Regreso al futuro

Less than half of Chile's voters turned out, but those who did gave a resounding victory to an Allendean, Michelle Bachelet. She has a message that ought to chill Chileans to the marrow;

“[Chile needs] a new constitution, born in democracy, which guarantees that in future the majority will never again be silenced by a minority.”

Which is a great applause line...until one thinks for a minute or two. When minorities are impotent, tyranny is almost guaranteed, because 'Power corrupts.' As the people who wrote the U.S. constitution explained in Federalist 51;

If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions. 

Chile has had an experience, forty years ago, that they may not have learned much from.