Do Libertarians Distinguish Between Troops and Policy?

January 3, 2020 in Columnists, News by RBN Staff

 

By Je suis Spike for RBN

 

A well-known libertarian writer recently wrote,  “The military mindset believes that the killing of innocent civilians who were no threat to Americans is just collateral damage.”  Well, I read it recently; likely he’s written it many times.  I come away from his writing, sometimes, with the impression that he thinks that those serving in the military are as heartless as those who would call the killing of innocent civilians collateral damage.  I don’t paint with that broad a brush and I think that it would be unwise to do so.  And, let us say so, even though it is not necessary, libertarians do not all agree on all things.  (That “medical marijuana” thing may be the only thing they all agree on.)

That term “collateral damage” is quite possibly the most egregious example of using technically correct language to hide the truth.  I believe that all who use it to explain away (hide, minimize) the death of innocent people and destruction of property to be, at best, cowardly ignorant or ignorant cowards.  Shame on them.  I have attempted, and attempt now, to make people understand that if some goal is so worthy as to risk the killing of innocent people or knowingly and intentionally killing innocent people, then that goal is worth telling the truth about killing innocent people. These innocent people were created in the image of God just as you were and their lives deserve the same consideration of any innocent person.

(By the way, for any liberal reading this, this is why murder is wrong; only God can create in His image, only God has the right to determine what is egregious enough of a crime for His creation to be ended. He told us the rules, by the way, the crimes, they’re in His book.)

I am not against war, per se, but certainly against war that is not just; not in defense of self and neighbor, family, nation.   War of conquest, for the purpose of conquest, is indistinguishable from mass murder.  And, yes, I am an old man, not a young man.

I am so disappointed by those who blindly follow orders without filtering those orders through the Constitution they have sworn to defend.  Youth.  Truly, it is wasted on the young.  Exploited by the soulless powerful.  Impossible to retrieve.   Shame on those who exploit the vigor and love of the young for profit.

Eisenhower may well have swerved into a truth when he spoke of the world, as it was then comported, “The record of many decades stands as proof that our people and their government have, in the main, understood these truths and have responded to them well, in the face of stress and threat. But threats, new in kind or degree, constantly arise. I mention two only.  A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction.

Our military organization today bears little relation to that known by any of my predecessors in peacetime, or indeed by the fighting men of World War II or Korea.

Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions.

It may well be that we should argue that the world is now comported as it is because of those who lack wisdom, or evil men and women- including those who had been, have been, and continue to be- at the levers of power in America.  We do well to point that out, but that doesn’t change the fact that the world is as it is now comported, and we may well be at risk from those who would seek to conquer America, and, yes, I understand that some could see that as self-defense, as so much of American foreign policy has been harmful to others while enriching “America.” The American people are not entirely cognizant, I think, of what has been called American policy and that policy achieves goals while sometimes disregarding the love of truth and fair play that the American people did once believe animated our leaders.   I recall that Ron Paul received all manner of hateful rhetoric aimed at him for merely reporting what was said by the CIA about terror directed at America; some of it is blowback. That’s a CIA assessment, for what it is worth, not Ron Paul’s whimsical or anti-American assertion. He is a thinking man, a logical man, for crying out loud a doctor, he is a man who uses words thoughtfully and carefully and so he distinguishes between America, Americans and American policy.

This is a very good video that demonstrates his thoughtfulness and the intellect and conscience that drives a man to seek truth. The first three minutes is enough.

During Gulf War I there were those who said they supported the troops but not their mission.  There were some who argued that this was not possible.  I disagreed then, even when I believed that it seemed that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and had intended to use them on us.  I believe now that one can support our troops without supporting their mission.

It is said that we should support our troops and pray for our troops.

Here is my prayer:  I pray that all aspects of their mission be only righteous and for defense; their actions be just, harming no innocents, and I pray for their safe delivery home, which is where soldiers belong.

They belong at home, defending the homeland.  Of course if Americans could carry their weapons in their pockets without paying government for the privilege so as to not be in peril of “law enforcement,” we would have less need for troops in the homeland.  A recent shooting in a Texas church makes a good argument for the ability to defend self and others without bending knee to government.

If our troops need to leave this continent, the case should be made to the American people in a forthright and honest manner and those who would lie to send Americans out to kill others and break things in an expeditionary force should be treated as a direct threat to our republic.

Thank you for reading this,

Je suis Spike