Foreign Policy and National Security

Overview

A non-aggressive, isolationist stance (as outlined by George Washington) is the appropriate role of the state.  This includes not engaging and participating with international bodies like the UN that threaten our national sovereignty.  People should be allowed to make any contracts with any other actor as long as their agreements aren’t imposed on others who haven’t consented. 

Raising a military for national defense is a valid function of federal government, but that military must be manned with volunteers and only used as a defensive measure.  Invasive, aggressive military encounters as well as nation-building campaigns are unjust.

Opinions

The United States cannot afford the costs in blood and treasure of maintaining a global empire.  We must immediately end our foreign commitments and once again pursue a policy of peaceful commerce toward all and entangling alliances with none.  Diplomacy and trade should be encouraged, while military force should be limited to truly defensive, just wars, and openly declared by Congress.  This policy will win us many more friends around the globe than our current policy, which breeds resentment and leads to blowback.

Congressman Ron Paul, (R-TX)

An entirely defensive military stance is appropriate for a free society – with a volunteer only military.  Treaties should only be made with fully free (for all practical purposes) countries.

Tibor Machan, Chapman Universirty

Defense against aggression is fully justified so long as each defensive act, like any act, is subject to the same standards of the rule of law.  Invasive actions are hence not acceptable.  Treaties among property owners or groups of owners are fully acceptable so long as their standing isn’t imposed on others who have not consented. 

Invasive War is a mass crime and the United Nations (being an organization of government rulers) should be abolished unless it can be converted into solely a cooperative diplomatic organization without government funding or power. 

David Theroux, The Independent Institute

Isolationism.

Walter Block, Loyola University New Orleans

The federal government's strength is in its traditional international roles: setting a foreign policy that does not exacerbate grievances against the United States or legitimize the use of terrorism against us; developing intelligence information on international terrorist groups; and cooperating with and cajoling foreign governments to assist in pressuring and dismantling foreign terror cells.  

The federal government can aid state and local agencies that have responsibility for domestic security by disseminating relevant intelligence and vulnerability information within the country; by coordinating multijurisdictional counterterrorism efforts; by maintaining a regularized border environment and interdicting known terrorists, weapons, and harmful materials there; and by providing state and local actors -- public and private -- prepare for and mitigate the effects of attacks or disasters. 

Cato Handbook for Policymakers

The U.N. is irrelevant and counterproductive.  A credible, superior defense is the proper spending of a federal government.  We should have no entangling alliances. 

David Littmann, Mackinac Center for Public Policy

The United States should not engage in permanent alliances or subsidize international organizations, including the United Nations and NATO.  Peaceful diplomatic relations, free trade, and open borders enhance the ability of citizens to travel, engage in international commerce, and support the pursuit of liberty everywhere in the world.

We favor the phasing out of all foreign aid, or payments to other nations or international bodies, as a form of global welfare and commercial intervention.  War should only be undertaken in defense of the United States and its people and with a formal Declaration of War.  Any wars should be short in duration with specified objectives, without long-term occupations or nation building.

Dave Nalle, Republican Liberty Caucus

The nation state is on its way out.

Doug Casey, Casey Research

Foreign intervention only when a case can be made that the legitimate defensive and security interests of the United States is directly involved.

Lawrence W. Reed, Foundation for Economic Education