In the previous chapter I argued that Chavismo is best understood as a populist movement, where by populism I mean a Manichaean worldview or discourse that associates the side of Good with the putative will of the people and the side of Evil with a conspiring minority. This descriptive claim about Chavismo is bold but thin on evidence; besides providing a few quotes, I have yet to examine Chávez's actual words in depth or compare them to those of other political leaders. Readers who have never heard Chávez speak may wonder if he really employs the bellicose language and moralizing that I described and, if he does, whether he uses this language consistently.

In this chapter, I move beyond this abstract defense of the ideational definition and engage in an ambitious project of measurement to show why we can characterize Chavismo as consistently populist. Since Chávez is the originator and focal point of the movement, his language is the official language of Chavismo and is what I analyze here. I start by analyzing Chávez's discourse, or his ideas as expressed through his language, using a traditional qualitative approach that examines a series of his speeches and interviews. I then develop a quantitative technique to measure the discourse of 40 chief executives from across the globe and across history.