When pop song ideologies become governing principles, the results are predictable

Let's face it. John Lennon was an idiot, or at least temporarily insane when he wrote "Imagine." A talented musician -- probably a pop music genius, a term I reserve for his bandmate, Paul McCartney, Prince and, um, maybe nobody else in my lifetime -- Lennon knew fuck-all about economics. Venezuela, apparently following the John Lennon School of Economics, is proving that:

Venezuela has some of the world’s largest supplies of oil, with more proven oil reserves than Saudi Arabia. But about 15 years ago, the late president Hugo Chavez set out to impose a socialist revolution, making a particular point about his great munificence in providing free health care for everyone. In pursuit of this revolution, Chavez crushed every industry outside the oil sector and brought the state-owned oil company under his control. The result has been a long spiral into poverty and oppression. Now we can see the results: socialism literally kills babies.
It began by imagining no possessions. Private property and private businesses and private profit were supposedly the source of everyone’s problems, so the Venezuelan government set out to get rid of them, with Chavez issuing a notorious set of 49 decrees in 2001 that gave him vast power over the economy. He used this power to seize private factories and expropriate foreign owners of Venezuelan firms—ensuring that no foreign investors would want to put a single dollar into the country for the foreseeable future.

Lennon, of course, famously sang:

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man

Well, Venezuela is living it now, and I don't think the people of Venezuela are enjoying it, Sean Penn's idiotic cheerleading for socialism notwithstanding. The scary part is, we now have a felon who is likely to be president who is advocating socialism. No, not Bernie Sanders, whose only crime that I know of is stupidity. It's Hillary Clinton, who met all the elements of violating 18 USC 793 (e) and (f) but will not be prosecuted because FBI Director Jim Comey likes his job. Comey himself stated all the elements of the crime that Hillary! committed, then inexplicably said he was recommending no criminal charges. Brian Nishimura and Kristian Saucier, not to mention David Petraeus, are not amused. All three of them were convicted of mishandling classified information. Saucier is awaiting sentencing that could put him in jail for more than five years. Hillary!, who did something much worse, faces no charges.

Laws are for little people, after all. Imagine his surprise when Petraeus found out he was one of the people not big enough to escape being one of the little people who are subject to the laws of the land. Now, someone who is clearly not one of the little people but is clearly a felon is likely going to be president of the United States despite being famously and completely corrupt. And she is making the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez sound like a capitalist.

Great. Can't wait to join Venezuela as one of the world's trash can economies.