Chávez's new party

The Venezuelan government has announced that all pro-government political parties will be wrapped up into a single Unified Socialist Party of Venezuela.

In a speech Friday, Chavez said Venezuela needs a governing party that is "at the service of the revolution and the people _ not at the service of the political parties." He said parties will be free not to join if they wish.

I'm still trying to figure this one out. Parties are bad, and so the party should not be at the services of the parties, but rather should be a dominant party over all other parties, which is good. Maybe it's just the political equivalent of Sauron's ring.

Carlos Azpurua, a member of the Fatherland For All party, said he strongly supports forming a single party but believes its leadership should be chosen at a grassroots level.

Yeah, that'll happen.