If I were to write a satire of socialist politics…

…It would read like Chavez’s latest speech.

“I am the people,” President Hugo Chavez boomed confidently Saturday as thousands of pro- and anti-government demonstrators in Caracas sharpened their rhetoric ahead of this year’s legislative elections…

…”I demand absolute loyalty to my leadership… anything else is betrayal,” the firebrand leftist president warned.

I am not an individual, I am the people,” Chavez said. “It’s my duty to demand respect for the people.

“If you cherish the fatherland, join Chavez,” he urged, asking for votes to renew the ruling party’s control of both National Assembly houses in the next election.

“Once more we have to win the majority of the National Assembly… and continue building our new socialist state,” Chavez added.

“Let’s expand our socialist project,” he said.

All this talk of Fatherlands and Unity reminds me more of the fascist dictators than the socialist ones. Of course, the final product of both types is the same, even if the ideas behind them differ (slightly). Statism is statism is statism.