New Yorkers are, on the whole, royally peeved at King Bloomberg. In Venezuela, Chávez’s opposition is philosophic. They say they believe in democracy, so they’ll abide by the vote of the people.

But it’s sad when the instrument of democracy — in this case what might be mistaken for a citizen initiative, but what was in fact a politician-induced (Chávez-induced) referendum — gets used to subvert democracy — in this case a constitutional term limit that helped prevent a dictatorship from being established.

Of course, it is no surprise that the “voice of the people” turned this way only after the squelching of free speech and the usurping of control over mass media by the government. Instead of advancing anything like a real democracy, Chávez’s so-called Bolivarian Revolution amounts to yet another pseudo-populist propaganda regime, with more than a tincture of thuggery added.

One need not oppose every policy Chávez adopts to oppose his latest motion to “president-for-life.” And this development was nothing really new. We got the best clue to his character in his first major political act, an attempted coup in 1992 . . . something rarely mentioned in the newspapers. (Funny how our beloved journalists almost never cite that, eh? Funny that they rarely quote a younger, military Chávez, saying he and his friends would be back, that their revolution was, at that time, suspended only “por ahora.”) Yes, the key to understanding Hugo Chávez was revealed for all, 17 years ago.

Do we really need another read of The Road to Serfdom to suspect the worst? Nope. If one had any doubts about his dictatorial tendencies, all one need do is look at that coup.

Or this successful removal of term limits.