The victory of Javier Milei in the Argentine presidential elections has triggered a double reaction. From the ranks of the left, it is considered a triumph of the ultra-right, a concept of variable geometry, extendable to anyone who dares to question the leftist ideas and agenda; from the so-called alternative right, especially European, this triumph is seen as a success of its proposals. The two theses are wrong or, to be precise, they involve a simplification or a caricature of the thinking and the program of the new president of the Southern Republic, which are framed in the liberal tradition. For this reason, the attempt to place him in the orbit of reactionary, authoritarian or fascist thought is surprising.
To begin with, Milei is not a conservative, but an anarcho-capitalist in the theoretical field – the desire for a world without a State – transmuted into a classic liberal in the face of a basic restriction imposed by reality: the impossibility of achieving this goal. For this reason, his goal is more humble; namely, the reduction of state volume and power to increase the sphere of autonomy and freedom of individuals. This vision is embodied in his public assumption of the conception of liberalism coined by his mentor Alberto Benegas Lynch jr.: “Unlimited respect for the life projects of others, based on the principle of non-aggression and the defense of right to life, liberty and property”.
And it is that Milei’s intellectual references are not in the realm of the alternative right of authors such as Patrick Deneen, Yoram Hazony, R.R. Reno or Alain de Benoist to name some emblematic ideologues of this movement. Nor is his program anything like that of people like Orbán, Wilders or Le Pen. It is part of the philosophical heritage that goes from Joan Baptista Alberdi, inspirer of the liberal Constitution of 1853, to the aforementioned Alberto Benegas Lynch jr. in Argentina, and in that of thinkers such as Mises, Hayek, Friedman, Ayn Rand or Rothbard. This is so and, to be blunt, it is indisputable. His only proximity to the alternative right, as he himself has declared in a long interview with The Economist, is tactical: now and here, the enemy is socialism and it must be stopped and pushed back.
In this doctrinal framework, Milei defends the right of each individual to live according to his values, to pursue the goals he considers appropriate as long as he does not violate the rights of third parties. Of course, every adult and rational individual must be responsible for his actions, accept the costs of his decisions and not try to transfer them to others or to the State. For this reason, except for the case of abortion, Milei rightly appreciates the lack of a unanimous position among liberals on this issue, he defends a total freedom of personal choice from changing sex, for example, to trafficking ‘organs. This has nothing to do with the ideology of the alternative right.
In the economic field, the Argentine president proposes a project and a plan to execute it, adjusted to the Argentine situation, very similar to those of Reagan or Thatcher in the eighties of the last century: in the macro plan, monetary discipline to finish with inflation and taxation to eliminate the public deficit by reducing State spending; on the micro level, a broad plan for market liberalization, privatisation, external opening and tax reductions with the aim of increasing growth potential and productivity. He is also not a nationalist in economics, but a free trader and a defender of immigration.
From the left it is claimed that the package of reforms approved in the form of a decree of Necessity and Urgency (DNU) shows the authoritarian instincts of Milei. This implies a complete ignorance of the Argentine Constitution. The Magna Carta, in article 93 paragraph 3, empowers the Government to use this regulation, which has the force of law from the time of approval by the Executive, as long as it does not affect criminal, tax, electoral issues or the regime of matches The DNU does not affect any of these issues. In addition, the Parliament can repeal its validity with the majority vote against of the two chambers.
Is Javier Milei a populist? No, but to answer this question it is essential to understand what their electoral strategy has been. On the one hand, he has clearly and resoundingly set out an orthodox liberal program of breaking with statism; on the other, he has appealed directly to the public, short-circuiting the media and the corporatist elites that have dominated the Argentine public scene, highlighting how they have benefited for decades from the prevailing system at the expense of the majority . In other words, he has taken liberalism out of the minority ivory tower and turned it into an attractive project for change for the average voter. For this reason, the accusation of populist launched against a leader with ideas that, as has been shown, are the antipodes of this doctrine; interested confusion of substance with form.
The main lesson of Milei is the ability to turn liberalism into a winning platform and who should take note of this is not the alt-right, whose doctrine does not coincide, except for the idea of ??anti-socialism, with that of the leader Argentine, but who should be more attentive is the classic centre-right, which has abandoned the signs of liberal identity and is not able to articulate an alternative to the prevailing collectivism.