repression here and there in order to keep the boat afloat. In the context of a vision of ideal democracy, that sucks. In the context of regional history, more-or-less par for the course. Whereas Mr Cheney was privileged to rule in a political climate of stability and traditional freedom, and betrayed many of the principles of the constitution he swore to protect and defend to further his agenda. In that respect, I think he may be evaluated as rather more dishonorable than otherwise. And in light of the fact that he used every trick in the book to avoid serving his own country in time of war, and then 40 years later sent the rising generation into an endless bloodletting, I think his honor is tarnished even more.
In sum, while it is difficult to find in those actions of Mr Chavez of which I am aware any particular taint of unusual dishonor for his position, in the case of Mr Cheney, such taints are prominent. Now answer me one: why do you ask?
-- Mal
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