Rand Paul's Smedley Butler Dog Whistle to the Antiwar Libertarians

[Brian4Liberty]

Rand Paul's Smedley Butler Dog Whistle to the Antiwar Libertarians
Brian Doherty | May. 20, 2015

Amid lots and lots of interesting, and wonderful to hear on the floor of the Senate, stuff from Rand Paul in his just-concluded talk about all the reasons why the Patriot Act needs to go and the USA Freedom Act needs to be amended before it's passed was a quick quote from a name that doubtless most people hearing didn't recognize: Smedley Butler.

The quote was either a direct statement or paraphrase of Butler's "There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights."

But that Paul had the nerve to mention Butler in a positive way was a great, if obscure and possibly easy to overinterpret, sign for those who love Paul for his tendencies toward reining in America's tendencies toward war.

Butler, himself a highly honored major general in the Marine Corps, is author of an incendiary tract called War is a Racket in 1935, beloved of antiwar folk ever since. Christopher Coyne summed it up for us here at Reason nicely back in 2012:

"War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives."

So begins U.S. Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler's 1935 pamphlet War is a Racket. Butler, who had participated in many military interventions, came to realize that war allowed elites to gain while less powerful citizens and foreigners bore the conflict's financial, physical, and emotional costs. Citizens, policymakers, pundits, and scholars have yet to internalize Butler's warning.​

Indeed they haven't, which is why it's great, even though the words "war is a racket" in their full Butlerian meaning likely never won't come from Rand Paul's lips, to hear Butler's name mentioned in the filibuster-ish peroration today. (Paul similarly named a more thoroughly libertarian secret hero, Lysander Spooner, in his 2013 anti-drone filibuster.) These sort of reminders that Rand Paul comes from the curious and unique background of radical anti-state and anti-war thinking are always nice for those of us who hope for a Rand Paul who doesn't forget the rich heritage of libertarian and libertarian-ish thought. And today's Rand Paul was a pretty pure hero.
...
More: http://reason.com/blog/2015/05/20/rand-pauls-smedley-butler-dog-whistle-to

 

[Sola_Fide]

Indeed they haven't, which is why it's great, even though the words "war is a racket" in their full Butlerian meaning likely never won't come from Rand Paul's lips, to hear Butler's name mentioned in the filibuster-ish peroration today. (Paul similarly named a more thoroughly libertarian secret hero, Lysander Spooner, in his 2013 anti-drone filibuster.) These sort of reminders that Rand Paul comes from the curious and unique background of radical anti-state and anti-war thinking are always nice for those of us who hope for a Rand Paul who doesn't forget the rich heritage of libertarian and libertarian-ish thought. And today's Rand Paul was a pretty pure hero.

Yep.

 

[Inkblots]

I did an air-punch when I heard Rand cite General Butler. It was a great moment in a great day.

 

[HarryBrowneLives]

Interesting aside, Harry Browne was in the midst of writing a book before his untimely death by MS that I was really looking forward to. I was to be titled "The War Racket". Wished he could have lived to see it through. Sigh

 

[Ronin Truth]

LewRockwell.com
ANTI-STATE • ANTI-WAR • PRO-MARKET

 

[Matt Collins]

Good maybe these people will actually quit calling Rand a Bilderberg neocon globalist warmonger whenever he sneezes in the wrong direction next time... although I doubt it.

 

[Anti Federalist]

Uncle Smedley FTW.

 

[JK/SEA]

Good maybe these people will actually quit calling Rand a Bilderberg neocon globalist warmonger whenever he sneezes in the wrong direction next time... although I doubt it.

'these' people...

ok, i'll bite.

 

[Warlord]

Good maybe these people will actually quit calling Rand a Bilderberg neocon globalist warmonger whenever he sneezes in the wrong direction next time... although I doubt it.

Collins is bitter

 

[Occam's Banana]

*dog whistle*

Good maybe these people will actually quit calling Rand a Bilderberg neocon globalist warmonger whenever he sneezes in the wrong direction next time... although I doubt it.

Down, boy! Down!

 

[tennman]

Good maybe these people will actually quit calling Rand a Bilderberg neocon globalist warmonger whenever he sneezes in the wrong direction next time... although I doubt it.

We need to engage them more. I really think this post, http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?472971-Rand-Paul-Libertarianish, is the way to go. The "puritan" libertarians need to give Rand a chance. He's the stepping stone to what they want and what he (really) wants which is a libertarian country. But it won't happen over night and he seems to have the wisdom to see that.

 

[Danke]

Smedley who?

 

[dancjm]

My ears pricked up when I heard that name.

 

[Superfly]

They can have Chris Kyle, I'll take Smedley Butler.

 

[Suzanimal]

Uncle Smedley FTW.

Uncle Smedley would be proud of you.

 

[Brian4Liberty]

"War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses." - Smedley Butler