Issue Position: A Foreign Policy of Peace and Freedom

Issue Position

A Foreign Policy of Peace and Freedom

In compliance with our core principal, libertarians are opposed to the initiation of force. Constitutionalists are opposed to undeclared wars. I am both a libertarian and a constitutionalist, and thus, I was opposed to the preemptive, undeclared and unconstitutional War in Iraq from the start.

In 2006, Democrats were swept into Congress to stop the war. I wrote an article in the November 14, 2006 edition of LPM Online saying, "in two years, American troops will still be there, and it wont be for R&R." I wish I had been wrong about the Democrats, but the fact of the matter is that they lacked the courage to end this war the only constitutional way a Congress could have ended a war: by refusing to fund it.

Two years later Barack Obama was elected, largely by anti-war liberals. That was in 2008. It is now 2012 and some troops are still there. Even George W. Bush had planned on bringing troops home sooner. But one conflict is a symptom of a larger policy problem: Military interventionism. Defense is a core function of the federal government. Global occupation is unsustainable, bleeds our economy, causes untold human suffering, and makes the American people less secure.

The Afghan invasion was initiated with the stated purpose of capturing Osama Bin Laden and neutralizing his network of supporters. Since the President has declared this mission accomplished, the occupation continues, and troops are now involved in nation building. While America's stated objective was more noble, it would serve our leaders well to reflect on the domestic consequences a similar effort had on the Soviet Union.

I will continue to advocate the closure of military bases abroad. Our own defense is expensive enough. It is not fair that American taxpayers should be forced to shoulder the burden of defending our economic competitors in Germany and Japan, while the citizens in these countries get a free ride. Bringing troops home to defend the United States can make us the most secure country in the world.

In short: I believe that U.S. military action should only be used in the defense of the American homeland, and that war can only be declared by Congress.

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