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| Home Front: Culture Wars |
| Extreme pacifism and libertarianism |
| 2007-09-26 |
| Richard Brookheiser, National Review The behavior of the Paulnuts on the Mackinac ferry, noted by David, is a common consequence of pacifism and extreme libertarianism. Both think the state at war is the worst thing in the world. (Extreme libertarians think the state doing most everything else is also bad.) Most—maybe all—libertarians acknowledge a right to self defense. But in the modern world this cannot be done by militias. It requires a military industrial complex, with all the attendant consequences. Some libertarians accept this fact (while proposing modifications). Extreme libertarians do not; therefore they support self defense only in theory. In any actual situation, the prospect of the state at war is so monstrous that the pacifist/extreme libertarian must prettify or deny the threat, and abuse Cassandras. Thus 9/11 was an inside job, the war on terror is a project of warmongering Jews, Giuliani stole WTC gold, etc., etc. The honest pacifist/extreme libertarian would say, I will not fight, for any reason, at any time. If evil triumphs, so be it. It will be less evil than my fighting would have been. I at least have preserved my rightness. But that is a hard saying, hence these maneuvers. Ron Paul is a pencil head, leading a jacquerie of wicked idiots. |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #10 Plenty of required judicial killing in those days, too. It's lots easier now. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-09-26 20:16 |
| #9 Cery true. Read it in the Aramiac, or the rabinnical greek from the Maccabees period, and even older. Killing is OK - and the Torah (the so-called Pentateuch) is replete with justified killing. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2007-09-26 19:34 |
| #8 The sixth commandment is incorrectly translated. It's thou shalt not murder |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2007-09-26 16:37 |
| #7 Slightly off topic, but back when your country called, you served. A true patriot AND a pacifist (in the religious sense). |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-09-26 12:48 |
| #6 The problem with libertarians is they tend to have no sense of self-preservation. If you create a perfect libertarian country with open borders and no foreign policy you will soon have a socialist tyranny. Logically it's not a difficult leap into the future to understand yet so many of them simply don't see it because they desire the pure libertarian near-anarchy where everyone does good despite human nature. I believe those that consider themselves little "l" libertarians see this problem, unfortunately they do not control the Liberterian party, they prefer to influence the Republicans at this point. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2007-09-26 12:38 |
| #5 “Extreme libertarians think the state doing most everything else is also bad.” Let me get this out of the way. First, any “ism” taken to it’s extreme can be dangerous. Second, Ron Paul is indeed a pencil head. With that said, most Libertarians believe that the governments’ primary objective is protection of its citizens' rights. And that it may be neccessarry that those protections include force. Also, in maintaining those liberties justifiable “Offensive force” is not counterintuitive to their core principles. That is wholley differnet then pacifism. Finally, there’s something the Republicans should consider if they want to attract the largest swing voter block in the coming elections. Libertarians advocate smaller government, lower taxes and maintaining freedom. Apparently, those are some principles that many of the Neo-conservatives and Country Club Pubs have abandoned. |
| Posted by: DepotGuy 2007-09-26 12:07 |
| #4 Time to break out a favorite quote again: "War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature, and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." --- John Stuart Mill |
| Posted by: mcsegeek1 2007-09-26 11:32 |
| #3 One of the reasons I almost never vote libertarian anymore even though I consider myself in the libertarian wing of the GOP...no common sense left amongst the national libertarian party....the pro open-borders crowd coupled w/no real platform for combatting islam leaves them in the gut pile imho. Plus, trying to legalize every illicit drug under the sun doesn't bode well for the longevity of that party. Ron Paul's a dork to btw. |
| Posted by: Broadhead6 2007-09-26 10:47 |
| #2 And there have been honest pacifists. However, many are intellectually dishonest slackers who want to enjoy the benefits of society but reject doing the heavy lifting and try to rationalize their shortcomings by obstructing and interfering with those doing the actual work at hand. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2007-09-26 10:02 |
| #1 A lot of "libertarian" leadership has gone to drinking the kool-aid these days. It is no longer a party of federalist thinking people. While true, war is an option that most people do not relish, it is still something that needs done. Much like cleaning a clogged toilet after a bad bout of food poisoning. It is yucky, but needs done or the problem will get worse and stink up everything. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-09-26 10:01 |