Anybody Remember the movie "Red Dawn?"

This movie is so memorable to me, and for several reasons.

For one thing, the movie showcased a lot of future film stars. Charlie Sheen, Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey. Second, I got in free! (A friend had won tickets on a radio contest. I think it was the last movie I saw at the Rodgers.) Third, the scene where the camera shows a Russian paratrooper pulling a handgun out of the hand of a dead farmer lying beside his pickup truck who had been killed by the Russian, and the camera shows the bumpersticker on the truck: "If you want my gun you'll have to pry it from my cold, dead hand!" When that scene came on in the theater, there was the loudest cheer from all over the theater.
Not quite the same, but similar in message.

In the movie, most of South/Central America had gone communist, and with the Russians invading the north, the latin american communists invaded from the south. It made for a good story. None of us at the time ever dreamed that communism would be anywhere but in Cuba in our southern hemisphere.

Well...guess what. Hugo Chavez was given the ability to rule by decree today by his loyal "legislature." I read a little from Newsmax, and have also read some from Reuters/AP. This quote from the Newsmax article made me wonder if Chavez isn't heading toward full-fledged communism:

Hundreds of Chavez supporters wearing red - the color of Venezuela's ruling party - gathered in the plaza, waving signs reading "Socialism is democracy!" as lawmakers read out the proposed bill giving the president special powers for 18 months to transform 11 broadly defined areas, including the economy, energy and defense.

First of all, I don't think Hugo is going to give any of his power back after those 18 months. He's going to consolidate power, and make it virtually impossible to go back to anything but totalitarian rule. If this happens, the only difference between Hugo's Venezuela and the latin american leaders in the film (I think they were Mexican, as I recall) is that Hugo doesn't need the Russians to support him. He's got oil revenue, all of it, at HIS disposal, now with no one to dispute his decisions.

France, Germany and the rest of the world will need to wake up. Totalitarian regimes are once again threatening the US and democracy all over the world. With the US dealing with the war on terror, I'm wondering if Hugo will start a little "expansion program" in South America. Will we have a large socialist/communist oil-rich South America to deal with like in "Red Dawn?" Probably not to that degree, but I'm a little skeptical of Hugo Chavez. I think he's going to cause trouble in the not too distant future.

What do y'all think? Is this something to ignore, something to watch, or something to worry about?

As for me, I say, 2nd Amendment all the way, pal.