We’ve written about the recent and tragic regime change election in Chile that threatens the free-market miracle that made that country the richest country in Latin America. Milton Friedman had a big hand in that agenda of lower taxes, privatization, and sound money. Between 1980 and 2019, Poverty fell from 45% to 6%, and per capita income tripled to $24,000 a year.
But now President Gabriel Boric, the 35-year-old left-wing community organizer, has been stopped dead in his tracks. On Sunday more than six of 10 Chilean voters trounced Boris’s proposed changes to the national constitution.
These changes would have “guaranteed” over 100 fundamental rights ranging from “nutritionally complete” food to “neurodiversity” and even separate judicial systems for indigenous peoples. Economists estimated the new social justice constitution would have increased government spending by between 9% and 14% of GDP per year. Yikes! Who does Boric think he is? Joe Biden?
Let’s hope this voter rejection on Sunday is a sign that the Chileans recognize they have made a big mistake in electing Mr. Boric. He can’t be ousted soon enough former left-wing presidents even spoke out against the new charter’s overreach.
The debate cleared the heads of millions of centrist Chileans and the proposed constitution was crushing, winning only 38% approval and losing in all 16 regions.