Who stands the tallest in defending the American way of life around the world? Who has pledged to promote traditional values, fight for the lives of the unborn, individual rights, and free-market capitalism? Who promised to attack bloated government departments, cut the deficit spending, reduce the public budget, and dramatically reduce inflation?
And who openly referred to the Chinese Communist Party government as “an assassin?”
Not Your Usual Suspect
The most surprising source of support for the American values of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is none other than Javier Milei, the newly elected (December 2023) president of Argentina.Mr. Milei’s campaign style is undeniably bombastic on a slow day and pyrotechnic when energized. His political language is not short on hype, and his personality is fiery and easily triggered. In these respects, he has been compared to former President Donald Trump.
Like President Trump, during his presidential campaign, Mr. Milei was widely mocked among the intellectual class, the political and media elites, and just about any other elites out there. But unlike President Trump, Mr. Milei isn’t a business tycoon, although he does come from an academic background, serving as an economics lecturer among other academic-related activities.
Everybody Said He Would Fail
From most quarters, the warnings about electing Mr. Milei were dire.Many observers thought his libertarian policies would lead Argentina into further ruin. Such warnings were mostly unfounded and indefensible, given that in recent years, Argentinians had suffered some of the worst inflation in the world. Unfortunately, breaking an addiction, whether that addiction is to money or substances, can have painful but short-lived withdrawal symptoms.
Withdrawal Pains Are Here
But Mr. Milei’s policies aren’t without pain. Federally funded infrastructure projects plunged 42 percent in March, with an estimated 50,000 construction workers having lost their jobs between November and February. More job losses are expected as the Argentinian economy continues to contract. That’s a normal and expected outcome when deficit spending is taken away, but it’s still quite painful for Argentine workers. Yes, withdrawal symptoms are real.As the economy shrinks, prices will continue to fall, and unemployment will continue for a while, while inflationary price distortions are wrung out of the economy. At some point, following a normalization of prices and supply and demand, there will be opportunities for economic expansion.
Milei Gives Hope to the World
In fact, Daniel Raisbeck, a policy analyst at the CATO Institute, said just as much to Fox News Digital.“The fact that you have a president, head of state, who is defending the free market, who is defending the role of entrepreneurs and businessmen as creators of value and just defending deregulation when the tendency in Latin America and much of the West has been to regulate the economy. ... I think that’s very positive, not only for Argentina, but for the region as a whole and maybe beyond.”
Mr. Milei’s belief in free-market capitalism, individual liberty and responsibility, Judeo-Christian values, and fiscal responsibility didn’t come out of thin air. Those are the same values, ideals, and practices that America brought to the world and made it the beacon of freedom and opportunity to the world.
Neo-libertarian Argentina may well carry that torch the socialists are doing all they can to extinguish in much of the rest of the world. Yes, Mr. Milei is a character and a dramatist, but so what? His economic policies and traditional values are sound. He could well turn Argentina around and show the world what’s possible, and we’ve only scratched the surface.
