Who’d thunk it?

Convening in a downtown plaza in a session that resembled a political rally, lawmakers unanimously gave Chavez sweeping powers to legislate by decree and impose his radical vision of a more egalitarian socialist state.

“Long live the sovereign people! Long live President Hugo Chavez! Long live socialism!” said National Assembly President Cilia Flores as she proclaimed the “enabling law” approved by a show of hands. “Fatherland, socialism or death! We will prevail!”

Ummm …. won’t be too long before they might be reaping that death part. Stupid schmucks.

The law gives Chavez, who is beginning a fresh six-year term, more power than he has ever had in eight years as president, and he plans to use it during the next 18 months to transform broad areas of public life, from the economy and the oil industry in particular, to “social matters” and the very structure of the state.

His critics call it a radical lurch toward authoritarianism by a leader with unchecked power _ similar to how Fidel Castro monopolized leadership years ago in Cuba.

Yeah, and we all know how well that worked out for the Cubans. With any luck, maybe mother Sheehan will transfer down there permanently.

“The people of Venezuela, not just the National Assembly, are giving this enabling power to the president of the republic,” congresswoman Iris Varela told the crowd.

President Bush said Wednesday that he’s “concerned about the Venezuelan people.”

“I am concerned about the undermining of democratic institutions. And we’re working to help prevent that from happening,” Bush said in an interview with Fox News.

But in the square in Caracas, Venezuelan Vice President Jorge Rodriguez publicly ridiculed the idea that the law is an abuse of power, and argued democracy is flourishing.

“What kind of a dictatorship is this?” Rodriguez asked the crowd, saying the law “only serves to sow democracy and peace.”

“Dictatorship is what there used to be,” Rodriguez said. “We want to impose the dictatorship of a true democracy.”

That sounds like the type of Democracy Castro has. Good luck with that.

Chavez, a former paratroop commander re-elected with 63 percent of the vote in December, has said he will decree nationalizations of Venezuela’s largest telecommunications company and the electricity sector, slap new taxes on the rich, and impose greater state control over the oil and natural gas industries.

The law also allows Chavez to dictate unspecified measures to transform state institutions; reform banking, tax, insurance and financial regulations; decide on security and defense matters such as gun regulations and military organization; and “adapt” legislation to ensure “the equal distribution of wealth” as part of a new “social and economic model.”

Wow! That sounds like a Democrat’s dream government. I think that gun regulation bit might just be the nail in the coffin for any power the people might have had. Oh well, more money for everyone! Thank you rich people — your work has apparently paid off — for those of us who didn’t work. And that bit on slapping new taxes on the rich — priceless.