“Well, If We Do It…”

Here’s an interesting comparison to make.

For months, the Bush Administration has been hammering away with the allegation (could be true, could be false, I still haven’t seen the documentation) that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is funneling financial support to MAS and Evo Morales. The charge was most recently repeated by US Undersecretary of State for Latin America Affairs, Roger Noriega in July when he said, "It's no secret that Evo Morales reports to Caracas and Havana." Here’s a news clip.
The assertion here, of course, is that there is something sinister with the government of one country overtly meddling in the democratic political process of another – a concern that is certainly valid.

The flip side, however, is that the US quite overtly, through the National Endowment for Democracy, funneled at least $31,000 to organizers of the unsuccessful anti-Chavez referendum in Venezuela. This is not new for the NED, which has a long track record of funneling funds to opposition groups taking on governments the US doesn’t care for.

Today Senator John McCain called on Chavez to end the government’s prosecution of the group that received the NED funds. A Venezuelan judge has charged four leaders of the group with conspiracy for using foreign funds to help finance the referendum. Here's the article.

Perhaps it is naive to think that there ought to be some consistency here, but if the US overtly tries to topple a democratically elected government by helping finance a referendum (and it would be more naive to assume that that is ALL the US has done and is doing to topple Chavez) then by what justification does the US proclaim it would be an outrage if Chavez was funneling money to MAS?

It looks a lot like the US government is applying a principle that has become far too familiar of late: “If we do it is it okay. If you do it, it’s an attack on democracy.”