Leftist Problems in Brazil

A Saturday night quickie: Why I never trust Socialists who claim to want to use power for the good of the people. People's President penitent over bribes and corruption:

BRAZIL’S first left-wing president made a desperate attempt to save his Government yesterday by going on television to apologise over a huge bribery and campaign-finance scandal. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was elected on a wave of optimism in 2002. Now he is fighting for his political life after weeks of allegations about corruption within his Workers’ Party that have paralysed the Government, forced colleagues to resign, and moved the crisis closer to the presidency itself.

Those against whom charges could be brought include the former president, treasurer and secretary-general of the party as well as Senhor da Silva’s former chief-of-staff, seen as the architect of his victory in 2002. All have been forced to resign. The charges centre on the awarding of lucrative government contracts to businessmen. Those men then funnelled money to political parties, which used the cash for undeclared campaign financing. There are also allegations that the ruling Workers’ Party used the money to buy votes from coalition allies in Congress.

Having risen to international prominence as the trade-union leader “Lula”, he was chief of a new generation of leftist Latin leaders that included Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, Nestor Kirchner in Argentina and Tabaré Vázquez in Uruguay, all of whom pledged to tackle the persistent social inequalities in South American societies that had been exacerbated by the free-market, neoliberal policies pursued in the region in the 1990s.

The “new generation” of South American Socialists have started the predictable decay into totalitarian tyrants. Hugo Chavez in Venezuela has declared his admiration for the social justice and economic success of Fidel Castro’s Cuba, and now Brazil’s da Silva is caught drifting towards a fascist style partnership of big business and government. Power and money are intoxicating forces, especially to those who crave to directly control the direction human life.