Showing posts with label Rand Paul. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rand Paul. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Let's Get It Right: Libertarians and War

"With your strict Libertarian ideals and values, where you are against all foreign wars, I await your actions in the Senate ..."
Let's get it right, Cassandra. There is no Libertarian tenet against "all foreign wars." You have mischaracterized Libertarianism. There is a fundamental Libertarian tenet against initiating force -- which applies to both individuals and nations -- but clearly that wouldn't affect a person's or a country's legitimate right to self-defense.

Rand Paul said that invading Iraq was the "wrong thing to do" not because it was a foreign war but because it was, in his view, an initiation of force. Paul did support the initial attack on Afghanistan, believing it was a legitimate use of force as a response to an attack on American soil.

In the eight or nine years since the invasion of Afghanistan, Paul, like so many other Americans, thinks that the Afghan War has turned into a policing and nation-building mire. Paul's views on the wars in no way contradict classic Libertarian politics.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Countin' On You, Rand Paul

I can't wait.

Mr. Rand Paul, you will be sworn in as Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky in January. With your strict Libertarian ideals and values, where you are against all foreign wars, I await your actions in the Senate where you will do everything you can to block funding for the two wars now being conducted by the current president. With the crazy Senate rules, where one senator can block any bill (even anonymously), you will have an opportunity to stop providing billions of dollars for the no-end-in-sight wars in the Middle East.

Oh, and Mr. Paul, I understand you are against agriculture subsidies. I await your action to stop all such subsidies and giveaways to big business.

If you work things right, you may be the best person to fight the corruption in D.C. I'll reserve judgment about other issues in our nation's capitol and how you fit into the equation. Good luck.

Contributors