[Alex]
The most predictable yet idiotic response to Augusto Pinochet’s death was the notion that "well, shucks, he was iffy on human rights but at least he believed in free markets and lots of lefties like Fidel Castro who is even worse, so motes and beams and all that, you know."
As though that makes everything ok!
So, credit to the Weekly Standard for publishing John Londregan’s article "Don’t Cry for Pinochet":
Are we to admire Pinochet because his murderous regime was more efficient than tyrants on the left at producing higher GDP? Without the torture, rape, and killing, would economic and political freedom have been impossible in Chile? Hardly! But this is the argument insinuated by Pinochet. He successfully appropriated the utilitarian fallacy to which many on the left fall prey: that murder and torture are acceptable if they hasten the advent of the utopia implied by one’s ideological model.
[Of course, it’s a depressing commentary that the Standard merits praise simply for being decent.]
The Dish 