I want to amplify on some remarks I made in my very short discussion of the Ron Paul Foreign Policy. What I said was:
Ron’s Foreign Policy is perfect for dealing with Western Nations. But that is not where the problem lies. It lies in the other outlaw gangs that call themselves nations. And Ron has grown up in gentility. He should have spent a year or three living with outlaw bikers. Just to get some real world experience.
So let us look at it from a gang boss perspective.
There are always rivals. Some direct and some just content to shave at the margins. In order to keep the rivals wary of making too overt a move to threaten the boss’s stature not to mention control, the boss needs to take out an irritant every now and then so that the rest of the mob gets and keeps the idea that the boss is not to be trifled with. The power can’t be just potential. The boss has to show a willingness to use it. Frequently. Libertarians don’t like that and have a cute little label for anyone who has figured out how the world works.
There has to be waste or the waste gets too big to conveniently handle. It is called signaling. See 1919 to 1941 in American history. Then check out 1942 to 1954.
Distasteful? To be sure. Better than the alternative? You will never know unless you let the alternative happen. Supposedly that is what history is for. Far too few take an interest in it though. Generally Libertarians are utopians on the matter of Peace/War. It does not serve them well.
Godfather rules are the rules in impolite society. You are tired of Godfather rules? So sorry. My condolences. You don’t want to be the Godfather? Fine. Who did you have in mind for the job? And how exactly do you plan to give it to them without annoying greatly numbers 3, 4, and 5? Tricky that.
Comments
8 responses to “Kicking Ass On A Regular Basis Is Our Job”
Simon:
The isolationism you ascribe to Libertarians in general is best ascribed to the Libertarian Party. There are many of us out there who wish for smaller government but simply cannot abide by the Depression-Era isolationism that the Party pushes from National, so we told the LP to go pound sand.
If you’re using the LP definition for a doctrinaire Libertarian, you’re missing a wide swath of people who both hate the amassing Federal power but still believe in a strong and active foreign policy combined with a powerful Defense.
You mean in the real world Queensbury Rules don’t apply? I’m shocked.
When judging or assessing people, my deceased partner would fall back into an animal comparison. He raised chickens among many other domestic creatures. He observed that in a flock of chickens there was always one that got pecked. Usually a hen, it never looked any different than the others. But for some reason, maybe instinct, all the other chickens would pick on it. It would cower in a corner waiting for feeding time when it would make kamikaze like runs for food, and then be chased around the pen by a number of other birds who would finally corner it and try to peck it to death. Introducing a full grown chicken from outside the flock would also cause a pecking frenzy.
But one time he was given an Araucana hen that was unusual. Araucana’s are South American chickens that lay naturally colored eggs. As with all the other new hens, this one was attacked. But instead of running, it headed for the rooster and attacked it. Charly was dumbfounded. A hen attacking a rooster is very strange. The outcome was that this small Araucana hen wouldn’t allow the rooster to mate, with her, or with other hens. And she crowed, or attempted to crow like a rooster. He named her Butch.
How does this relate to Ron Paul? I don’t know, but it’s a good story. I’m having Egg Nog.
Happy New Year!
Captain Ned,
I’m not much into internal Libertarian Party politics these days so I’m probably missing a lot of nuance.
Let me just say that I was deep into the party until 9/11. I believe about 40% to 60% of the Party left over its reaction to that one. I was one of them.
So yeah. There are rather a few of us around. I’d still vote for Ron because our domestic situation is in such disorder. If we don’t get that under control we will be in a world of hurt no matter what happens on the world scene.
“…the boss needs to take out an irritant every now and then so that the rest of the mob gets and keeps the idea that the boss is not to be trifled with.”
Well, if it can be kept within the limited confines of Reagan’s Grenada or Bush One’s take down of Noreiga or his swift version Iraq war, then I’m in agreement.
The neo-con version, which seems to have been swallowed whole by the republican establishment and its constituents, is a load of expensive cods-wallop. Not to mention a complete failure from any rational objective.
Too costly, too long, no discernible or decisive victory in sight, an utter fools errand regarding it’s utopian (liberal) nation-building agenda.
If you need to kick some rotty tyrant’s ass – go deep, go hard then go home.
“Distasteful? To be sure. Better than the alternative?”
No, of course not. Gangsters are stupid, gangs are stupid, and their supporters are stupid.
It’s time to stop letting stupid people run (& ruin) the world.
@Captain Ned
“but still believe in a strong and active foreign policy combined with a powerful Defense.”
You mean a belligerent and jingoistic international campaign of mass murder and mega theft combined with a huge mercenary force? Plenty of people support such criminal evils, but none of them are libertarians.
“It’s time to stop letting stupid people run (& ruin) the world.”
Yes, by all means, let’s stop letting those stupid people ruin the world. Of course, as everyone knows, stupid people are cheerfully open to using reason to settle things, and I’m sure that if you lay out your reasons, reasonably, they’ll be sure to put down their reigns, and invite you to pick them up.
Pardon me while I just have a seat over here with my coffee and scotch… and observe.
A Critic January 4th, 2012 (#) http://classicalvalues.com/2012/01/kicking-ass-on-a-regular-basis-is-our-job/#comment-54328
Yes. American foreign policy with its imperial policy of building bases when asked and leaving when asked is truly evil.
Now when Americans no longer perform such a service who exactly did you contemplate would fill the power vacuum?