Time for Libertarians to Put on Their Big Boy Pants (and embrace interventionism)

[RonPaulFanInGA]

http://pjmedia.com/rogerlsimon/2014/08/24/the-big-boy-pants/?singlepage=true

I have always had a certain sympathy for libertarianism and it has only grown during the Obama administration. Who could believe in big government living under the fiasco of this man’s presidency?

And I am certainly not alone. Libertarianism, if we are to believe none other than The New York Times, has become quite chic.

But paradoxically, during this same time frame, it has become perhaps even more evident that one of the apparent tenets of libertarianism — a kind of neo-isolationism — is, well, to put it bluntly, insane. In the era of the Islamic State (not to mention a dozen other similar murderous, increasingly global organizations we could name or are being invented as I write), anyone who believes we can roll up the gangplanks to create the perfect libertarian state and everything will be just ducky is living in dreamland.

But a fair number of libertarians are. As an example, one of the leading spokesmen for the movement (I’ll be gracious by not naming him, because he’s probably embarrassed at this point) was quoted as likening the problem of Islamic terrorism to herpes — I guess he meant an annoyance you can live with if you find the right partner (who doesn’t behead you).

Do those same isolationist libertarians think that one Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, current leader of the Islamic State, was kidding when he said “See you in New York” when let out of detention camp in Iraq in 2009? If not, what do they propose to do about it? Wait until he is in New York? Maybe Eric Holder will arrest him. Or maybe he’ll blow up the Stock Exchange and sink the free market. Or one of his now thousands of minions will. Do you want to sit back to wait to find out? And what about all the unknown unknowns lurking out there?

 

[Lucille]

http://www.voxday.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-wrong-battleground.html

Roger Simon needs to stop worrying about other men's pants and start looking at the consequences of the idiot interventionist and immigrationist policies he has advocated in the past:
[....]
Simon doesn't stop to think that the reason the USA is in such a parlous state is the direct result of a) American military interventions, and b) America's quasi-open immigration policies. It's always interesting to see naive commentators ignorant of basic military history babbling about war, because the Clausewitzian center of gravity is NOT in the Middle East, Syria, or even Iraq. It is in the West. The war in the East cannot be seriously fought until the war in the West is won; contra the insistence of the WWI-era generals, offense is not the way to win a war.

UPDATE: To say nothing of the fact that this is the same guy who wanted the USA to remove Assad from power last year, which would have assured that ISIS was even better established in the region than it is now.

 

[Warlord]

Will PJ Media and the rest of the neocons who cheered on the war with Iraq ever admit they were wrong?

 

[RonPaulFanInGA]

Will PJ Media and the rest of the neocons who cheered on the war with Iraq ever admit they were wrong?

They seemed to be fading away, but they're emboldened by the ISIS, which is their new boogeyman for more war in the Middle East.

 

[thoughtomator]

the desperate pleas of the dying neocon faction are music to my ears

 

[presence]

Libertarians will embrace interventionism when radical Islamists start worshiping the Pope.

 

[kcchiefs6465]

was quoted as likening the problem of Islamic terrorism to herpes

Who's he talking about?

 

[Warlord]

They seemed to be fading away, but they're emboldened by the ISIS, which is their new boogeyman for more war in the Middle East.

But of course ISIS wouldn't exist if Saddam was still around

 

[Origanalist]

When is Roger Simon at least going to get into pull ups and quit peeing his diapers over "all the unknown unknowns lurking out there"?

In other words, it’s time for libertarians to put on their big boy pants and give some serious thought not just to national defense but to global defense, because I have some news for them: The Pax Americana was the real deal. It worked for decades, saving myriad lives, and now it’s almost gone. We have seen that writ large for us in the last few years as never before. Obama’s non-existent, feckless, reactionary, confused, absurd (or whatever other adjective you want to pick) “leading from behind” foreign policy has brought the world to the brink of madness as nothing since WWII.

Absolute blindness.

 

[enhanced_deficit]

They seemed to be fading away, but they're emboldened by the ISIS, which is their new boogeyman for more war in the Middle East.

Is it possible that PJ Media neocons have ties to / are actually enablers of Al Qaeda linked groups like ISIS?

U.S. journalist freed by Al-Qaida-linked group surfaces in Israel

 

[TheTexan]

I agree. We need to be at the forefront of every war. We are #1 after all, and we can't be #1 if we're peacenik panzies who let the terrorists win.

 

[Vanguard101]

But of course ISIS wouldn't exist if Saddam was still around

In Syria ISIS would still exist

 

[enhanced_deficit]

In Syria ISIS would still exist

Wonder why.


No need to panic ; Former CIA deputy station chief discusses ISIS with Iraqi Sunni leaders

Syria: The Strange US/Israel/Al-Qaeda Ménage à Trois

BOMBSHELL: ISIS leader was US prisoner. Obama released him

1. Exclusive: Obama authorizes secret U.S. support for Syrian rebels ...
   www.reuters.com/.../us-usa-syria-obama-order-idUSBRE8701OK201208...‎
   Aug 1, 2012 - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has signed a secret order ... Syrian rebel fighters pose for a picture in Hama July 20, 2012. ... had crafted a directive authorizing greater U.S. covert assistance to Syrian rebels. ....
2. Obama Funding Syrian Rebels Beheading Christians... Jul 28, 2013 - Obama is now pushing massive funding for Syrian rebels who are ...

McCain called out over support for Al Qaeda

 

[Philhelm]

DD-214 showing his service in Iraq or STFU.

 

[thoughtomator]

In Syria ISIS would still exist

Unlikely to be a significant force without the massive US aid that has flowed their way for years.

 

[Anti Federalist]

Do those same isolationist libertarians think that one Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, current leader of the Islamic State, was kidding when he said “See you in New York” when let out of detention camp in Iraq in 2009? If not, what do they propose to do about it? Wait until he is in New York? Maybe Eric Holder will arrest him. Or maybe he’ll blow up the Stock Exchange and sink the free market. Or one of his now thousands of minions will. Do you want to sit back to wait to find out? And what about all the unknown unknowns lurking out there?

Blowing up a building won't sink the free market.

excessive policing of an authoritarian government involved in the redistribution of wealth. - Ron Paul

That will.

And a government constantly at war and constantly broke, will become an authoritarian government, where you will have neither rights nor free markets.

 

[Philhelm]

And a government constantly at war and constantly broke, will become an authoritarian government, where you will have neither rights nor free markets.

Even during middle school, and a public school at that, the term "guns and butter" was used, a term that our handlers conveniently "forgot."

 

[Working Poor]

Do you want to sit back to wait to find out?

Yea I do.

 

[Ronin Truth]

Time for interventionists to put their brains back in heads and to begin supporting, minding our own business.

 

[georgiaboy]

Dude, our sane foreign policy is a key reason why libertarianism is becoming so popular in the first place!

/so lame.