• But in here it's so delightful - thoughts on Obama and the weather
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• Funny Because It's True (yet again)
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• Won't you be my neighbor?
• Snowzilla
• ZOMG! Radioactive coal sludge will kill us all! (updated)
• Quick points on the auto industry bailout
• Slow and Steady
• Foreign policy and international public opinion

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Socialist Victory in Chile

Socialist Michelle Bachelet won Chile's presidential with 53.5 pct of the vote and a seven-point lead over her rival, according to partial results with most of the ballots counted.

Yay. Socialism. Her opponent Sebastian Pinera was able to pinpoint the problem:

'We wanted to win this election ... we did not achieve it because a majority of people decided otherwise,

Well, that darned Democracy that we tell our kids is the pinnacle of political achievement. The thing is, of course, that the rights of the individual can be voted away in a pure democracy. That's what socialism is all about.

Let me take a moment to share a concept that is not a driving factor in the politics of Chile or, for that matter, the United States, but really lights a fire in me, personally:

It is evident that the right of acquiring and possessing property, and having it protected, is one of the natural, inherent, and inalienable rights of man. Men have a sense of property: Property is necessary to their subsistence, and correspondent to their natural wants and desires; its security was one of the objects that induced them to unite in society. No man would become a member of a community, in which he could not enjoy the fruits of his honest labor and industry. The preservation of property then is a primary object of the social compact.

These are the words of Supreme Court Justice William Paterson in 1797. If Ayn Rand ever knocked your socks off, you should read the founding fathers.

So Michelle Bachelet, the socialist, wins the presidency of Chile. As upset as I am, I am forced to admit that this democratic election is better than when Chile was a dictatorship. And as Publius Pundit notes, she's no Hugo Chavez - check out Publius here for an interesting profile on the woman who is the new Chilean president.