Stunning good news from Chile — and not just for them, but for us: The first round of the presidential election was straightforward: communism or liberty. Guess what Chile's voters chose

In Chile, the presidential election was straightforward: communism or liberty. Pick one or the other. No soggy middle.

So guess which one got the most votes!

Yep, liberty, and I'm not talking about some namby-pamby nice-guy RINO kind of liberty, respectable at Santiago cocktail parties. It was 100-proof hard stuff liberty, prompting shudders from the press.

The Associated Press reports this:

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Two onetime outsiders hailing from opposite extremes of the political spectrum received the most votes Sunday in Chile's presidential election but failed to garner enough support for an outright win, setting up a polarizing runoff in the region's most advanced economy.
José Antonio Kast, a lawmaker who has a history of defending Chile's military dictatorship, finished first with 28% of the vote compared to 26% for former student protest leader Gabriel Boric.
Kast, in a victory speech, doubled down on his far right rhetoric, framing the Dec. 19 runoff as a choice between "communism and liberty." He blasted Boric as a puppet of Chile's Communist Party — a member of the broad coalition supporting his candidacy — who would pardon "terrorists," be soft on crime and promote instability in a country that has recently been wracked by protests laying bare deep social divisions.
"We don't want to go down the path of Venezuela and Cuba," Kast, speaking from a lectern draped with a Chilean flag, told supporters in the capital. "We want a developed country, which is what we were aiming to become until we were stopped brutally by violence and the pandemic."

José Antonio Kast is a solid free-market candidate who ran against Gabriel Boric, a self-described communist, and wound up with the most votes on an unapologetic advocacy and defense of free markets. That was what Chile needed.

Here's the most recent report from the Buenos Aires Times :

Kast, 55, pledges lower corporate taxes, the preservation of pro-market rules and campaigned on a law and order, family values platform. Boric, a 35-year-old former student leader, wants to raise levies for companies, overhaul the pension system and boost social welfare benefits.

Kast wasn't quite an outsider, as President Trump actually was. He was an experienced pol on the sidelines in the Legislature, sort of a Chilean Ron Paul, and his free market credentials were impeccable. He is reportedly the younger brother of respected former Chilean central bank chief Miguel Kast, a Chicago Boys free market economist who tragically died of cancer in 1983.

Like Trump, Kast was gutsy. Kast is the first major candidate ever to defend the Pinochet-era free market reforms even as the press shuddered. What he defended was an authentic free market revolution, so facts are facts, and the fact that voters went for it and didn't consider it a gaffe demonstrated that something has changed. The left for many years has smeared the revolution as Pinochet-linked, but that was garbage from bitter communists upset that their communist dictator, Salvador Allende, was ordered by the courts and legislator to be thrown out.

The more I read about Pinochet, the more I understand he was a hero. In the 1970s, the Soviets had launched yet another marxist-globalist, covert war and insurrection (color revolution?), this time against Chile. Pinochet dealt with it with the minimum possible of bloodshed and disruption to society. The alternative was a long drawn-out civil war, or surrender into Cuban-style dictatorship.

Pinochet didn't mess at all with government structure, or civil society. He left the church, business, social-organizations, even unions and academia to continue as normal. He simply made a pre-emptive strike against the core of the coming marxist elites, and thus saved Chile.

Seek-I’m way ahead of you. Posted it at 7PST. Not that much interest. Bummer.

*What about reports of torture and execution without trial of political opponents? Would Washington ever do that?*

Did the end justify the means? In this case yes. Chile is freer and more prosperous than any Latin American country. The bad news is that Socialism will always have that siren call element. Just look at how Che is idolized. This romantic young Castroite will be there when the successes of capitalism get boring. All we can do is stand up to the lies that come up equally weather a W or Trump is in charge.

What about reports of torture and execution without trial of political opponents? Would Washington ever do

There were atrocities committed by the those on the revolutionaries’ side.

None linked to Washington but, torture and murder were committed by revolutionaries.

Compared to the French revolution ours was very gentlemen like. But don’t be self-deceived. There are no bloodless revolutions and someone is always going to find a reason to commit unspeakable acts in the name of freedom or their King.

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