The 109th Congress should
- insist that U.S. armed forces not be deployed to areas where
hostilities are likely or imminent unless and until both houses of
Congress have approved such action;
- defund any such deployment that lacks the prior approval of
Congress;
- insist that no aggressive action be taken by U.S. armed forces
unless and until Congress has passed a declaration of war;
- oppose any effort to reshape national security doctrine in a manner
that denies congressional supremacy over the war power; and
- impeach any president who orders aggressive/offensive action by U.S.
armed forces without a declaration of war.
- Missing
the Point in the Kerrey Controversy, May 4, 2001
- Peace
Amendment, the (a proposed foreign policy Constitutional
amendment)
- What Is
War? (from Why
Government Doesn't Work)
- Foreign
Policy for America, a (from The
Great Libertarian Offer)
- Ignorance
Is Dangerous, January 17, 2002
- Myths of
World War II, the, March 25, 2002
- Top
10 Reasons to Get the U.S. out of Yugoslavia, May 3, 1999
- When
Will We Learn? — Part III, September 17, 2001
- How
War Amplified Federal Power in the Twentieth Century - Robert Higgs
- The Costs of War: America's Pyrrhic Victories
next: U.S Security Strategy
Long-Range Considerations
War is an ancient practice. It is no longer a viable option. Nations
possess weapons which can annihilate hundreds of millions of people. The
ancient philosophers never considered modern realities. We need to
re-think war on a fundamental philosophical level.
Let's begin with a simple analogy. Suppose the police receive a tip
that your next-door neighbor has a bomb. Would you approve the
carpet-bombing of your entire neighborhood as a means of dealing with this
madman? Would you want your entire neighborhood bombed "back
to the stone age?" No, you would want the bomb-sniffing dogs to
go into your neighbor's house to find the bomb and the bomb squad to carefully disarm
it, with the smallest possible risk to the bomb-owner's neighbors.
Suppose the police department sealed off the entire neighborhood --
your house included -- and would not allow anyone in the neighborhood to
buy food, medical supplies, or do business with anyone outside the police
perimeter, until the bomber (who was a powerful multi-millionaire who was
still able to get all the supplies he wanted) voluntarily
turned over the bomb? This is called "sanctions,"
and along with carpet-bombing has been our national policy towards the
madman Saddam Hussein. Millions of innocent people have died as a result
of these policies. This is morally unacceptable.
The "Just War" theory also does not consider one of the most
striking features of modern geo-politics: government-funded enemies. Our
government -- claiming to guarantee our "security"
-- has been active in selling bombs to madmen like Saddam
Hussein. America's enemies are the
best enemies money can buy.
The Libertarian Party is actively formulating policies that would
privatize national defense in a way that maximizes security and liberty
and minimizes blanket destruction.
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