RFI Executive President Eric Patterson authored a piece published today in WORLD Magazine in which he sheds light on the recent defeat of a radical new constitution proposed in Chile. He also encourages American voters to take note of this important development. Patterson writes:

Chile’s voters soundly defeated a radical new constitution for their country. We in the United States and citizens across the Americas should take careful note of both the revolutionary agenda of the Left and be heartened that an active, common-sense electorate can thwart socialism.

Chile’s existing constitution is a limited and narrow document, hammered out decades ago before progressive judges and elites began to “discover” new rights. Chile called a constitutional convention to update the constitution, but over two-thirds of the delegates were progressives, populists, and socialists. Only a third were social or fiscal conservatives and they were largely shut out of the drafting of the massive document. One can sum up the document as a wish list for a coalition against private property and conservative Christianity and in favor of extreme environmentalism, gender equality, and abortion.

As Science magazine reports, the failed constitution declared Chile an “ecological nation” and a “plurinational country.” It would have changed Chilean government by enforcing ‘gender parity’ in all institutions, establishing a national health service, recognizing nearly a dozen “nations” within Chile. Such a move would have severely limited private property, and would have effectively legalized abortion…

… Some of this is dangerous, some of it is ridiculous, and some elements are just silly, but the overall effort must be taken very seriously.

Read the full article: “Chileans Reject a Radical Constitution.”