This article is an opinion piece written by someone who grew up in Venezuela and witnessed the country's descent into economic crisis under socialist governance. The author draws parallels between Venezuela’s experience with socialism and the increasing popularity of similar ideologies among young adults in America, citing a survey where 53% of American youth have a favorable view of socialism. The writer warns against the dangers of such policies based on firsthand experiences, emphasizing how socialist rhetoric turned into authoritarian control, economic collapse, and human suffering in Venezuela.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-10,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Growing up in Venezuela, I watched the socialist strongman Hugo Chávez use the politics of resentment to turn a rich country to ruins.
asserted
strongman → grow → ruins
He promised an oil-funded utopia, but we got hunger, blackouts and a murderous dictatorship.
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we → promise → hunger
I know what happens when legitimate economic frustration becomes moral condemnation — and when citizens are encouraged to blame their problems on a single group that is supposedly taking something from them.
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that → know → them
It is why I’m increasingly alarmed as I see the same socialist ideas of popular resentment becoming increasingly popular in America today.
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ideas → ’m → America
A recent survey found that 53% of young adults have a favorable view of socialism — and 38% view communism positively.
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% → find → communism
It’s hard to fathom this reality given that this ideology caused 100 million deaths in the 20th century.
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ideology → ’ → century
Meanwhile, capitalism has lifted a billion people out of poverty in the 21st century alone.
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capitalism → lift → century
But only 45% of young adults in America view it favorably.
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% → view → it
I know what they say.
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they → know → what
I used to say it too.
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I → use → it
They claim that democratic socialism isn’t the same kind of socialism that devastated my homeland — or Cuba, Nicaragua, North Korea, China, the Soviet Union, East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and so on.
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that → claim → homeland
Venezuela wasn’t really ever socialist, so they say, and the reason Cuba is poor is because of US sanctions.
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Cuba → say → sanctions
They’re wrong.
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They → ’re → ?
Venezuelans didn’t vote in 1998 to become Cuba, or even a socialist country — and we, too, dismissed warnings from Cubans who told us Chávez was not the moderate democrat (and capitalist) he presented himself to be.
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he → vote → himself
Chávez didn’t use the word “socialism” in his first six years in office.
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Chávez → use → office
When he ran for office in 1998, his rhetoric was tame compared to the anti-capitalist ideas spouted by today’s DSA.
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rhetoric → run → DSA
But he grew increasingly radical and eventually called his movement “socialism of the 21st century,” as he pledged to make Venezuela more like Cuba.
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Venezuela → grow → Cuba
He expropriated companies and pulled a TV station off the air.
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He → expropriate → air
He imposed price controls and opened government grocery stores.
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He → impose → stores
He fired oil executives who challenged his direct takeover of the industry on live TV.
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who → fire → TV
He corrupted the judiciary, put political loyalists in charge of the military and brought in Cuban security operatives to sniff out dissident generals.
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He → corrupt → generals
Before Chávez, Venezuelans had legitimate grievances about inequality and corruption.
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Venezuelans → have → inequality
Chávez directed their anger at the rich, Yankee imperialists, business owners and the journalists who dared to question his policies.
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who → direct → policies
Socialist policies caused massive food shortages, leading to rampant childhood malnutrition and starvation.
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policies → cause → malnutrition
It caused the largest peacetime economic collapse in modern world history, and the largest displacement crisis in the history of the Western Hemisphere.
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It → cause → Hemisphere
Yet somehow socialism is gaining popularity in the US.
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socialism → gain → US
I understand why: Historical evidence doesn’t matter as much as political slogans mouthed by charismatic politicians, which are what sway voters.
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what → understand → voters
Once a movement convinces its supporters that a particular group is not merely pursuing its interests but actively harming society, increasingly extreme policies and even persecution become easier to justify.
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policies → convince → society
America’s political debates are increasingly falling into that dynamic, and New York politics serve as a great example of it.
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politics → fall → it
I was particularly troubled when Mayor Mamdani filmed a video outside billionaire Ken Griffin’s Manhattan penthouse to promote a tax on second homes.
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Mamdani → trouble → homes
He described the measure as targeting the “richest of the rich.”
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He → describe → rich
Griffin later said he believed the video had put him in harm’s way, and it probably did.
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it → say → way
What I found particularly unsettling is that Mamdani was turning a private citizen into a target of resentment.
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Mamdani → find → resentment
It reminded me of Chavez pointing at buildings and ordering their expropriations on live TV when I was a kid.
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I → remind → TV
And the use of resentment to accumulate power is not a problem exclusive to the left.
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use → accumulate → left
The right also engages in toxic populism, with its own set of villains used as a cover for policies that erode our fundamental rights.
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that → engage → rights
Instead of billionaires, landlords, and corporations, they go after immigrants, “globalists” and the media — like Chávez.
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they → go → Chávez
As Marcel Granier, the director of Venezuela’s most important TV station, Radio Caracas Television, which Chávez forced off the air in 2007, noted in a new documentary that I narrated about the collapse of my country, “Totalitarianism isn’t a switch you flip.”
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you → force → country
It’s “a process that gradually takes over.”
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that → ’ → ?
It takes over when we decide that defeating our enemies is all that matters.
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that → take → enemies
…and 4 more, not listed.
The Aporia
