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this: One third of the people gen–
uinely support the governmenl
and another t hird fear lhc allcr–
native, considering the Allende
nighlmare.
In a plebiscite last Seplember,
lhe volers of Chile approved a
new cons lilution that went into
etfccl March 11 , 1981.
By a
67
percent margin (con–
fi rming the two-thirds support
factor) voters approved of Gener–
al Pinochet retaining power, as
presiden t , for another eighl years.
Foreign observers and diplomats
feel l he vote was an accurale
reflection of public desire, and
was by no mcans rigged .
During this trans itional period
Presidcn t Pinoc het intend s lo
grad ua ll y reslore politi cal activi–
ty, including parliamentary elec–
tions, under carefully conlrolled
conditions. But parties advocating
"class s truggle" will be banned.
The President will be monitor–
ing the cou ntry's progress closely.
("1
am here to complete my mis–
sion," President Pinoche t once
said.)
1
f the política] climate is
considered ripe, presid ential elec–
lions will take place in
1989. 1
f
not, l he r e w i
JI
be a not her
appointed president for a second
eigh t -year period , to keep thc
country on course.
Julio Dittborn, an official of
Odeplan,
the state economic
planning agency, and a Chicago
Boy himself, told me last year in
Santiago o f the importance of
President Pinochet 's role. "Every
interes t , every group dreams of
being a monopoly," he said. "Thc
on ly wall against them is a deter–
mined pres ident" who sees the
big piclure, the overall national
interesl.
Will future elected leaders
havc lhe same "big picturc"? Not
like ly, but C hile's leaders loday
hope that whenever elected politi–
c ians inhcrit power again thcy
w i 11 fi nd a prosperou s a nd
depoliticized society firml y set in
place. The revamped s truclurc of
Chi lean society, they hope, will
reduce the ability of the elected
leaders to buy votes, to seduce
a nd play off one segment of the
population against the others, or
to spend (steal) the wealth of the
Augusl , 1981
country to perpetuale lhemselves
in office.
The governmcnl aims, says a
cabinet official, to "create a new
generat ion [of political leaders]
capable of acting purely for the
nal ion and nol as demagogucs."
Giv e n th e pull s o f hum a n
nature and its desirc to "get "
rather than to "give' '- C hile's
political and economic experi–
ment is indeed an ambitious one.
Neede d - New Leade r s for t he
Whole World
In his inaugural add rcss March
11, President Pinochel spoke out,
predictably, agains t the self-seek–
ing political ways of thc past. He
said the old constitution "failed
because the old politicians had
failed. "
The lessons that thc rcadcrs of
The Plain Truth
should learn from
this observation and Chi le's expe–
rience is that the politics and the
politicians of the
entire world
have
failed-and have failed with few
exceptions down through his tory.
P/ain Truth
Editor in C hief,
Herbert W. Armstrong has writ–
ten: "Governments promise
peace- but bring wa rs. They
promise benefits for the pcople,
and then extract from the people
lhe cosl of t he benefits plus cxces–
sive costs of governmenl. Govern–
ment promises are empty. The
people a re the pawns who fork over
the money, in order to gct a part of
il back. We fail to find in human
government any knowl edge of
life's purpose, or dissemination of
the true val ues."
Very soon now, there wi ll be,
instead of the old poli lics of this
wor ld, a totally new and com–
pletely just and honest govern–
ment- not of men , but of God,
administered by a returned Jesus
C hrist, ass is ted by those training
now to have a part in this new
government.
This is the very core o f the
message of the Gospel of the
Kin gdom of God that J es us
preached-and was put to death
for doing so. But C.h r is t is al ive
and wi ll return lo set up that
Kingdom. In the booklet
The
Wonderful World Tomorrow–
What
lt
Wi/1 Be Like
(wr ite for
your free copy) Mr. Armstrong
wriles:
"The new World Government
... will
no!
be so-called Democ–
racy. lt will
110 1
be 'Socialism.' lt
will
n o t
be Commun ism or
Nazism. lt will nol be human
Monarchy, Oligarchy, or Plu toc–
racy.
ll
will not be MAN's govern–
ment over man. Man has
proven
his utter incapability of ruling
himself!
" lt
will be OIVI
E
Govern–
ment- the Government of God.
lt
will
not
be government from
the bottom up. The people will
have NO VOTES. l t will
not
be gov–
ernment
of
or
by
the people- but
it wi/1 be government
FOR
the
p eop/e!
l t will be government
from the TOP (God Almighty)
down!
" The re will be no dirty políti–
ca! campaigns, where each cand i–
date attempts to put himself for–
ward in thc most favorable light.
defaming, denouncing, discred it–
ing his opponents. No time will
be wasted in mudslinging cam–
paigns in
the
1
us t
fo r
power.... /\11 officials will be
APPOINTED-and by the divine
CHRIST, who reads and knows
men's hearts- their inner charac–
ter, and abililies or lack of abi li–
ty."
T he govcrnment o f God- a
divinc dict a tor shi p if yo u
please- will rule with outgoing
concern, or love- for those ruled.
lt will be rule for the highest
good of the people.
Men and women everywhere in
all nat ions will be taught
the way
to achieve peace and prosperity.
This way, simply pu t, is the way
of
give,
expressed as )ove toward
God first and love toward neigh–
bor equal to one's self.
The soon-coming God-admin–
is tercd utopía will be the govern–
menta l and economic "experi–
ment" tha t ñnally works. l t will
pul to shame t he competitive,
antagonis tic, crafty and often dis–
honest old poli tics of this world .
God speed that day.
o
The author visited Chile 011 011 exte11sive
fact -ji11di11g trip through South Amerira
last
stmlflll'r.
43