Javier Milei was elected president of Argentina just last month. He ran on a platform of economic reform that included tying the Argentine peso to the U.S. dollar.
Milei has written dozens of essays and books about how to curb, if not outright halt, that country’s bout with hyper inflation. Last month, inflation clocked in at whopping 160%.
To be sure, President Milei has made several fumbles and has had to backtrack on some of his policy decisions since the election.
Even with his missteps, President Milei is making positive strides to putting an end to the mijito-style politics of Peronism in ways our locally elected officials could only dream of doing.
Last week, New Mexico’s Department of Transportation (NMDOT) announced that it would partner with the state’s Tourism Department (NMTD) to “make critical street repairs, maintain medians, and clean up litter in high traffic areas in the City of Santa Fe.” According to the statement released Dec. 22, 2023, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said NMDOT is also going to “get to work” throughout the entire state.
I have a few suggestions detailing local potholes needing to be filled first, don’t you? Sounds like a way to take the pacifier out of one baby’s mouth to plug up the screaming baby next to him.
There’s only one way to placate the other towns, villages and cities wondering why all the special treatment for the City of Santa Fe? Spread the wealth. It is particularly befuddling why the governor would intervene when the press release clearly states that the city isn’t eligible to receive state money “as it continues to work toward completing annual financial audits required to access unspent funds.”
Rewarding poor behavior is bad form because it teaches a lesson to everyone watching that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. I’m all for the state helping when it can. But there is a very specific process for making requests to the state for road money.
There are many hoops to jump through, but just ask NMDOT how, and they’ll guide you through it. Bending the rules and moving money from one department to another to avoid breaking legislative laws that were enacted to keep us in check, is wrong. I truly sympathize with the City of Santa Fe because I know firsthand how difficult it is to complete audits in a timely fashion. But that is what officials are elected to do; find a path through the difficulties. We must realize that when we fail, it is on us. Not allowing us to fail only furthers the mijito syndrome and enables poor behavior while increasing the occurrence of failing outcomes.
None of us is perfect and as politicians we want to improve the lives of everyone.
But it can’t be achieved by handing out candy when things don’t go your way.
This weekend, I met an Argentine named Augustine. He didn’t vote in his country’s elections last month because, unable to find a way to make a living in his own country, he was searching for improved opportunities elsewhere.
He traveled to Portugal to find work but soon returned. Then he learned about job opportunities in a coastal town in Mexico, where I met him. He said he didn’t know Javier Milei or his positions very well.
All he knew was that he represented something that socialist Argentina needed — a break from its Perónist past.
Augie, as I came to call him, said Juan Perón would give candy to the children in order to get them to like him, thereby instilling in them two things.
One, that the government was supposed to make the suffering of poverty taste sweeter. And two, that children would grow up dependent on the state, constantly asking for more candy. Just give them a little bit every now and then and they’ll vote for you come election time.
With no means to care for themselves and with fewer economic opportunities, eventually the people wouldn’t even care that the price of goods such as eggs, flour, and cars almost tripled in one year.
Why? Because when things go wrong, don’t worry. Don’t worry mijitos. Don’t worry my counties, villages and rural or even densely populated areas throughout New Mexico, the mother state is here to take care of you.
With infinite candy to dole out, New Mexico looks more like the Argentina of 70 years ago, not the adult, grown-up state that ought to let the consequences of its actions bear fruit.
Even Augie wants things to change. And he’s been given a lot of candy in his lifetime.
Javier Sanchez is a former Española mayor and a regular columnist for The Rio Grande SUN