by Kitty Testa
There are 196 countries in the world, and nobody—not even Hillary Clinton—can name all of those heads of state. Most of us are limited to those that are deemed newsworthy by the American press. So when Gary Johnson was asked by Chris Matthews which foreign leader he admired most, it’s completely understandable why he had no answer. If there were a truly libertarian country, libertarians might all just move there. But most of the world is controlled by statists of various stripes, and certainly those leaders that show up in our headlines are often the worst.
Here are seven headline-grabbing world leaders that no libertarian could possibly admire.
1. Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, President of the People’s Republic of China, Chairman of the Central Military Commission and member of the Politburo Standing Committee
Xi Jinping’s titles are enough to preempt admiration from a libertarian, but some international observers view him as a reformer. Granted, he has presided over a period in which the one-child ban was lifted and replaced with a two-child ban. (I suppose that’s a 100% improvement?) He has initiated policies to crack down on official corruption, and has proffered a new ideology called the Chinese Dream. But Xi’s Chinese Dream is not individualist, but nationalist. His regime has increased restrictions on the Internet in China, and he supports no reforms that allow for individuals to challenge the authority of the Communist Party. China is a country where prisoners’ organs are forcefully taken for sale to the wealthy in need of transplants. There’s nothing to admire in their supreme leader.
2. Vladimir Putin, President of Russia
Donald Trump has made it clear that he admires the Russian president for his leadership skills, but that’s not enough to turn a libertarian head. Putin’s reputation as an international outlaw was strengthened just yesterday when an investigative team led by the Netherlands concluded that it was Russia that shot down a Malaysian passenger jet in 2014, an action that Putin still denies. Putin is a staunch ally of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, and he brought Russian military might into the Syrian fray just a year ago under the guise of fighting the Islamic State (ISIS). But many are skeptical of Putin’s stated intentions, noting that Russian air strikes are taking out Assad’s rebels. Putin’s other military adventures over the past couple of years include invasions into Ukraine and Crimea. What he really wants is what Catherine the Great wanted: a seaport for land-locked Russia. Surely there are better ways to achieve this without violation of the non-aggression principle.
3. Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany
Some libertarians might find something to like about German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Germany is, by European standards, more fiscally conservative than fellow member states of the European Union, and some libertarians may admire her stance on immigrant refugees. These things aside, her government’s foreign intelligence service, BND, complied with the US National Security Agency to spy on European companies, institutions and individuals. Libertarians don’t like it when our government does it, or anyone else’s.
4. Enrique Peña Nieto, President of Mexico
Peña Nieto is Mexico’s exceptionally unpopular president. This past month several thousand demonstrators took to the streets in protest on Mexico’s Independence Day demanding that he resign. Some may link this to his unexpected meeting with Donald Trump, but he lost the faith of the Mexican people long before that. Peña Nieto has seen the murder rate in Mexico rise to its highest level during his administration, with 57,000 murders since he took office in 2012. He has been involved in many scandals, including the disappearance of 43 college students in Guerrero State where his wife was to give a speech, and most recently allegations have surfaced of police raping 11 women during a crackdown on demonstrators when he was governor of Mexico State. He is hardly a world leader any libertarian can admire.
5. Nicolás Maduro, President of Venezuela
The fruits of socialism are non-existent in Venezuela where citizens are starving and people have been without toilet paper for months. Thousands took to the streets in Caracas on September 1, demanding a recall vote of President Nicolás Maduro and to call for the end of the revolution, but Maduro is resisting. I’m not privy to the president’s personal supplies, but I would bet he’s neither starving nor without toilet paper. Heads of socialist states are always well provided for, and Venezuela needs a huge shot of libertarianism.
6. Salman of the House of Saud, King of Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia is a rich, powerful and influential country. The Qur’an is the constitution of Saudi Arabia, and it is government adheres to Sharia law. No individual liberty is recognized by the King, and he rules by royal decree. Women can’t drive and homosexuals are put to death. Libertarians don’t admire theocratic monarchs, and we don’t like it when our government makes arms sales to them either.
7. Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel
Bibi Netanyahu is practically a household name in the United States ever since he was able to hijack the American Neoconservative movement during his first term as Israeli Prime Minister in the late 1990s. During that time any criticism of Israel became synonymous with anti-Semitism. In nearly every presidential election over the past thirty years, the contenders on both sides of the aisle have proclaimed passionate support for Israel. At a time not so long ago, supporting a two-state solution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict was heretical. Barack Obama has supported a two-state solution to no avail. In February of this year, Netanyahu told the Israeli Knesset that the “situation is not ripe for a two-state solution.” Netanyahu has never supported a two-state solution, and prefers instead to occupy Gaza and the West Bank. The conflict appears endless, especially given the heavy U.S. aid Israel receives. A new aid package of $38 billion over ten years was approved by Congress this month. Libertarians don’t support massive foreign aid, military occupations or inserting the U.S. into foreign conflicts.