Military coup in Bolivia

No you can't, but you can learn by experience. For better or for worse we have a lot more of that as a nation than you guys do and we've had armed insurrections in living memory. We know what they look like, we've had the dead bodies in the streets.

You haven't.

It's funny, because they're not real people, and caring about fake people is for faggots, and faggots are funny, because they're like women, and women are funny because they're not real people, because Bible says.

Amaris the people of Bolivia said they don't want a president for life.

There was a referendum. The people told the government it doesn't want to lift the term limits on running for president.

The president decided to ignore the people and used the courts stacked with his cronies to over rule the people. (sounds exactly like the tactics that leftists in America use. Lose at the ballot box? Don't worry. Use the court system to win.)

He than rigged the election to make sure he won.

Except he didn't count on the people going out in the street and demanding he step down and he didn't count on the army turning it's back on him. That's why he resigned and ran to Mexico.

So it's not so much a coup as someone waking up to reality that he's not wanted anymore.

Sure worked for President Al Gore.
Oh, wait.....

Sure. It's possible that this was all a U.S. backed coup...but I haven't seen any evidence that it was.

Lacking any evidence I doubt it but wouldn't rule it out.

The US certainly has form here but that doesn't mean every instance of political instability is down to the CIA.

It's a possibility, no more, no less.

There must be something in the South American water supply that causes even well-meaning leaders to turn into tinhorns who believe the country will collapse without them. The examples of George Washington and Nelson Mandela who gave up power when they could have been Presidents-for-life are really striking by contrast. South Africa is long way from Paradise, but contrast it with Zimbabwe.

The question is whether or not it was the average person on the street, or whether or not the CIA and a fascist coup leader were actually pushing the hardest. There are clearly multiple issues going on all at once, but there's too much at stake to believe the people just decided to rise up, considering how wildly popular Morales was in the recent past.

That's where our biases come in, then. For you, it's possible, but maybe not likely. For me, it's possible, and I believe that is what has likely happened. I've stopped believing in coincidence when it comes to Central America and the United States. We've fucked up so many people's lives for our economic gain to dismiss it.

The really sad irony is that Mugabe could have been one of histories truly great figures.

I can't argue with that.

Just not prepared to make an accusation without evidence, but you're right there is the whole "Usual Suspect" thing.

And that's fine. I just want people to recognize that this isn't just a happy coincidence for the United States. When it comes to U.S. foreign policy, to paraphrase the words of River Tam, “people don't like to be meddled with. We tell them what to do, what to think. Don't run, don't walk. We're in their homes and in their heads and we haven't the right. We're meddlesome.”

He's right you know, instigating coups is absolutely part of the US' MO.

MLK didn’t overthrow the government so his efforts were meaningless, that’s what I’m getting from @spot261 .

Then you competely misunderstand him.

If only he'd been more effective, he'd be a household name today.

Does ousting a dictator become a bad thing if it turns out the U.S. favored or supported it?

Ousting any dictator or government is one of those things that seems like a good idea at the time, but way too often bites us in the ass. The Iranian Revolution didn't happen in a vacuum: it was fueled at least partially by long-standing resentment over the CIA backed coup during the Eisenhower years that overthrew a freely elected (by mid-eastern terms anyway) government and installed the Shah and his Saavak thugs. I'm a pragmatist and I won't wring my hands over the fact that Great Powers meddle in the affairs of smaller ones, but it seems like a bad idea on balance.

I love how the right likes to use MLK now.

Remember how much the right loved MLK in the 60's?
Remember how J. Edgar Hoover and Nixon wanted to give him double fangirl kisses on both of his cheeks and shriek with delight?
Remember that?

Yeah, those were the days.
In the same dimension where Reagan wasn't racist, G. Gordon Liddy was framed, and Oliver North wasn't a traitor.

Conservatives: "Be more like MLK."
Leftists: *become socialist and fight to empower black people while taking away white privilege*
Conservatives: "Not like that. More like you ask nicely and we keep saying no."

Remember how I wasn’t alive in the 60s?

Neither was I, but I read.
Funny how I finally became good at my homework after school.
Damnedest thing.

Okay, so don’t blame us for the transgressions of the past.

But they're not past, they kept going.
A lot of those old buzzards are still in politics.
Thanks to your votes.
Dumbass.

It's like that on purpose. Terrorist who is Muslim? All Muslims are terrorists. White Christian shoots a bunch of people? Lone wolf. Being white affords a very short racial memory, and a total abdication of responsibility for actions caused by other white men. Well, unless they're pinko commies. Essentially, white, wealthy, privileged men write who gets to be offended and incensed, and who has to just live with it.

White Christian shoots people? All gun owners are evil. Guns are evil. Unless the government owns them, then they're okay.

While I disagree that all gun owners are evil, or that it's okay if the government has guns, it does make sense to think that someone with a gun may be planning to do evil, because guns are designed to kill. So your analogy doesn't quite fit, since guns are lethal weapons and are built for that purpose.

Rick seems A.O.K. with blatant criminality and constitutional violation as long as his side is doing it. Especially if he gets to lie and try to blame America as he usually does.
I for one celebrate this victory by the Bolivian people.

You've advocated for the death of Muslim children.

This has been a fun thread watching the usual suspects (Rick and John) shown to be completely factually wrong while they run around lying and pretending everyone who doesn’t support their failed authoritarian socialist would be dictator was some how a “fascist”. Talk about idiots.