Reminder: Our online Zoom conference on open borders continues with Bryan Caplan on Monday, October 14, at 7 p.m.-8 p.m. Eastern Time. Register here.
Reminder: I’ll be speaking at the JFK Lancer Conference in Dallas, which is being held on November 22-24 at the Dallas Marriott Downtown. I’ll have some of my JFK books there to autograph and sell at a discounted price. I hope to see you there!
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Notwithstanding all the hoopla that surrounds U.S. presidential races, it is imperative that we libertarians always keep our focus on our goal — the achievement of a free society. That necessarily entails continuing to make the principled case for freedom regardless of who is elected president. In that way, we continue finding people who want freedom and understand what freedom genuinely means. That then will enable us to arrive at the critical mass of people that is necessary to achieve a gigantic paradigm shift toward freedom.
It’s helpful to sometimes imagine what life would be like in a genuinely free society. Given that we all have been born and raised under a statist system, that is a difficult thing to do. It’s even more difficult for those Americans who are still convinced, thanks to the indoctrination and propaganda to which they were subjected in the state’s educational system, that our nation’s statist system constitutes freedom. Those people are the ones who sing to themselves, “Thank God I’m an American because at least I know I’m free.”
Let’s imagine, for example, what life would be like with a foreign policy of non-interventionism. In fact, let’s go even further than that. Let’s imagine life without the Pentagon, the CIA, and the NSA and the vast military-intelligence establishment that comes with them. Let’s imagine that our nation has restored the limited-government form of governmental structure on which America was founded and that lasted more than 150 years — one that came with a relatively small, basic military force.
All U.S. troops stationed overseas would be immediately brought home and discharged.
All foreign military bases, including Guantanamo Bay, would be immediately abandoned. No U.S. military installations in any foreign country.
No more coups, either against democratically elected rulers or self-appointed rulers.
No more state-sponsored assassinations. The Fifth Amendment prohibition against taking life without due process of law would be restored.
No more torture or indefinite detention.
No more parallel military judicial system for trying civilian crimes.
All sanctions and embargoes, including the 64-year embargo against the people of Cuba, would be immediately lifted. No more targeting people in foreign lands with death and economic privation as a way to achieve regime change.
In fact, no more regime-change operations whatsoever.
No more invasions, occupations, wars of aggression, and undeclared wars.
No more foreign aid to any regime whatsoever, including, but not limited to, the Israeli and Ukrainian governments.
No more inciting, provoking, and encouraging conflicts and wars between other countries, including, but not limited to, Russia and Ukraine.
Would all this mean that the world would suddenly be peaceful and harmonious? Of course not. It would simply mean that the U.S. government — especially the national-security segment of the government (which would no longer exist) — would no longer be pouring fuel onto fires in foreign lands and also would no longer be inciting crises, chaos, and war in foreign countries.
Anti-American anger and hatred would dissipate. No more constant threat of anti-American terrorism, which would necessarily mean no more justification for a “war on terrorism,” Homeland Security, TSA, and the massive destruction of civil liberties and privacy.
The American people could freely travel around the world and not be hated and reviled for the death and destruction wreaked on people in foreign countries by the U.S. government. Foreigners would, once again, begin admiring, respecting, and welcoming American individuals and American businesses into their lands.
A tremendous amount of taxpayer money would be saved, thereby reducing the massive amount of federal spending and debt that is hurtling our nation toward bankruptcy.
Why is it necessary to do both things — restore a foreign policy of non-interventionism and dismantle the national-security state and replace it with a limited-government republic with just a basic military force? Because the national-security establishment is the root cause of the foreign interventions. So long as the national-security state remains America’s governmental structure, there will continue to be foreign crises and a constant array of new official enemies. In other words, with the Pentagon, the CIA, and the NSA, as soon as one war or crisis is ended (e.g., Afghanistan and Iraq), there are always more waiting around the corner (e.g., Ukraine, Taiwan, Iran, etc).
Regardless of who is elected president, it is our job as libertarians to lead America — and indirectly the world — to freedom. To do that, we need to keep focused on what we need to do to accomplish that goal. Clearly, the restoration of a non-interventionist foreign policy and the restoration of our founding system of a limited-government republic are not sufficient prerequisites for a free society, but it would be a great place to start.
Reminder: Our online Zoom conference on open borders continues with Bryan Caplan on Monday, October 14, at 7 p.m.-8 p.m. Eastern Time. Register here.
Reminder: I’ll be speaking at the JFK Lancer Conference in Dallas, which is being held on November 22-24 at the Dallas Marriott Downtown. I’ll have some of my JFK books there to autograph and sell at a discounted price. I hope to see you there!
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