Was there ever a sweeter headline than this, coming from the Washington Post of all places?
According to the Post:
The report notes that several conservative candidates didn't make the final cut for the runoff, Quiroga has been around for a long time, and Paz is a moderate. But something like this represents progress, given the long grip socialism has had on the battered Andean country, which is known for its valuable natural resources. And to read the article, Paz doesn't sound like a moderate -- he sounds pretty conservative, seeking to let markets determine prices.
Meanwhile, the performance of the socialists in office over 20 long years was execrable, and the Post gave an accurate-sounding rundown:
In short, the country went down the same way Hugo Chavez's Venezuela went down, a big influx of natural resources cash, an even bigger round of government spending, and all of a sudden, the ruling clowns ran out of other people's money. Happens every time.
Left unsaid in the Post report was the example of next-door Argentina, which decisively rejected socialism after a long period of misrule, embraced libertarianism and is now seeing economic growth it's never seen before, growth the so-called experts were 'surprised' to see happen. That cannot be lost on millions of Bolivian locals, many of whom have worked in Argentina as illegal aliens. Instead of continuing to flee socialism, they took their country back.
I'm just surprised the ruling socialists didn't rig the election enough to keep themselves in power. The article describes how Morales and other leftists have sought to spoil their ballots ahead of the coming runoff, but that's a rearguard action that won't work.
The victory must have been too big to cheat, except that even Venezuela did cheated. They didn't, so there must be something good still there to work with. Bolivia may, this time, save itself.
'Socialism defeated' -- Bolivia boots its ruling leftists after 20 years in power - American Thinker
It must have been so painful for them to write it.
According to the Post:
Hell has frozen over in Bolivia -- which is often a bellwether for the direction of South America's politics.
The report notes that several conservative candidates didn't make the final cut for the runoff, Quiroga has been around for a long time, and Paz is a moderate. But something like this represents progress, given the long grip socialism has had on the battered Andean country, which is known for its valuable natural resources. And to read the article, Paz doesn't sound like a moderate -- he sounds pretty conservative, seeking to let markets determine prices.
Meanwhile, the performance of the socialists in office over 20 long years was execrable, and the Post gave an accurate-sounding rundown:
(Hey, New York City! This, too will be yours if you are foolish enough to elect Zohran Mamdani.)
In short, the country went down the same way Hugo Chavez's Venezuela went down, a big influx of natural resources cash, an even bigger round of government spending, and all of a sudden, the ruling clowns ran out of other people's money. Happens every time.
Left unsaid in the Post report was the example of next-door Argentina, which decisively rejected socialism after a long period of misrule, embraced libertarianism and is now seeing economic growth it's never seen before, growth the so-called experts were 'surprised' to see happen. That cannot be lost on millions of Bolivian locals, many of whom have worked in Argentina as illegal aliens. Instead of continuing to flee socialism, they took their country back.
I'm just surprised the ruling socialists didn't rig the election enough to keep themselves in power. The article describes how Morales and other leftists have sought to spoil their ballots ahead of the coming runoff, but that's a rearguard action that won't work.
The victory must have been too big to cheat, except that even Venezuela did cheated. They didn't, so there must be something good still there to work with. Bolivia may, this time, save itself.
'Socialism defeated' -- Bolivia boots its ruling leftists after 20 years in power - American Thinker
