Top 5 Reasons Why The World Needs More Libertarians

Why the World Needs Libertarians

By Dallas Brooks

In an era when everything seems to be a fight between two opposing sides, like some kind of strange duopoly of cultures, it’s good to have a few Libertarians in the mix.  Although I’m an Independent, I believe there are a few reasons why the world needs Libertarians.

1. They’re the peacekeepers.

The 20th century was marked by war across the entire planet.  Whether over religion, resources, or retaliation for some real or perceived prior transgressions, there were numerous calls to arms in the last century and in this one.  Here in America, both Republicans and Democrats put young men and women in harm’s way, and they dropped a lot of bombs.  The two major parties fought each other over whose wars were actually justified.  Both Nixon and Johnson favored a continuation of the war in Vietnam.  When George Bush dropped bombs over Baghdad it was a “War for oil!” to the left.  When Bill Clinton did it, it was the right that claimed it was ploy to distract from domestic scandals.  The White House’s transition from Republican to Democrat in 2009 did not result in a major shift in foreign policy, either.

Meanwhile Libertarians espouse the idea of non-interventionism. Whether it’s Governor Gary Johnson criticizing the war in Iraq, Ron Paul lamenting the bombing of Syria, or the blogger Julie Borowski describing her transition to an anti-war philosophy, there’s no shortage of Libertarians who will offer their opinions against the cacophonous banging of the war drums and shouts from the pundits.

There are those Libertarians, like Penn Jillette, who promote the ideas of pacifism, but many of them aren’t entirely in line with the concept of a non-aggression principle (NAP).  Penn says, for example, he’d use a gun to stop a crime in progress.  Whether they are NAP hardliners, self-professed pacifists, or just people who don’t want the government involved in spending taxpayer money on wars, Libertarians help to keep the rest of us in balance when our blood is boiling at the first sign of conflict.