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Hugo Chavez was reported dead Tuesday. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer  Communist dictator. Chavez understood that technology, and specifically  controlling technology through politics, is power. To that end, he  announced his intent to fundamentally transform his nation. He then proceeded to  do so while holding Venezuela’s economy hostage, nationalizing major  infrastructure and industry while making incursions into regional banking.  Through it all, he treated his critics and opponents with such brutality that  several times his opposition rose up against him. Once, those opponents even  managed a brief coup that saw the swearing in of a new president, only to be put  down by legions of adoring, loyal sycophants who were content to allow Chavez to  run their lives.

Does this sound at all familiar yet? 

In 2002, Chavez’ goons shot 19 protesters who demanded the president’s  resignation. A coup was attempted, but Chavez was rescued by Army forces loyal  to him. A few months later, various business, political and labor organizations  attempted a strike to break Chavez’ hold on the state-run oil industry. They  failed. Two years later, in response to a referendum asking whether Chavez  should immediately step down, Venezuelans voted overwhelmingly to keep Chavez in  office. Four months later, Chavez signed an agreement strengthening his ties to  Cuba’s Communist dictatorship.

In 2006, Chavez called then-president George W. Bush “the devil” in a speech  in the U.N., muttering something about smelling brimstone where Bush had been  standing. That December he was again re-elected to a six-year term (a term he  lengthened with his new constitution back in 1999). Feeling invincible after  winning with yet another healthy majority of the vote, Chavez publicly announced  his intention to transform his Bolivarian republic into a socialist regime.

In 2007, Chavez was granted “sweeping powers to legislate by decree,”  officially making him the nation’s dictator. He immediately nationalized the  country’s major electric and communications companies and ordered the takeover  of foreign oil interests. Despite some voter pushback to his initiatives, Chavez  ordered the nationalization of the country’s cement industry the following year.  He then announced his intention to nationalize the Bank of Venezuela.

Also in 2008, Chavez ordered the United States ambassador out of the country.  In 2009, he won voter approval to eliminate term limits. Venezuela’s dictator  was poised to remain in office for as long as he liked. But in 2010, Chavez lost  his supermajority in Venezuela’s congress. He was granted another 18 months’  dictatorial powers by the outgoing lawmakers. Despite repeated health problems,  he won yet another six-year term in 2012. Only his death finally unseated  him.

The story of Hugo Chavez is one that parallels Barack Hussein Obama’s  disastrous but popular rule over the American people. Obama, too, ran as a  candidate of the people. Obama, too, announced his intention to “fundamentally  transform” the United States – a nation of which his racist wife was never proud  before her husband’s rise to power. Once elected, Obama proceeded to implement  policies that have done nothing but harm this nation’s economy.

Whether it was standing in the way of the Keystone pipeline or vilifying business owners at every turn,  Obama’s economic outlook has been clearly socialist and clearly harmful. He  nationalized a sixth to a seventh of the United States economy with Obamacare,  all while lying about how much the plan would cost and how much control  the plan would exert over individuals’ medical decisions. He proclaimed that  “you didn’t build that” in a sneering declaration of contempt for individual  effort.

Then it got scary.

Eric Holder recently made a breathtaking admission. A  president who never met a drone strike he could not condone now sits poised to  use drones to kill American citizens on American soil without due process. The  very thing liberals called ridiculous, the very threat they dismissed as  conservative hand-wringing over the impossible, is now a reality. Obama’s rogue  Justice Department, which refuses to prosecute blacks because Holder is a racist, believes Obama  can kill anyone, anytime, anywhere.

Remember that this takes place against a landscape in which Obama is trying  to take your firearms from you. State governments are beating Obama to the  punch. In New York, all modern semi-automatic firearms are effectively banned,  and ammunition sales will be subject to background checks that will establish de  facto lists of gun owners. Other states are poised to follow New York’s lead.  Meanwhile, walking gaffe machine Joe Biden continues to tell Americans  ridiculous, dangerous, illegal things he thinks they should do with the  double-barreled shotguns that gibbering idiot would grudgingly allow them.

Remember, too, that Obama’s Department of Homeland Security – which has  classified anyone who might vote against Obama as a potential domestic terrorist  – has just purchased 2,700 armored vehicles and is stockpiling more than a billion rounds of hollow-point  ammunition. Make no mistake: These vehicles and this ammo have no military  application. They exist solely for domestic pacification,which by the way, You paid for.

Seeing any parallels yet?

A dictator who wants to transform his nation into a socialist utopia. A  dictator who deals with opposition with autocratic finality. A dictator who is  not afraid to turn military weapons on his own people. A dictator who wants  broad fiat powers to enact whatever changes he desires, whenever he wants them.  A dictator who enjoys popular support despite his repeated failures. Do these  words describe Hugo Chavez or Barack Hussein Obama? There’s no way to tell the  difference, is there?

The only good news is that one of them is roasting in Hell.