Posted by Randy Barnett:
Libertarians and the War:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2007_07_15-2007_07_21.shtml#1184647054
In today's Wall Street Journal (available for free [1]here on
OpinionJournal.com), I have an op-ed on [2]Libertarians and the War in
which I note that libertarian first principles do not dictate a single
stance towards the war in Iraq and that libertarians are indeed
divided on the issue. Here is a portion from the middle:
. . . Does being a libertarian commit one to a particular stance
toward the Iraq war? The simple answer is "no."
First and foremost, libertarians believe in robust rights of
private property, freedom of contract, and restitution to victims
of crime. They hold that these rights define true "liberty" and
provide the boundaries within which individuals may pursue
happiness by making their own free choices while living in close
proximity to each other. Within these boundaries, individuals can
actualize their potential while minimizing their interference with
the pursuit of happiness by others.
When it comes to foreign policy, libertarians' severe skepticism of
government planning in the domestic arena carries over to the
government's ability to accomplish anything positive through
foreign aid, whether economic or military--a skepticism they share
with most Americans. All libertarians, I suspect, oppose military
conscription on principle, considering it involuntary servitude. To
a libertarian, any effort at "nation building" seems to be just
another form of central planning which, however well-motivated, is
fraught with unintended consequences and the danger of blowback.
And, like most everyone, libertarians oppose any war of aggression.
In all these regards, Mr. Paul is a mainstream libertarian.
But like all libertarians, even Mr. Paul believes in the
fundamental, individual right of self-defense, which is why
libertarians like him overwhelmingly support the right to keep and
bear arms. And most also believe that when the territory of the
U.S. is attacked militarily, the government--which claims a
monopoly on providing for national defense and extracts billions of
tax dollars for this purpose--is justified in using the military in
self-defense. For this reason, many libertarians (though not all)
who now oppose the war in Iraq supported U.S. military actions
against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, which had aided and
harbored the al Qaeda network that organized the 9/11 attack.
But here is the rub. While all libertarians accept the principle of
self-defense, and most accept the role of the U.S. government in
defending U.S. territory, libertarian first principles of
individual rights and the rule of law tell us little about what
constitutes appropriate and effective self-defense after an attack.
Devising a military defense strategy is a matter of judgment or
prudence about which reasonable libertarians may differ greatly. .
. .
The point of this essay is not to debate the merits of the Iraq war
but to inform those who may be unaware that libertarians can come down
on either side of this issue.
References
1. http://opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010344
2. http://opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010344
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