Reply #15: Nationalisation has been done many times in many places. [View All]

[pampango]

While it is a delicate political maneuver to pull off, the really hard part in the long run is making it work for the people it intended to benefit. Once the state owns and controls the economy, the challenge is to make sure that the government stays responsive to the people. Too often government officials value their own power and prosperity more than they do that of the people they govern.

Chavez may indeed have the welfare of his citizens as his main focus, but the same could be said of many nationalizers from Lenin to Mugabe. The critical task for the Venezuelan people will be to maintain control of the government, so that if Chavez, or his successors, stray from the path of the common good, they have a means of recourse. There is no reason to believe Chavez is not committed to democratic control of the government, but some other governments have come to believe that they "know better" than the people themselves what is best for them.