Milei’s Election in Argentina: Is There an Ayn Rand Connection?

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer, Nikos Sotirakopoulos and Agustina Vergara Cid discuss the recent election of Javier Milei as President of Argentina.

Among the topics covered:

• How Peronism turned Argentina from one of the richest countries in the world to one of the poorest;
• Milei’s academic background and turn towards libertarianism;
• The extent to which Milei is actually influenced by Ayn Rand;
• The flaws in Milei’s mongrel libertarian philosophy, including his support for anarchism;
• Milei’s opposition to abortion;
• Why the path towards liberty in Argentina is precarious, but there is room for cautious optimism.

Mentioned in this episode and relevant to the discussion are “A New Ideal for Latin America” by Agustina Vergara Cid and “Libertarianism: Big Tent or Big Mess?,” a previous episode of the New Ideal podcast.

This episode was broadcast live on November 22, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.

Podcast audio:

Image credit: picture alliance via Getty Images.