For many media and social media influencers, the results of the referendum in Chile are the beginning of the defeat of the so-called socialism of the 21st century and its launching pad, the Sao Paulo Forum. These opinions lack support and tend to confuse the situation with the political structures of Latin America.
To begin with, Chile is a different country from the Latin American group in three fundamental aspects. It has the highest proportion of active, thinking and demanding middle class. Second, their educational levels are higher than those of the rest of Latin America. Third, its political culture is centrist and has always been from the time of independence to the present day. These three characteristics create a kind of super structure that every time the policy pendulum swings to one extreme, the super structure initiates the correction process. It happened with Allende. It happened with Pinochet and now it happens with Boric. The draft constitution presented to Chileans, far from promoting the achievements of society, threatened to destroy them. And that does not fit with the institutional framework and the culture of Chileans.
Boric, for his part, took on the challenge of defeat with the spirit of a statesman and will once again attempt a constitutional change that will surely reflect popular sentiment, which is summed up instead with stability. And like other times in Chilean life, radical movements are likely to abandon ship and start sowing dissent. And there we will see how much statesmanship President Boric has to know how to resist his extremes and nurture the process of change that the center wants. In short, Boric is going to confront the alternative of him speaking in bullfighting terms.
However, the process and its results point to a different path for Latin Americans. The way of building the center to give body to democracy. And there many, including Brazil and Argentina, will see that investments in education and training are the most certain way to give stability to a democratic regime. Lesson that was clear in the results of the vote in Chile. Support for the constitutional text was mostly granted by people from the lowest educational strata for whom politics are emotions. And therefore they vote without analyzing consequences. The attribute of weighing consequences is called rationality and is acquired through education. But even those who do not vote rationally will see their lives benefit from Chile’s democratic stability. And the episode may help the entire continent understand that only investments in education and health and the creation of remunerative jobs will strengthen democracy and bring stability. Because these investments are the seedbeds of rationality.
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