Remember Jacinda Ardern? The “woke” Prime Minister of New Zealand was applauded as “Saint Jacinda” in elite circles for imposing a draconian lockdown in order to pursue a hopeless “zero COVID” policy. She turned her country into a “hermit kingdom” to the point that more than 15,000 Kiwis were trapped abroad and not allowed to return for two years. She finally had to abandon her stance as COVID finally began to spread anyway, as was always inevitable.

The citizens gradually realized she had isolated the country and hurt the nation’s economy. She resigned her office suddenly in January, seeing her approval ratings plummeting.

On Saturday, Ardern’s Labor Party was decimated at the polls, receiving only 27 percent of the vote. As the Washington Post reports:

“New Zealand moved sharply to the right on Saturday with the National Party, led by businessman-turned-politician Christopher Luxon, poised to form a coalition with the libertarian ACT Party and make good on promises to cut government spending and taxes.”

But wait, there’s more good news from the ballot box.

Noboa ran on a platform of fighting drug violence, pro-business policies, and speeding up a stagnant economy in Ecuador. “We need to address the urgencies: lower violence, youth unemployment and create new work opportunities,” Noboa says. “Ecuador must turn into a competitive country. Because it’s not.”

We could use someone with that philosophy here in the United States.