World Police

In his first inaugural address, President Thomas Jefferson cited the essence of a libertarian foreign policy, "Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations -- entangling alliances with none." This echoed the advice of President George Washington that "the great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible." Alas, politicians having motives that aren't always aligned with the public, a return to trade barriers began late in the 19th century, starting in Germany, and as French economist Frederic Bastiat warned, "when goods don't cross borders, soldiers may," with the decreasing trade being accompanied by increasing militarism and, ultimately, everyone taking sides in what is now recognized as one of the most pointless conflicts in history, World War I. Although America benefits enormously from being a gigantic free trade zone, US politicians have frequently been reckless in international policy. Perhaps the biggest tariff increase in history, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff, was signed into law in 1930 by Herbert Hoover. Not only is it now considered by many economists to be a key factor in precipitating the Great Depression, but it led to massive retaliation by other countries and a trade war that virtually destroyed international commerce and, once again, was accompanied by an increasing militarism and an even more destructive world war. Criminal attacks on innocent civilians are not, properly considered, military issues, but policing matters. Having by far the largest military budget on earth obviously did nothing to prevent the bombing of an Oklahoma federal building in 1995 by American Timothy McVeigh or the 9/11 attacks by Al-Qaida. Preventing terrorism is a matter of intelligence, both in the sense of obtaining information and using our brains. So let's try both. We cannot indulge the ignorant desire to blame anti-American terrorism on a "hatred of freedom," "72 virgins," or other such nonsense. After a suicide truck bomber killed 241 US Marines stationed in Beirut, Lebanon in 1983, President Ronald Reagan wasn't justifying this massacre when he decided to withdraw American troops from the Middle East. He understood that people, all people, hate foreign armies on their soil. Unfortunately, his successor, George H.W. Bush, went back into the Middle East to expel Saddam Hussein from Kuwait, and his stationing of American troops in Saudi Arabia after that war was specifically cited as the primary reason for Al-Qaida's declaration of jihad against America. Since then, of course, the US military has undertaken attacks in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, and Libya. The best form of anti-terrorism insurance is to remove all troops from the Middle East, stop attempts to either preserve or change their current governments, and end all government-to-government aid.