How does a democratically elected leader become a dictator? First he gets elected, then he behaves like a dictator.
This past Sunday, Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez “won” approval of a constitutional reform that will allow him to seek reelection indefinitely; he promptly declared himself a candidate for the 2012 elections and joked about serving until he is 95 years old. Not every Venezuelan is laughing.
Chávez’s diehard defenders are quick to note that the changes he has engineered to Venezuela’s imperfect democracy have been blessed in a series of 15 national elections or plebiscites since he took power in 1998. In....