The Presumption of Peace

This originally ran on this blog right after Randy Barnett’s article in the WSJ came out. It was pulled to make sure the letter would be published in the paper. Now that a severely edited version has been, here is the original:

Randy Barnett argues (“Libertarians and the War,” July 17) that libertarianism does not imply any particular stance toward the Iraq War. He contends that as long as the U.S. government is delegated the task of protecting the American people from foreign aggression of one sort or another, there could be a reasonable libertarian argument in favor of the war – or, at least in favor of some proper management of the war.

As with most sophistic arguments there is a kernel of truth here. There is some configuration of facts that can, within libertarian principles, justify an attack on another country including Iraq. Nevertheless, Barnett does grave injury to the classical liberal and libertarian tradition by ignoring its strong Presumption of Peace.

In his trenchant analysis of America’s entry into the First World War, Randolph Bourne captured the essence of the classical liberal critique of war: “War is the health of the State….The citizen throws off his contempt and indifference to Government, identifies himself with its purposes…and the State once more walks, an august presence, through the imaginations of men.” This pervasive effect of war was stressed by the nineteenth century libertarian Herbert Spencer who saw the evolution of society as a conflict between the peaceful voluntary structures of industrial society and the regimentation and bias toward state action inherent in war and militarism. War is a both an activity and frame of mind that values conformity and the acceptance of orders over the primacy of the individual. This is the primary cost of war.

Of course, no classical liberal objects to self-defense. But where was the evidence of the threat from Iraq? We all now know that the “evidence” was unforgivably poor. The real motivation was regime change in the hope of making the Middle East more amenable to particular foreign policy goals. Furthermore, the U.S. government, as a signer of the U.N. Charter, had no authorization to invade, regardless of Saddam’s resistance to inspections. The immediate defense of the nation was not at stake so the “right” of every nation to self-defense cannot be honestly invoked. And to say, as some have, that the present disastrous consequences of the invasion were not reasonably foreseeable makes a mockery of foreign policy expertise.

Can libertarians of good will disagree with the above? Perhaps. But an adequate libertarian case for war in Iraq would have to overcome the heavy burden imposed by the Presumption of Peace. No libertarian I know or heard of has even begun this task.

Iraq Wins Asia Cup, Will Bush Take Credit?

For the first time ever, Iraq won the Asian Cup football (soccer) title, beating Saudi Arabia in a match held in Jakarta, Indonesia. Violence has been down the last couple of days as Sunnis, Shi’ites, and Kurds came together in a unity that trumps politics.

Iraqis are hoping that George Bush won’t try to take credit for the win, as he did in August 2004 when he claimed that the Iraqi football success in the Olympics was proof that the U.S.-led occupation was benefiting Iraq.

“This is a game that Iraq won, and I hope Bush won’t now say, look, I made them win that match,” a member of the Iraqi Olympics Federation in Baghdad, speaking on condition of anonymity, told IPS. “He did it once and we hated him even more for that because it was our boys who won despite the miserable support we are getting from the Americans and our government.”

After the 2004 Olympics win, Iraqi football star Salih Sadir told reporters, “Iraq as a team doesn’t want Mr. Bush to use us (in an ad) for the presidential campaign…we don’t wish for the presence of the Americans in our country. We want them to go away.” Iraq’s football coach Adnan Hamad Majeed had then said: “(My problems) are with what America has done in Iraq: destroy everything. The American Army has killed so many people in Iraq.”

Joshua Frank

Hillary Clinton: Blood-Thirsty Warmonger

[audio:http://dissentradio.com/radio/07_07_26_frank.mp3]

Joshua Frank, co-editor of DissidentVoice.org and author of Left-Out!: How Liberals Helped Re-elect George W. Bush, discusses the impending global tyranny of a Hillary Clinton administration, her association with war criminals such as Richard Holbrooke, the sad fact that most little d-democrats out there will vote for her anyway and some serious flaws in our electoral system.

MP3 here. (37:33)

Joshua Frank is co-editor of Dissident Voice and author of Left Out! How Liberals Helped Reelect George W. Bush (Common Courage Press, 2005), and along with Jeffrey St. Clair, the editor of the forthcoming Red State Rebels, to be published by AK Press in March 2008. Read other articles by Joshua, or visit Joshua’s website.

Jacob Hornberger

How to Not Be a Good German

[audio:http://dissentradio.com/radio/07_07_25_hornberger.mp3]

Jacob Hornberger, founder and president of the Future of Freedom Foundation discusses the circumstances in which the German people accepted the rise of the Nazi Reich, the use of crisis as an excuse to destroy liberty, the writ of habeas corpus, the unitary executive theory, Bush’s new Executive Order granting the Treasury Department to seize the property of whoever they deem threaten their criminal Iraq policy, Ron Paul, and his recent Restoring the Republic conference.

MP3 here. (48:54)

Jacob G. Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation. He was born and raised in Laredo, Texas, and received his B.A. in economics from Virginia Military Institute and his law degree from the University of Texas. He was a trial attorney for twelve years in Texas. He also was an adjunct professor at the University of Dallas, where he taught law and economics. In 1987, Mr. Hornberger left the practice of law to become director of programs at The Foundation for Economic Education in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York, publisher of The Freeman.

Freedom Daily. Fluent in Spanish and conversant in Italian, he has delivered speeches and engaged in debates and discussions about free-market principles with groups all over the United States, as well as Canada, England, Europe, and Latin America, including Brazil, Cuba, Bolivia, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Argentina.

He has also advanced freedom and free markets on talk-radio stations all across the country as well as on FOX New’s Neil Cavuto and Greta van Susteren shows. His editorials have appeared in the Washington Post, Charlotte Observer, La Prensa San Diego, El Nuevo Miami Herald, and many others, both in the United States and in Latin America. He is a co-editor or contributor to the eight books that have been published by the Foundation.