To be sure, President Sebastian Piñera is a hero for his risk-taking and his personal commitment to get the miners out. Don't forget too that the government-owned copper company Codelco was spearheading the operation. That had to present its own share of bureaucratic entanglements and is a further tribute to Mr. Piñera's executive skills.

Yet this sweet victory will be fleeting unless the center-right Piñera uses his surging political capital, at home and abroad, to advance the ideas that made his country capable of carrying out the rescue. Defending regional democracy and asserting Chilean values should be a must for this government. So too should be promoting the economic rights at home that will mean the difference between renewed Chilean dynamism and slouching toward Argentina.

It doesn't get any better than the miracle in Chile's Atacama desert. But the miner rescue also elevates a frustrating reality: Chile is South America's most modern economy yet it does not enjoy a level of regional influence commensurate with its economic status. Maybe that's because its political class habitually apologizes for the policies that made it a model for development.

To be sure, President Sebastian Piñera is a hero for his risk-taking and his personal commitment to get the miners out. Don't forget too that the government-owned copper company Codelco was spearheading the operation. That had to present its own share of bureaucratic entanglements and is a further tribute to Mr. Piñera's executive skills.

Yet this sweet victory will be fleeting unless the center-right Piñera uses his surging political capital, at home and abroad, to advance the ideas that made his country capable of carrying out the rescue. Defending regional democracy and asserting Chilean values should be a must for this government. So too should be promoting the economic rights at home that will mean the difference between renewed Chilean dynamism and slouching toward Argentina.