One thing Chomsky does in that column is compare the most recent presidential contests in the United States and Bolivia. He writes: "In the 2004 U.S. presidential election, voters had a choice between two men born to wealth and privilege, who attended the same elite university, joined the same secret society where privileged young men are trained to join the ruling class, and were able to run in the election because they were supported by pretty much the same conglomerations of private power."
In Bolivia, added Chomsky, voters "chose someone from their own ranks, not a representative of narrow sectors of privilege."
This contrast, he concluded dryly, "raises some questions about where programs of 'democracy promotion' are needed."
