Five Libertarian Ideas #23 - Libertarian national defense, Part II

See Libertarian national defense Part I

President Obama calls for “peace”

President Obama has said about the rioting and police response in Ferguson, MO: "Now is the time for peace and calm on the streets of Ferguson. Now is the time for an open and transparent process to see that justice is done." Which is exactly why he allows the Pentagon to distribute military arsenals to local police departments like Ferguson PD... -8/15

The Pentagon

From the Pentagon to the police station

I am NOT okay with the Pentagon giving military arsenals to local police departments. I can see the use for a SWAT team but not a SWAT army. The Pentagon should be issuing surplus goods to the National Guards. If there is a genuine military-grade threat at home, the Governor should call up the state militia, NOT militarized police. -8/15

When statist academics command armies

One of the things I like best about Navy SEAL Dick Marcinko's books is that he tells it like it is. There are always politicos in Washington--some idealistic to the point of self-righteous, some totally corrupt--who constantly screw with the military.

Despite their naivety and outright arrogance, none of these pencil-pushing idiots have ever served or knows how to lead troops in battle. Yet they use the military to push their personal agendas and it always gets people killed. -8/17

Private military/security contractors

Citizen militias vs. private military companies

Libertarians are often undecided on whether the ideal military organization is the citizens' militia or the private military company. Both entities can align with libertarian ideas, depending on the morality and objectives of the operators.

The citizens' militia predates the US Army by over 150 years, but the first English colonial warriors were private sector troops, as Plymouth and Jamestown colonies were corporate endeavors. Just as both entities can be effective tools for communal self-defense, both types of entities can throw away morality and become instruments of oppression for states, quasi-states, warlords, and private sector despots. -8/18

Libertarians, anarchists, and voting

For those who believe that the state is violence and that even voting is ultimately participation in such violence, consider this: voting for libertarians, or libertarian ballot measures, is self-defense. -8/14

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Private military contractors photo courtesy of Private Military Contractors Facebook page. Pentagon aerial photo Camila Ferreira and Mario Duran used via CC BY-SA 3.0 license, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Five Libertarian Ideas #18 - Nazis in Ukraine and UFOs in Afghanistan

Russia on Nazis in Ukraine

The Russian army secretly invaded Ukraine and annexed whole chunks in order to "protect Russian speakers." Russian militias and mobs are dragging people out of their homes, severely beating them, and arresting them on the sole basis of disagreeing with "the revolution." It's funny how the Russians call Ukrainians "Nazis" and "fascists" yet themselves are doing exactly what the Nazis did in the 1930s. -5/6

Russian Soviet socialism… again

In the so-called "Donetsk People's Republic," the Russian separatists are shutting down entire banks to punish specific Ukrainian government officials who have holdings at those banks. What the separatists will undoubtedly cause is a bank run and fleeing business capital, both of which will cause economic depression in the area... just like the Soviet days. -5/6

Gay and straight Eagle Scouts

[Regarding the new twin Eagle Scouts, one gay and one straight:] I'm an Eagle Scout and it's none of my damn business what orientation a fellow scout is (nor your business either), as long as he keeps his hands to himself. End of story.  -5/7

UFO in Afghanistan conspiracy

Conspiratarians, don't get excited about the UFO in Afghanistan video that's going viral. It's definitely a drone in the video, and drones that can hover while shooting have been around at the latest since 2009. Sorry to burst your bubble but our intergalactic neighbors aren't interesting in picking sides in a tiny civil war. -5/9

Navy SEALs and libertarian foreign policy

The more I read Richard Marcinko's Rogue Warrior series (he founded SEAL Team Six), the more I realize it is, and has been for years, quite possible to deal with terrorism in a manner that neither violates the nonaggression principle nor requires the US government to start multiple wars and occupations abroad. -5/12

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Crimean militia photo by Voice of America and in the public domain. Rogue Warrior cover art is the property of Pocket Books, used via  tommytoy dot typepad dot com according to Fair Use Law.