Discourse, not slander
Heidi Schweizer
Issue date: 9/24/09 Section: Opinion
Last week I was highly offended by an article in The Collegian written by Michael McDonald. In this article, my anti-war stance was equated with mass murder. The more temperate sections of the article attacked libertarianism and libertarian ethics on the grounds that many libertarians do not support foreign wars, i.e. American imperialism.
While I will not address everything Mr. McDonald said I will make some comments. He wrote, "[libertarians claim] murderous regimes have a moral right to exist" and "any country which denies its citizens basic human rights is fair game for invasion." As a libertarian, I of course do not believe murderous regimes have the right to exist. The citizens absolutely have a right to revolution. But I also hold that the United States does not have the right to invade the said country and enforce our ideals upon others. Perhaps instead of becoming the "World Police" we should exemplify freedom, like a city on a hill (Heritage class anyone?).
One of Mr. McDonald's main arguments was that libertarians lack ethics because libertarianism is subjective. I would disagree. Libertarianism is anything but subjective. As a libertarian, I draw my political axioms from the wisdom of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and writings by Thomas Jefferson and John Locke. The American founders understood the ethical and practical problems surrounding imperialism.
One of the factors inspiring the violence of American Revolution was that the British kept a standing army among Americans. This is explicitly mentioned in The Declaration of Independence. Therefore it is not justifiable for the United States to keep troops in other countries, for example Afghanistan.
The American imperialism of this past century has been due to foreign alliances and an over-powerful military establishment, exactly what George Washington urged us to avoid in his Farwell Address. Was George Washington unethical?
While I am certain that many students on campus disagree with me, my hope is that this article leads to discussions on libertarianism. The Classical Liberal Organization (CLO) will host any presentation that discusses libertarianism, all one needs to do to give a presentation is email me. I still have several questions for Mr. McDonald such as; if it is not from the American founding, where does he derive his political axiom system from? And how will the cycle of imperial violence end? In the spirit of collegiality rather than slander, I would like to invite Mr. McDonald to give a presentation of his views to the CLO so that we may then have a constructive discussion.
While I will not address everything Mr. McDonald said I will make some comments. He wrote, "[libertarians claim] murderous regimes have a moral right to exist" and "any country which denies its citizens basic human rights is fair game for invasion." As a libertarian, I of course do not believe murderous regimes have the right to exist. The citizens absolutely have a right to revolution. But I also hold that the United States does not have the right to invade the said country and enforce our ideals upon others. Perhaps instead of becoming the "World Police" we should exemplify freedom, like a city on a hill (Heritage class anyone?).
One of Mr. McDonald's main arguments was that libertarians lack ethics because libertarianism is subjective. I would disagree. Libertarianism is anything but subjective. As a libertarian, I draw my political axioms from the wisdom of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and writings by Thomas Jefferson and John Locke. The American founders understood the ethical and practical problems surrounding imperialism.
One of the factors inspiring the violence of American Revolution was that the British kept a standing army among Americans. This is explicitly mentioned in The Declaration of Independence. Therefore it is not justifiable for the United States to keep troops in other countries, for example Afghanistan.
The American imperialism of this past century has been due to foreign alliances and an over-powerful military establishment, exactly what George Washington urged us to avoid in his Farwell Address. Was George Washington unethical?
While I am certain that many students on campus disagree with me, my hope is that this article leads to discussions on libertarianism. The Classical Liberal Organization (CLO) will host any presentation that discusses libertarianism, all one needs to do to give a presentation is email me. I still have several questions for Mr. McDonald such as; if it is not from the American founding, where does he derive his political axiom system from? And how will the cycle of imperial violence end? In the spirit of collegiality rather than slander, I would like to invite Mr. McDonald to give a presentation of his views to the CLO so that we may then have a constructive discussion.
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