This past Sunday, Bolivia joined the likes of Venezuela and Ecuador, as it passed a new constitution that would further entrench its road to socialism. The new constitution passed by a margin of close to 20%, with nearly 60% voting YES and just over 40% voting NO. Although this is definitely a setback for many of our allies in the Andes, we must acknowledge that the counter-factual is almost always worse.
In this case, we have to look at the many concessions that Evo Morales has had to make in order to claim this “victory.” The constitution that passed on Sunday is vastly different than the one that was initially proposed three years ago. Many of the most radical socialist reforms were removed, and what has passed is a watered down version of the pure socialist constitution that Evo envisioned when he began the Constituent Assembly process. Much of this is due to the efforts of Freedom Champions in Bolivia – such as Oscar Ortiz – who have fought this Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) every step of the way.
In the end, we know that to achieve our goal of a free and prosperous society we often encounter many obstacles and setbacks. So we thank all of our partners in Bolivia for their valiant efforts and encourage them to keep fighting against collectivist ideals, as the “battle of ideas” in Bolivia is far from over. Oscar Ortiz reminds us of this long battle in a quote from a recent article in the BBC.
“The result.. [of the vote] will show deep divisions between regions and between Bolivians in each region. A confrontation between ideas and visions about how this country will build its common future will continue,”
If you would like to learn more about what the future of liberty holds for Bolivia, be sure to join us in Los Angeles, California on April 24-26, 2009 for our annual Liberty Forum, in which former President of Bolivia – Jorge Quiroga – will offer a keynote address.
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