Venezuelan Tragedy: Socialism, Entitlement, and Tyranny Are Connected

... The tragedy of Venezuela serves as a cautionary tale...

Socialism plays the major role in the story of Venezuela’s descent into poverty, desperation, and organized crime (Tren de Aragua). David Friedberg, a venture capitalist and a member of the All-In Podcast, recently interviewed Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado about the fraudulent 2024 national election in Venezuela—highlighting the tragedy of socialism and the resulting tyranny in Venezuela...

Poverty rates in Venezuela have skyrocketed from less than a quarter of its population to over half...

At least seven million Venezuelans have fled the country in the past ten years, most of them college-educated. The Maduro regime was a criminal enterprise... The government stole the property of its people as well as plundering the country’s natural resources. The regime has also been accused of cooperating with drug trafficking and cartel activity - hence the Trump administration’s focus on Venezuelan gangs, and trafficking described as “narco-terrorism.”...

The European Union, the European Parliament, and Human Rights Watch all rejected Maduro’s victory, as did other election watchers, who declared González the winner...

But the recent interview with María Corina Machado reveals how the young and entitled, and their sympathizers, miss the central justification of a free society...

Socialism isn’t just about inefficiency and becoming poorer - though it does cause both those things. Socialism leads to tyranny where the worst rise to the top, civil society is destroyed by political power, and the opportunity to improve one’s life doesn’t just diminish, it is extinguished.