Americans today have spent their entire lives under government systems and policies characterized by continuous war, interventionism, embargoes, sanctions, coups, state-backed assassinations, extrajudicial killings, support for oppressive regimes, torture, invasions, occupations, tariffs, trade conflicts, immigration restrictions, an immigration enforcement state, wars of conquest, excessive federal spending and debt, and serious violations of civil liberties. From the earliest school years, Americans are taught to equate all these actions with “freedom.” As adults, often until death, they proudly recite the Pledge of Allegiance, sing the Star Spangled Banner, and express gratitude to the troops, CIA, and NSA for safeguarding their “freedom.”
Given this backdrop, I find it crucial to periodically present the libertarian vision concerning this pervasive statism. This allows individuals recognizing the destructiveness of such statism to understand that an alternative exists—one genuinely rooted in freedom.
The following outlines the ideal path for those wishing to guide our nation toward a more positive future:
1. Eliminate the national-security state — specifically the Pentagon, the vast military-industrial complex, the CIA, and the NSA — and reinstate the founding limited-government republic with a small, essential military force.
2. Cease all foreign interventions, wars, coups, invasions, and occupations. As John Quincy Adams declared in his Fourth of July, 1821, speech to Congress, no longer go abroad “in search of monsters to destroy.” If private Americans want to travel overseas to fight tyranny, they should be free to do so without dragging the U.S. government into it.
3. Remove all sanctions, embargoes, and tariffs, and bring an end to trade wars.
4. Allow Americans unrestricted travel and trade worldwide.
5. Stop all government-sponsored killings, torture, and indefinite imprisonments.
6. Shut down and permanently abandon every U.S. military base and facility in foreign nations, including Guantanamo Bay, the Pentagon’s and CIA’s detention and torture site.
7. Open America’s borders to free movement of goods, services, and people, as detailed in my recent book The Case for Open Borders: A Primer. End the long-standing border police state now spreading nationwide.
8. End the drug war by legalizing all controlled substances.
9. Halt all foreign aid, including assistance to the Israeli and Ukrainian governments. Allow American citizens to voluntarily donate to foreign governments and organizations.
10. Enforce the constitutional mandate requiring Congress to declare war, including via impeachment if necessary.
For those dismissing this as Utopian, I reply: Balderdash! Utopian means unattainable. Many of these policies and principles were actually endorsed by our American predecessors during the 1880-1910 era (except for some, such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, and the Spanish-American War of 1898). Our role is to uphold and expand upon the legacy they established.
Embracing these libertarian foreign-policy ideals would steer America toward a more favorable course—one defined by liberty, peace, prosperity, and global harmony.
Original article: fff.org
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