While we watch the campaign season heat up our winter in the United States, Argentina’s ‘Botox Queen’ has just ended her eight year rule; I speak of Argentine’s President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. Kirchner was and always has been a political idol of mine, fighting for human rights in Argentina and providing social benefit plans for the poor but most of all, her passion and absolute love for her country and her people. It is true that Kirchner is a socialist who would rather have tea with Vladimir Putin than Barack Obama, but her ideas and actions speak volumes not only in South America but around the world. Coming out from under her husband's shadow in 2007, Kirchner has taken Argentina and froze it in time in order to stabilize and protect the nations economy. Since the end of Argentina’s great recession in 2003, Kirchner’s administration has used old Roosevelt style economics, mixed with socialist ideals, to prevent another recession from occurring and is used to lure foreign investors into the Argentinian economy. The biggest strength of Kirchner’s presidency is the amount of love and passion she has for her country; every speech she gives, every policy she creates is one that is for the betterment of Argentina and its people. Americans might find this too good to be true but it actually isn’t.

We, as Americans, have succumb to the idea that not everything is about you and that everything will eventually get better over time; I find this idea insane. The fact that people still believe in ‘trickle-down’ or ‘supply-side’ economics is laughable. If we look at the wealthiest Americans, better known as the 1%, we will find that these people own 50.09% of the countries stocks, bonds and mutual funds while they only own 5% of the nations debt. With these numbers some might think that these people have earned this lifestyle, which I respect, but to find out that the bottom 90% of Americans own 73% of the national debt is outrageous. The United States can learn a lot from Kirchner in the sense of her style of governing and economics; socialistic theory.

Kirchner has used her socialistic outlook to turn Argentina into an economy that foreign investors want to invest in and so far it has worked. Of course there are problems within the Argentinian economy mainly in the governments spending and firm grasp on domestic corporations, but if we shave off the imperfections there is a real model that could be used in the United States. If the United States was to increase taxes on the 1%, we would be able to use that money to give tax breaks to the people who work hard everyday to get by, or be able to create more social benefits that would aid families in their everyday lives. In order for this to happen we must get rid of the ‘Feel The Bern’ idea; Bernie Sanders ideas are great and give hope to a diminishing sunshine, but his ideas are thinking too far ahead. We must first start out at the base of the issue which is income inequality and work from there, and from the looks of the Republican party, I believe that the battle will not be short or easy. Going back to the point being made is that we need reform in the image of a Cristina Kirchner; we need the passion, the firm hand and Populistic ideas she utilized during her time in office. This image eludes us today but will hopefully show his or her face in the coming time.

As Kirchner leaves office her memory and impact on Argentina will never be forgotten, and some even say she is already preparing a 2019 presidential bid, which is permitted in the Argentinian Constitution. Either way Kirchner leaves the political world of Latin America on good terms with her people and she will stand tall against human rights violations, the inequality of wealth distribution and the freedom of her people even after leaving office. It is funny though, how a person who is referred to as the ‘Botox Queen’ in the Falkland Islands, has figured out how to successfully pull a country out of a massive economic chokehold and is able to provide successful social benefits to her people, but yet the United States can’t figure out universal healthcare, which Argentina had in 2001.