Yesterday something absolutely incredible happened. Javier Milei, an anarcho-capitalist, was elected president of Argentina. It was such a huge day for libertarianism that I decided to write my first blog post in seven years.
When I wrote "Why Libertarians Are Failing at Politics" in 2015, my basic argument was that there was an inherent mismatch between the way Americans were suffering and the solutions proposed by libertarians. It was simply the wrong kind of radicalism for 2015, and no amount of money spent on think tanks, electioneering or outreach was going to change that. Today in 2023, even as it seems the Woke Left might be in decline, that remains true.
But with Argentinians suffering under an absolutely mind-boggling 142% inflation rate, the result of decades of mismanagement and excess spending to pay for public services, the anarcho-capitalist with the crazy chops and Beethoven hair looks like the smartest guy in the room. Just like the Sinn Fein back in 1916 Ireland went from being nerds that no one cared about to the most popular political party in the country following the Easter Rising. In this case, government abuses line up perfectly with libertarian explanations and solutions. And for the first time in modern history, that gives us an extraordinary look into what libertarian governance -- assuming that's not an outright oxymoron -- might look like.
American libertarians should pay close attention to what happens in Milei's Argentina over the next few years and learn from his failures as well as his successes. Given his absolutely unflinching hatred of the Left and very big mouth, it's going to be a wild ride. My guess is that the Left will do to him what they've done to Trump -- try every dirty trick in the book to remove him from power and minimize his impact. (They've already branded him "far right," "Trump-like" "reactionary" and "extremist.") Even if he's broadly successful, he can't govern forever. But what he unravels could take decades to rebuild and in that time frame Argentinians just might get a glimpse into responsible governance.
Make no mistake -- American libertarians will get their chance here. The state of America's finances, while not as abysmal as Argentina's, are bad. The national debt is well past 100% of GDP (with a "safe" ratio being around 60%) and growing every day and there is no movement to control it. Inflation might be under control for now, but the more debt we rack up the more the Fed will do exactly what Argentina's central bank has done -- print more money. And every time there is a Covid-like crisis requiring massive increases in government spending, that's going to be tougher to keep a lid on.
