Attendees at the Conservative Political Action Conference attendees listening to then-US Vice President Mike Pence speaking in February 2020. Photo: Pete Marovich/The New York Times.
The title of this article summarizes, with these few words, the much publicized meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), which took place in Buenos Aires this past Wednesday, December 4. Despite the efforts of the libertarian militancy and the support of the large legion of ensobrados that swarm in the media and political spheres, the main hall, that was supposed to be filled by the supporters of the “New Order” proposed by the redeemer of the West, was barely 50% occupied.
The quality of the speakers, at what was billed as “the most important conservative summit in the world,” was no less disappointing. The figures that were touted as illustrious figures of reactionary thought were conspicuous by their absence: neither Donald Trump nor Elon Musk saw fit to travel to Buenos Aires and take a stroll around Puerto Madero. On the other hand, Jair Bolsonaro and Steve Bannon, the “organic intellectual” and international articulator of the neo-fascist right, limited themselves to sending recorded messages. Santiago Abascal, the head of Vox, in love with Buenos Aires, a city to which he returned for the third time, seemingly because he is doing better here than in Madrid. Trump did not come or send a message, but he sent his daughter-in-law, Lara, (not his daughter, as some press said), who is married to Eric Trump, one of the magnate’s sons.
In short, the intellectual and political density of the much talked about international event left much to be desired. It is fair to recognize that those conclaves that preceded them were not much more so because, after all, the poverty and backwardness of conservative thought are irremediable traits no matter how much propagandistic management of their contributions is done.
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In any case, it is strictly fair to acknowledge that the horror of the CPAC conference held in National Harbor, Maryland, on February 23rd of this year, was not repeated in Argentina. On that occasion, a hothead named Jack Posobiec began his presentation by saying “Welcome to the end of democracy—we are here to overthrow it completely. We didn’t go all the way on January 6 [referring to the takeover of the US Capitol in 2021], but we will strive to get rid of it … because not all glory should go to the government but to God.” The media oligarchy, here and generally throughout the West, was careful to comment on this episode and draw the conclusions of the case. Posobiec, like Milei and most libertarians, does not believe in democracy. The former at least said so. Ours usually evades any comment on the subject.
The closing remarks were the president’s responsibility, and true to his style, he launched into a tirade against “shitty lefties” and “impoverishing communists.” These terms, which seem to come neither from the principles of the Austrian School or the writings of the patriarch of “anarcho-capitalism,” Murray Rothbard, appear instead to reflect a questionable Argentine contribution—if one can even call it a contribution—to the political philosophy of the extreme right.
In addition to his usual barrage of insults and crude remarks—unbecoming of his position and an embarrassment on the world stage—Milei insisted that his administration’s goal is to achieve the destruction of the state and establish the supremacy of the markets. This vision represents a dystopia that has never been realized on this planet and exists solely in his fevered imagination. All this allegedly justified by the need to ensure, for the inhabitants of this long-suffering country, the enjoyment of “life, liberty, and private property.” A life that has become increasingly miserable for the vast majority of the population, except for the favorites of the regime whose pockets Milei insists on enlarging. A freedom curtailed by the repression of the “security forces” and the attack on critical journalism, and which has also been curtailed because to enjoy the sweetness of freedom, one requires decent living conditions, which are currently denied to a growing proportion of Argentines. Not to mention private property, whose scandalous rates of concentration have only increased during the current government’s administration, demonstrating that our democracy has become a deplorable plutocracy where the rich rule exclusively for the rich. For them, all the help of the state; but to take care of the poor and the vulnerable, there are the forces of the market, which slowly but inexorably will practice the long-awaited euthanasia of the poor. And those who protest in the face of so much injustice, the presidential response eloquently illustrates the scope of our democratic involution: “I don’t give a damn,” a phrase that Milei has used on more than one occasion to embellish his speeches.
(Resumen Latinamericano) by Atilio Boron
Atilio Borón
Atilio A. Borón is a Harvard Graduate professor of political theory at the University of Buenos Aires and was executive secretary of the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO). He has published widely in several languages a variety of books and articles on political theory and philosophy, social theory, and comparative studies on the capitalist development in the periphery. He is an international analyst, writer and journalist and profoundly Latinoamerican.
