Meet Javier Gerardo Milei, a member of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies in Buenos Aires, leader of the conservative-to-very-conservative La Libertad Avanza Party, and a presidential candidate in the upcoming October 22, 2023, general election, with the “ultra-conservative” Victoria Villarruel as his running mate. In the national primaries last Sunday, Milei won 30% of the votes, ahead of the hard-right Patricia Bullrich with 28%, and the Peronist candidate Sergio Massa, who was hand-picked by former President and current VP Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, with 27%.
Milei loves Jews and is a strong supporter of Israel. If elected, he plans to move his country’s embassy to Jerusalem.
The political pundits in Argentina believe Massa could still pull ahead in October, but cannot possibly win the required 51%, and so, come the deciding election day, November 19, Milei could win with Bullrich’s endorsement.
He endorses Anarcho-Capitalism, a libertarian philosophy that seeks to abolish centralized states in favor of stateless societies with systems of private property enforced by private agencies, the non-aggression principle, free markets, and self-ownership, which extends the concept to include control of private property as part of the self (I got it from Wiki). He also wants to reduce taxes dramatically, declaring Argentina a “Tax Hell.”
And according to Spain’s El País, while on the campaign trail, Milei maintains a daily reading of the Torah and receives instructive messages on WhatsApp from his teacher, Rabbi Axel Wahnish, leader of the Argentine-Moroccan Jewish community in Buenos Aires. Last weekend, Milei flew to New York City on an anonymous visit to the graveside of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe.
El País’s Martín Sivak asked Milei in July: Are you going to convert to Judaism?
Milei: I’m considering it.
Sivak: What’s preventing you from converting?
Milei: If you’re Jewish because your mother is Jewish, you’re not obliged to comply with the principles of Judaism. If you convert, you’re obliged to do so. If I’m president and it’s Shabbat, what do I do? Am I going to disconnect from the country from Friday to Saturday? There are some issues that would make [the religion] incompatible. The rabbi who helps me study says that I should read the Torah from the point of view of economic analysis.”
We could help him plenty with that: revoke the interest system, replacing it with bank fees for specific services – this should eliminate the imaginary money being conjured by the banks with every new loan, and also prevent the collapse and bankruptcy of small businesses and families; introduce a jubilee system whereby the value of real estate, one of the major constants in determining the price of goods and services, goes constantly down over 50 years instead of up; compel individuals to support their fellow citizens who are losing their financial stability; encourage countrywide charity; tithe wealth without loopholes – and that’s just a start.
Javier Milei is offering many neo-conservative proposals, such as the dollarization of the economy and the legalization of handguns. This is why after he won the national primaries, the Argentine peso plunged and the official dollar exchange rate rose by 20%. The Central Bank of Argentina raised interest rates as a result.
And, naturally, some of his libertarian ideas are still a tad hard to digest, such as his support for the sale of organs and the sale of babies. He may have to work on those ahead of the vote.
