Which World Leader Stands the Tallest?

Then-Argentine presidential candidate Javier Milei lifts a chainsaw during a campaign rally in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Sept. 25, 2023. Tomas Cuesta/Getty Images

Commentary

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?”

The one leader who is doing all of these things and more comes from a most improbable provenance.

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.

There’s no question that the outspoken and dramatic Mr. Milei is partly at fault for this reaction; he gave his adversaries plenty of material with which to criticize him. In videos that have gone viral, Mr. Milei, with his disheveled hair, raised voice, and frenetic gesticulations, can be seen waving a chainsaw at a political rally as a demonstration of how he would cut government spending and payrolls, reduce inflation, and reorient the economy from socialism to free-market capitalism.

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.

Today, Mr. Milei has silenced some of his critics, at least when it comes to keeping his campaign promises to cut government spending and inflation in Argentina. Mr. Milei has slashed government payroll and publicly funded project works, improving federal finances immediately. The inflation rate has been reduced to single digits for the first time in six months. Fiscal deficits have also been reversed, with four months of continuous fiscal surplus. Mr. Milei’s libertarian policies yielded a first-quarter fiscal surplus of 275 billion pesos (around $300 million) for the first time in 16 years.

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.

Clearly, the WEF-affiliated socialist elites of Argentina, South America, and Europe are threatened by Mr. Milei, because he threatens their top-down, statist-heavy narrative about how the world works. Classic economists and other informed observers, however, see great things for Argentina in the not-too-distant future.

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.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.