A proposed progressive utopia was on the ballot in Chile as the nation went to the polls to vote on whether to adopt a newly drafted constitution or not. The measure was supported by Bernie Sanders, among other Americans, and seen as a test case for the idea of guaranteeing far-left “rights.”
Chileans had other ideas, though. They soundly rejected the new constitution, sending a message that they won’t see their country turned into Venezuela in order to make some people living in New York City happy.
Chile’s president, Guillermo Teiller, is part of the country’s communist party, and there was fear he would be able to get the newly drafted constitution through. The voters, schizophrenic as they may be, left no doubt in the margin, though. It wasn’t close, and now Teiller will have to go back to the drawing board wounded by a loss that seems to have energized his opposition.
Oddly enough, while Chileans celebrated, it was those in America who seemed to be the most upset with the result. The New York Times put out multiple headlines decrying the failure of the “left-leaning” constitution that would have guaranteed “rights” like universal healthcare and abortion.
It’s always those who won’t have to deal with the consequences who yell the loudest, is it not? The reporters at the Times will almost certainly never set foot in Chile in their lifetimes, but they’d see another country turned into a dystopian nightmare if it meant a meaningless “guarantee” of healthcare and abortion was pushed forward. Why? Because that’s exactly what they want in the United States with no care for the actual results of such policies.
Contrary to the delusional rantings of Sanders, the Times, and others, there is no free lunch in the world. No nation can simply turn everything into a “right,” including services that must be provided for by other people, and survive. At the end of the day, self-determination and freedom must undergird the better part of a society or you end up with financial collapse, dictatorship, or both.
For a moment, sanity has prevailed in South America. How long it will last is anyone’s guess, but this is a setback for the global progressive movement. Still, this isn’t the end of the fight, not by a long shot. Those who think they are best equipped to completely control the lives of others never stop in their quest for power.