LP.org press release:
North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un just launched another missile, probably the country’s longest-range missile to date. The missile was launched in open defiance of President Donald Trump’s threats of fire and fury if further test launches and nuclear bomb development continue in North Korea.
“Clearly, Trump’s bellicose threats had the opposite of the intended effect,” said Nicholas Sarwark, chair of the Libertarian National Committee. “This kind of verbal grandstanding is one way wars get started. A nuclear war with North Korea is a war no one would really win. And the casualties, particularly in South Korea, would probably be in the millions. For all their faults, and they were legion, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama had the common sense to avoid this kind of escalation.”
Sarwark continued, “Kim is the worst kind of evil communist dictator. We know from most of our post WWII experience, however, that intervention by the United States in foreign countries to fix their governance problems usually backfires. The most obvious examples are Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Korea itself. The people in those countries are mostly worse off now than when we became militarily involved.”
Libertarian foreign and defense policy derives from the common-sense ideas of a vigorous defense of our own country against foreign aggression, coupled with refraining from interference in the affairs of other countries, and free trade with all.
President Trump and the GOP are eagerly keeping us involved in wars in Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq, and now risk restarting the Korean War — which we already effectively lost during the 1950s.
The Democrats are no better. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton pushed for the war in Libya while she served as secretary of state in the administration of Nobel Peace Prize–winner Barack Obama. The result was the creation of yet another safe haven for Islamic terrorists.
Most Democratic and Republican politicians are at the beck and call of the military/industrial/security/intelligence complex and their K Street lobbyists. Defense, security, and intelligence agencies and contractors make billions of dollars fighting inconclusive, never-ending, unwinnable wars overseas. American taxpayers get the bill. American soldiers, the combatants in countries we invade, and innocent civilians all pay the price in blood.
It’s time for the common-sense Libertarian solution. Maintain a vigorous defense capability of our own country. Don’t pick fights with other countries, particularly fights we cannot win. Use the money saved to lessen the debt and tax burden borne by American citizens.
The LP press release misses important points
* like US destroyed every town in No Korea in 1950-53 and many in South Korea. 2.5 million Koreans were killed. My guess is US killed probably 2/3 of them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War#War_crimes
* However, no peace treaty has been signed, and the two Koreas are technically still at war, as is US as South Korean ally. (See article above.)
* And then there are the attempts at reunification, instead of a peace treaty. Something that the US repeatedly has sabotaged, especially since Bush II was elected. – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_reunification
just spitballing here, but I would include something to the effect that a ” vigorous defense of our own country against foreign aggression” could very well include a strike against a growing, potentially existential-level threat, but that each such strike must follow an actual declaration of war constitutionally granted by Congress, and preceded by a legitimate debate by the people’s representatives, or something to that effect, thus drawing a distinction between that process and the unilateral and arbitrary actions by an all-too-powerful presidency.
Of course, given that United States has essentially averaged a new war every 2 years
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_United_States
your position vis a vis preemptive US war readiness, to the extent one would consider such a position legitimate, could hence be used as a legitimate case for a preemptive self-defense war against the US.
OK, except for including “Korea itself” as a country worse off from our intervention. South Korea is one of the world’s most vibrant economies. It wouldn’t exist if not for the UN and the U.S.
Decent.
I might have added some musings assuring the American public our position does not amount to waiting until potential adversaries are at our doorstep/attacking before we respond.