Libertarians and limited government/free market-oriented conservatives should be thrilled about what is happening in Latin America generally and in Argentina in particular. The latter lit the fuse to the Revolution that is now engulfing the former. The Liberty Movement spearheaded by Javier Milei, by melding sound governance and politics, is defeating socialism and spreading freedom throughout Latin America. Milei is successful precisely because he adheres, consciously or unconsciously, to certain insightful principles laid out in the “laws of the public policy process.”
These laws originated with my political mentor and the Johnny Appleseed of the US conservative/libertarian movements, Morton Blackwell, who should really hold the Guiness Book of World Record for training more conservative and libertarian political activists in sound political technology in the US and worldwide than anyone else, through his Leadership Institute. I had the privilege of working for Morton in the 1980s as the Membership Director of International Policy Forum, his then international organization. One of Morton’s laws is: “Sound doctrine is sound politics.” This implies having a set of beliefs solidly moored by a cogent philosophy and translating them into a successfully winsome political program. This necessarily excludes populism carried by wind-vane opportunism.
Javier Milei, an economist by trade and self-described anarcho-capitalist devotee of the Austrian School, sowed the seeds of his future political success by first becoming a household name promoting sound economics on TV discussion programs and his own radio show, just like Milton Friedman did so many years ago in the US through his Free to Choose series. Ronald Reagan did something similar by having a nationally syndicated radio program reaching 20 million listeners before his Presidential Run in 1980. These successful statesmen initiated cultural change and acceptance of the classical liberal counterpoint to Peronist/Socialist thought first before embarking on political campaigns. People must hear your sound doctrine before they will join your politics.
In another similarity with Ronald Reagan who was very sympathetic to libertarian thought, Milei is well-versed and deeply committed to free-trade and free-market economics while also appealing to “law and order” and anti-woke conservatives and pro-life activists. These elements fused together into a winning coalition in the historic election of 2023 when Milei won the biggest landslide since Argentina returned to democratic rule in 1983—Reagan also won the biggest landslide in American history in 1984. Milei’s victory marked the first time that a third force (La Libertad Avanza) broke the stranglehold of politics traditionally dominated by the Peronist Left and the Radical Civic Right—both of which led Argentina, once as prosperous as the US in its heyday, into decay, malaise, and bankruptcy over the last century. Today, we are seeing similar “third force” movements outside of the establishment parties gaining ground elsewhere, as in Great Britain and Germany.
Two years in, the scorecard of Argentina’s libertarian break from the traditional left-right politics speaks for itself in terms of political gains for liberty, movement influence, and policy changes that are improving the lives of ordinary Argentine citizens and having a worldwide impact.
As a direct result of the implementation of Milei’s policies, historic results have been achieved. Inflation is down by 85%, numerous taxes have been cut, 10 Federal departments are gone, government spending is down 27.2% in real terms, and budget surpluses are now the norm for the first time in decades. Milei is institutionalizing these budget surpluses by proposing a “fiscal shackle” law that provides that any budget deficit will automatically trigger non-payment of politician salaries. Housing has become plentiful and affordable again thanks to the elimination of rent controls, as the increased supply of 180% has naturally caused a downward pressure on prices. Good-paying jobs are becoming plentiful as the lifting of protectionism and currency controls is massively attracting foreign investment, especially in the mining and oil and gas sectors. One of the key features of the new “Glaciers” bill is a renewed federalism which devolves to the provinces the environmental protection of the glaciers and permits expanded exploration and development of mineral resources. Over the last two years, Milei, through his deregulation minister, Frederico Sturzenegger, has presided over the most ambitious State deregulation effort of any Western nation in recent memory, eliminating more than 15,000 regulations, and it appears that the effort is now picking up even more speed. Most importantly, Milei’s policies have cut poverty by 25% in the last two years. Argentina’s newest “experiment” demonstrates clearly that socialism does not work, and free-market economics brings wealth and reduces poverty. As Ronald Reagan famously said, “Government is not the solution to our problem, it is the problem.”
Interestingly, the social ills many “big government conservatives” decry such as the promotion of abortion, DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion), foreign “left-wing” aid, special interest favoritism, gender ideology, etc . . . would be significantly alleviated by them having the backbone to vote against bloated budgets that include these pet projects of the “woke Left.” One of the few American politicians who dared challenge these sacred cows by voting “No” consistently on increased spending, Thomas Massie, found out that there is a definite US political price to be paid. By contrast, Milei went “full-Massie” and drastically eliminated Government programs and agencies such as the Ministry of Women, Gender and Diversity, causing left-wing uproar. Milei is accomplishing what US big government “social conservatives” have refused to do—some say, cynically, to keep around those election-year issues such as the one-year defunding of Planned Parenthood in the 2025 Big Beautiful Bill. How about taking a page from Milei and making those cuts permanent?
Other Milei victories include bringing flexibility to Argentina’s labor market, cracking down on crime, lowering the age of accountability, and prohibiting protests that impede the public from traveling. Argentina and Paraguay are now ranked as the safest places to travel in South America according to the US Department of State.
On those issues on which Milei has not yet succeeded such as abortion, he maintains the full court press, does not compromise, and is not afraid to use the bully pulpit, like Reagan did.
