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Last week I was at an event in El Salvador hosted by the Palestra Society. The event brought together a group of broadly speaking right-leaning innovators in the arts and sciences, including some names you might recognize, like Curtis Yarvin. I contributed a speech on education in Plato’s Laws. (The speeches were recorded and will be released, but I don’t know when.)
What stood out most to me from my time there was the zeitgeist, the atmosphere, the widely shared sense that you are in a country that is getting better. Many people in the more developed Western world have the opposite feeling about their own countries (wouldn’t you agree?) Whereas people are moving back to El Salvador, in the West they’re leaving, thinking about leaving, or talking about leaving their countries.
The people of El Salvador know that their leader cares about them and can exercise his power beneficially. His administration transformed their country from the murder capital of the world to a place that is now safer than the USA. That is why President Bukele was reelected in a free and fair election with over 80% of the vote. People who used to be afraid to visit their friends and family members because of the threat of violence from murderous gang members can breathe now.
That’s a big deal, and Bukele gets universal acclaim for it in the country. Everyone I talked to who was from El Salvador expressed tremendous relief, happiness, and hopefulness about the changes.
When is the last time you felt that way about your political leadership? And when is the last time your country was so united in that feeling?
My sense is that most of us live in divided countries with bad leadership. Take Canada. Unlike Bukele, Trudeau cares more about ideological sloganeering than competent leadership. Bukele is trying to bring intelligent foreigners to the country, even as he develops domestic talent to help build El Salvador’s future. Under Trudeau, Canada is experiencing a brain-drain and suffering from policies that are making things worse for ordinary Canadians. What’s more, Trudeau has historically low support, while Bukele’s popularity is historically high for a democracy.
Canada is declining. El Salvador is ascending. Of course, Canada is better off for now in terms of the state of its development — and I hope that when Trudeau loses the next election, it can reverse its decline under a new Conservative government — but it is still clear which country is moving in the right direction and which one is not. From my conversations with people at the conference, this is true not only of Canada but also of Germany, Spain, Finland, and the United States. Is it true for you, too?
In Canada, crazies and criminals are afforded equal human rights to normal, law abiding citizens trying to go about their day. God forbid you should offend them by wanting to separate them from society. After all, they’re probably just historically oppressed and marginalized people that we should learn to tolerate, include, and love, like LGBTetc people and migrants, but unlike Trump supporters and deplorables. They have human rights, don’t they? What are you going to do, call the police on a man who is wandering around erratically, violently muttering threats to some imaginary adversary? No, no. Just look away and hope he doesn’t notice you. If he does notice you, and, God forbid, if he gets violent with you, just don’t protect yourself. You’ll be the one to go to jail. That’s Canada.
In El Salvador, the government doesn’t protect criminals at the expense of law-abiding citizens. It puts them in jail, securing public order. To be sure, the question of how to rehabilitate criminals to become productive members of society is a fair one (Yarvin addressed it in his conference talk) but the difference is stark. As Bukele explained in his Tucker interview, El Salvador chose to support the rights of families and lawful El Salvadorans over those of criminals and gang members, and of course the NGOs of the Western world objected.
It’s to Bukele’s credit that he has not let the smearing of his leadership as “fascism” deter him from doing things that are good for his country and the people of El Salvador. He understands that he does not have to answer to Washington and Brussels but to God and the people. That’s unlike what I’m used to in the world of Western global liberalism. People are more sensitive these days to the way that strong leadership can go wrong. They’ve forgotten all the ways it can go right and lump today’s “strong leaders” together with the worst examples from the past century. That’s a mistake. If your political perspective does not allow you to recognize the obvious fact that improving safety as much as Bukele has done is a good thing, perhaps you should not be in the business of discussing politics at all.
Well, I wasn’t there long, I didn’t travel through the whole country, and I was together with people who are predisposed to share these positive impressions. My experience is obviously limited by these and other factors. And when you solve a big problem, there are still problems to solve. All of that is obvious. No one is saying the place is perfect. But, to repeat, you really can feel in the air that it’s getting better.
So now El Salvador has experienced its first miracle: the restoration of public order. Next on the agenda, as Bukele says, is an economic miracle. May God grant them that — and then many more! After all, God needs competent statesman, and competent statesmen need God. It’s an idea at least as old as Plato, which is why at the event I chose to talk about Plato’s Laws, the only Platonic dialogue to begin with the word God. I hope all our countries experience the kind of transformation that has taken place in El Salvador, one that turns countries around and makes them prosper. It won’t happen all by itself. Do your part. If the extent of your political participation is casting a ballot: vote. If you are a man in the arena, study good leadership, emulate good leaders, and become a good leader. As the poet Bukowski said, there’s nothing worse than too late. Bukele showed the world that it’s not too late even when you hit rock bottom (murder capital of the world). With will and wisdom, miracles are possible.
Fascinating, thanks for describing your time in El Salvador. I have been thinking of traveling there also, and wondering whom to try to meet with if I do. Hablo Español.
If you are good at your job, you get to dress like this.