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The Right Coast
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The Hispanic Tradition of Liberty Reason.com

By Thomas A. Smith

The Argentines who sought to create a republic after the downfall of dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas found their inspiration in a treatise on the fundamentals of republican political organization, published in 1852 by Juan Bautista Alberdi, a classical liberal polymath. He observed that the men who had gained independence from Spain prized military glory above all else, disdaining commerce and luxury as they aspired to the Spartan ideal of an austere, secluded warrior caste unmoved by material desires. Such lofty principles did quite little to improve South America’s primitive economic conditions.

via reason.com