Another of Morton’s laws is: “Governing is campaigning by different means.” The politician who loses sight of this and stops campaigning will inevitably also ensure the defeat of his own legislative agenda. This is something Milei intuitively understands which is why he continues to aggressively use the “bully pulpit” to promote his issues at home and abroad. As Reagan demonstrated in his principled rhetorical promotion of a free society to those behind the Iron Curtain, the “bully pulpit” in the hands of a great communicator can achieve extraordinary results; namely in Reagan’s case, a firestorm of liberty lighting the minds of men, derailing the Iron Curtain, and liberating the captive nations from the Soviet boot.
And what are the political results coming from the comparably effective communicator ensconced at the Casa Rosada in Buenos Aires? First, Milei secured his homebase by a very convincing victory in legislative elections in October 2025 when La Libertad Avanza tripled its representation in Congress, making it the most successful Libertarian Party in World history. Second, the rest of Latin America then joined the liberty wave. Prior to Milei, most of Latin America, except Paraguay and Panama, were in the grips of socialist leaning or full-blown Marxist Governments. Then the dominoes began to fall: Rodrigo Paz elected President of Bolivia (November 8, 2025); Tito Asfura elected President of Honduras (January 27, 2026); Jose Antonio Kast elected President of Chile (March 11, 2026); Laura Fernandez elected President of Costa Rica (May 8, 2026); Keiko Fujimori elected President of Peru (July 28, 2026); and Abelardo de la Espriella elected President of Columbia (August 7, 2026). To a fault, all these new Presidents, or their immediate subordinates, publicly express great admiration for Javier Milei as a model to follow both politically and policy-wise. For example, the chief strategist of Laura Fernandez’ victory in Costa Rica states: “President Javier Milei is a reference point and a motivator to drive deep changes, showing that it is indeed possible to break with models that have failed. Personally, I have had a libertarian background since 2002 and I am fully convinced that statist policies are not the way to generate development, freedom, or real opportunities.”
Despite the successes outlined above, Milei has attracted criticism from some US “libertarian” and “uber-right” circles, which conjures up another Morton law: “Don’t make the perfect the enemy of the good.” Let’s examine some of the criticisms: First, hardline libertarians criticize Milei for going back on his pledge to shut down the central bank, dollarize the economy, and get rid of the peso. The political support is simply not there to go that far, so as an alternative, Milei is now proposing a legal reform to prohibit the Central Bank from subsidizing the Treasury, thereby preventing Central Bank fueled monetary inflation in the future. Second, protectionists on the right were upset at Milei because Trump signed an executive order allowing tariff-free beef imports from Argentina and Treasury Secretary Bessent approved a dollar-peso line of credit swap of $20 billion dollars days before the 2025 Argentine legislative elections. What is rarely reported is that the amount withdrawn on the line of credit ($2.5 Billion) has been fully repaid with interest, netting the US Treasury tens of millions of dollars in profit. In any event, criticism of Milei on these two issues is misplaced, because of course, Milei’s job is to Make Argentina Great Again! Making America Great Again is Trump’s job, so if these policies are detrimental to America First, then criticize Trump instead! Third, elements of the Anti-War Right despise Milei for supporting Trump’s War against Iran. I have my own objections to the US-initiated War against Iran, which I have extensively detailed. However, I do not object in the least to Milei’s support of it, because Argentina has much more of a cassus belli against Iran than the US—namely, being attacked on their own soil, causing the deaths of 85 and injury to 300 Argentines. The current Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Commander who controls Iran today with an iron first, Ahmed Vahidi, was the mastermind behind the largest terrorist attack on Argentine soil—akin to our 9/11. If the same thing had happened to us, Congress would have declared War, we would have put boots on the ground, and the Theocratic Regime would deservedly be no more. I suspect that those who criticize Milei on these and other grounds either don’t perceive the forest from the trees or are so used to losing that they have an addiction to mediocrity.
The final Morton saying I will mention is: “You owe it to your philosophy to study how to win.” Clearly, Milei has studied and has mastered this art, but the US liberty movement in general and the US Libertarian Party in particular have not. The trajectory of US government policy, in many respects, is troubling to those who value liberty. The severe weakening of the dollar, the out-of-control expansion of government, and the exploding national debt are the biggest national security threats that we face as a nation. And on these policy issues, we are going in the opposite direction of Milei’s Argentina. Will it take an Argentine-style economic crisis with 300% inflation before America wakes up, discovers a “Milei”, and jettisons the two major parties in search of a third way? I hope it doesn’t come to that, and that principled liberty-oriented individuals regardless of party study how to win and coalesce together a mass movement rooted in sound doctrine with the political savvy and technology to win. That’s the least we owe to our founders and the philosophy that made America the greatest and freest nation on Earth.
COL Veldhuyzen spent 29 years in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps and significant time deployed in the Middle East during Operations Iraqi Freedom, Freedom’s Sentinel in Afghanistan, and Operation Inherent Resolve to crush the Islamic State. He is currently the Executive Director of the Project Paraguay Foundation and Libertyprolife.org and Secretary of the Pro-Life Libertarian Caucus.
For a more in-depth view of COL Veldhuyzen’s qualifications, see https://www.linkedin.com/in/albert-veldhuyzen-82a577b/
If you enjoyed this article, then please REPOST or SHARE with others; encourage them to follow AFNN. If you’d like to become a citizen contributor for AFNN, contact us at managingeditor@afnn.us Help keep us ad-free by donating here.
Substack: American Free News Network Substack
Truth Social: @AFNN_USA
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/afnnusa
Telegram: https://t.me/joinchat/2_-GAzcXmIRjODNh
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AfnnUsa
GETTR: https://gettr.com/user/AFNN_USA
CloutHub: @AFNN_USA