DON'T SUPPORT THE TROOPS (C) LewRockwell.com " "Support the troops - Bring them home!" is a familiar refrain in current libertarian antiwar dogma. The slogan assumes they want to come home. It assumes they don't like what they're doing over there. It practically assumes they're libertarians. But are they? If so, why did they join the military? The fact is that American soldiers probably reflect the attitudes on war and interventionism of the US populace at large. Let's face an unpleasant truth: the voting majority in the US is pro-intervention. That same majority thinks that both World Wars were swell adventures, and that, if Vietnam was a failure, it was at least a noble effort. This is the pool from which the United States draws its military. Soldiers may think they're defending the country, or they may believe that action, whatever the consequences, is better than inaction. In other words, better to do something about an atrocity than stand by and allow it to happen. This kind of thinking needs to be debunked and it cannot be done successfully without reasoned criticism of the troops. Libertarians cannot say that war planners and the ideologues who drive them are evil, but that the instruments of those plans are peaceable innocents. There's a tendency in libertarian circles to think that radical criticism of supposed sacred cows will prove to be disastrous to the future of the movement. I look at it differently. I think the other side should be ashamed of themselves, and we should encourage such shame with our rhetoric. We should not apologize for our views; we should make the statists apologize. We are libertarians, they are totalitarians; is this not correct? When I see libertarians Supporting the Troops! and reserving criticism for policy-makers, I see this view in practice. Yet Supporting the Troops! is a distinctly collectivist idea. Self-sacrifice for the state - is there any principal more anathema to individualism? Why should anyone sacrifice himself for the state unless he is a mere worker bee? The state is greater than the individual; more important than anything else, and all must be sacrificed to protect it, even from its own parts. Those who are willing to sacrifice themselves should be held above all others - praised as though they were saints. This is what we're tacitly saying when we Support the Troops! Many libertarians I read regularly gloss over the issue of The Troops, and exactly what they're doing in their glorious adventures. When atrocities occur, it is reported as "the US did it?" or "the administration did it?" The terms are invariably abstract enough so that no names are named. The US has an all-volunteer army now. These aren't the days of the draft, where men are ordered to kill-or-be-killed (though even in the days of the draft, it was possible to peacefully resist). Still, many arguments abound against criticism of troops: The troops were lied to by the administration, specifically with regards WMDs. What a revolutionary idea, that politicians lie. Strange that we libertarians never believed those lies. Strange that it was, as Powell himself said, "bullsh*t." I suppose we libertarians have access to special information that everyone else can't see or make any use of. The US military should only ever be used for defense; it says so in the Constitution. Please. When, oh when, has the US military ever been used as a defensive force? The US is not in danger of invasion, has never been in danger of invasion, and does not require a standing military. Even with these obvious truths, the US has had a standing military of ever increasing size since before the Cretaceous period. The US military is, was, and ever shall be, an offensive force, existing at the meddlesome whims of political masters. If GI Joe joined the military thinking he would only be used if the US were attacked, he was suffering from an incurable form of galactic foolishness. Let?s not lionize a fool, especially one with a gun. Another thing, I could live without ever hearing a libertarian talk about again is the blasted Constitution. Lysander Spooner wrote a little book called No Treason: the Constitution of No Authority 135 years ago. Allow me to summarize; the Constitution is a contract between parties which do not exist and have not signed it. Therefore, it clearly exists outside the law, got it? If you're going to be a radical, be a radical, don't talk like Republicrats. Besides, the Constitution is a Living, Breathing Document as long as there are living, breathing human beings in the state apparatus to interpret it. Get over your fantastical dreams about an all-powerful document which will restrain the power of the state. These kinds of tiresome, illogical arguments don't seem radical, just very, very. Don't even get me started on the Founding Fathers (Full disclosure: I'm Canadian)......" For entire article go to : http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig6/snider1.html |