If you name your political party the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS), it should be pretty clear where you are headed. Unfortunately, this is the path which Bolivia has chosen, as it is now governed by a new constitution that was approved in late January. Although the final version is not as radical as the one initially proposed by Evo Morales, there are some glaring contradictions that could produce dangerous consequences.
Recently, intellectual entrepreneur Gonzalo Schwarz from Populi (a think tank in La Paz) co-published an article with Jim Roberts from the Heritage Foundation, which succinctly captures the major threats to liberty and freedom posed by this new constitution:
Roberts and Schwarz elaborate further by drawing a comparison between the direction that Bolivia has taken under Morales, to that of Zimbabawe under Robert Mugabe, a comparison that was also made by another article in the April issue of The Atlantic. This astute analysis by Heritage very clearly lay’s out that the new Bolivian constitution does not meet the devil’s test – meaning that socialist means cannot accomplish socialist ends, no matter how well intentioned.
Many in Morales’s political base of support are indigenous Bolivians from the western highlands who have been mired in poverty for generations. Improving these indigenous people’s living conditions is certainly a laudable goal, but Morales’s methodology for realizing such improvement…will end in disaster for all Bolivians.
If you are in the DC metro area and would like to learn more about the situation in Bolivia, there is an event hosted by another free market think tank – the Hudson Institute – tomorrow at 12pm.
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