A country we don’t pay much attention to picked a president most of us have never heard of. Let’s get better acquainted.

Javier Milei is now the president-elect of Argentina, a South American country with a population of 46 million. He won in a landslide with a 12% margin of victory.

Why is Milei’s victory so important? For one, he is neither a liberal or a conservative. He is a libertarian. What does that mean? Simply that he is “liberal” on most social issues and “conservative” on most economic ones. Despite what you might read, he’s not a “right wing” or “far right” libertarian. Those terms don’t make sense. Reporters made them up to scare people, or because they think readers like you can’t handle anything outside the moldy labels of “left”, “right”, “liberal” and “conservative”. I think you can.

Milei won because the corporate statism of Peronist Argentina turned a formerly wealthy and prosperous country into a hellhole of chronic poverty (over half the population) and chronic inflation (over 100% annually). Not coincidentally, the Argentinean government has grown like a hydra.

Milei promised to get rid of most of Argentina’s 19 (19!) ministries, carrying an ax everywhere on the campaign trail to make his point.

To kill Argentina’s runaway inflation, Milei wants to “dollarize” the economy and abolish Argentina’s central bank. This basically means making the U.S. dollar Argentina’s national currency, and removing the power of its government to print money.

Sure, there’s a risk that Argentina will become captive to whatever inflation occurs in the US, but even that would be better than the inflationary horror Argentina is experience now.

Nor is this that radical an idea. Other countries in South America have already dollarized, taming inflation and strengthening their economies in the process. Argentina would simply be the largest country yet to try it.

Milei also correctly realizes that his country needs free trade, so much that he is prepared to implement it unilaterally.

That means no tariffs on imported goods, even if their country of origin taxes imports from Argentina. Does this sound “right wing” to you? Compare that with the protectionist policies of Republicans, who gave up on free trade long ago.

Not that the Democrats are better. Government subsidizing and taxing, picking winners and losers, is as far from free trade as you can get.

And yet, one big reason why Hong Kong was so much more prosperous than any of the nations around it was its practice of unilateral free trade. I’m guessing that’s where Milei got the idea.

Milei’s party does not have significant representation in Argentina’s legislature, so he will have to form a coalition government. He’ll have to fight what Milton Friedman called “the tyranny of the status quo”, picking his battles over what to get done now and what to put off till later. So be it. That’s how democracies work.

He’ll also have the eyes of the world watching him, particularly the left, hoping he’ll crash and burn.

If Milei can’t overcome decades of failed socialist policies in six months, be prepared to hear how capitalism has once again “failed”. Be prepared to read how what Argentina had wasn’t “real socialism”, but that now is the time to try it.

Don’t be fooled. Milei’s views are hardly new, and they’re only radical compared with the failed ideas of the past 50 years.

Social tolerance, personal freedom, economic liberty, low taxes, free trade, constitutionally limited government. These shouldn’t be considered radical anymore. Give these ideas a fair chance. Don’t cry for Milei. Or Argentina.

Barry Fagin is senior fellow in technology policy at Denver’s Independence Institute and the author of the Radical Center. His views are his alone. Readers can write Fagin at barry@faginfamily.net.

Barry Fagin