'Vota por ti': The three words that can save Venezuela - Fox News [getdailynow.blogspot.com]
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As this Sunday's presidential election in Venezuela looms, voters are daring to think the unthinkable: the fourteen year reign of Hugo Chavez may finally be coming to an end.
Credit for this groundbreaking change in attitude goes to one man-the opposition candidate Henrique Capriles. Capriles is a democrat who believes in the rule of law. I can personally attest to his good character and his heartfelt desire to change Venezuela for the better. I was at school with Capriles' father and I know the family well. Henrique may be only 40 years old, but he has the potential to be a great president.
Especially in the last few weeks, Capriles has enjoyed a remarkable surge in the opinion polls. These same polls show that around 20 percent of voters remain "undecided." When Venezuelans tick that particular box, it's because they are wary of confessing their voting intentions to a pollster, in case the Chavez regime fnds out and penalizes them. And that is precisely why the Capriles campaign can expect strong support from this particular pool of voters, who have the potential to swing the election in his favor.
What is Capriles' secret? A few weeks ago, I joined him for a public meeting in which he unveiled his plans-in the event that he is electedâ€"for his first one hundred days in power. What struck me most was a short and simple phrase that he used. Asked by a journalist why Venezuelans should vote for him, he answered by saying that every ballot cast in his favor is a ballot in favor of the voter too. "Vota por ti," Capriles said. Or, in English: "Vote for you."
If an American politician uttered a phrase like this one, it might come across as a cheap ploy to win votes. However, in the Venezuelan context, those three words sing with hope.
Under Chavez, the Venezuelan people have been told to vote for revolution, not themselves.
Along comes Capriles, and we start to hear about policies that can make an actual difference to our lives. With the country groaning under the $ 140 billion of debt accumulated under the Chavez regime, Capriles emphasizes the importance of reforming our state-owned oil industry, which accounts for 95 per cent of our foreign export earnings. His message is that these revenues need to spent for the benefit of the Venezuelan people, instead of being wasted on the pet political projects of Chavez. These include giving free oil to Cuba and Nicaragua, buying arms from Russia, and cultivating alliances with brutal tyrannies like Iran and Syria.
Capriles has run a unique campaign which has involved going to the cities, towns and villages of this country to listen to the people directly. And here is what they have been telling him:
In the face of growing lawlessness, crime and gang-related violence, Venezuelans want security. Our murder rate, at 69 per 100,000, is the highest in the world. A Capriles administration will tackle the root causes of crime: lack of educational and career opportunities, the need for police reform, rampant corruption in the Chavez-controlled judicial system, and overcrowded, dangerous prisons that become incubators of crime rather than centers of rehabilitation.
In the face of growing impoverishment, Venezuelans want jobs and economic opportunities. Â More than 27 percent of Venezuelans live below the poverty line. A grave crisis in housing, frequent power cuts and even food shortages are established facts of life. Under Capriles, a strategy of economic reform will do away with the nepotism and corruption that has destroyed our economy.
In the face of a regime that regards itself as above the law, Venezuelans want their representatives to be governed by the rule of law. Freedom of speech and of the media is subject to the whims of Chavez and his cronies; private media outlets are fined, suspended and even closed down, while the government pushes it propaganda through its network of 244 radio stations and 36 TV channels. Under a Capriles presidency, Venezuela will benefit from democratic values, and not just democratic procedures.
Chavez knows that the message of Capriles is getting through. That is why he is responding with threats. “They (the opposition) are getting ready to cry fraud and reject the people’s triumph. I advise them not to dare,†Chavez barked at a recent rally in the city of Merida. This was a veiled reference to the militias that Chavez himself has armed, who may well play a similar role to that of the Basij militia in Iran when Chavez's good friend, the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, stole the 2009 election.
Which is why I say to the outside world, if Chavez decides he prefers bullets to ballots, you cannot say you were not warned.
Diego Arria is a former Ambassador of Venezuela to the United Nations, and chief spokesman of freevenezuela.org, an international campaign to support the Venezuelan opposition.
Recommend 'Vota por ti': The three words that can save Venezuela - Fox News Issues Question by : Atheists, where in our constitution does it say "separation of church and state"? Atheist and Jewish activists are always saying that separation of church and state is an innate part of our constitution: they want to diminish Christian influence. But let's be intellectually honest. The terms "separation of church and state" do not appear anywhere in our constitution. Best answer for Atheists, where in our constitution does it say "separation of church and state"?:
Answer by sixcess
Freedom of Religion.
Answer by Who aren't you?
Literally, no. Then also it doesn't say you can own a gun either, literally.
Answer by The Doctor
How can you have "no establishment of religion" and not have separation of church and state?
Answer by PaulCyp
It doesn't. The Constitution provides only for separation of state from interference in religion.
Answer by Lena Horne
where does it say the seperation of atheism and state?
Answer by Ellie-n
It doesn't. But the concept is there and we have 200 years of supreme court rulings to back it up.
Answer by Center
It says in the constitution that the government cannot promote one religion of any others, which is essentially a separation of religion and state
Answer by Sjnoring Ejvrloodyr
"Christianity" does not appear in the Constitution either.
Answer by MrCynic77
The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment is the first of several pronouncements in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, stating that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion".
Answer by CRUISECONTROLFORCOOL
It is a conflict of interest. I, as an atheist, am not going to pray to a fictional entity. The term seperation of church and state is a way of saying "f*ck you" to the stupid christians.
Answer by bLuEs_are still_bLuE
Honestly, you need to read between the lines. The phrase "wall of separation between the church and the state" was originally coined by Thomas Jefferson in a letter to the Danbury Baptists on January 1, 1802. His purpose in this letter was to assuage the fears of the Danbury, Connecticut Baptists, and so he told them that this wall had been erected to protect them. The metaphor was used exclusively to keep the state out of the church's business, not to keep the church out of the state's business. The constitution states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Both the free exercise clause and the establishment clause place restrictions on the government concerning laws they pass or interfering with religion. No restrictions are placed on religions except perhaps that a religious denomination cannot become the state religion. However, currently the implied common meaning and the use of the metaphor is strictly for the church staying out of the state's business.
Answer by Voltaire
“This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it†John Adams “The government of the United States is not in any sense founded upon the Christian religion†John Adams
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