Libertarian presidential candidate Governor Gary Johnson
managed to get just under 1% of votes cast in the 2012 election. Although this
is a small percentage, this marked a huge increase in votes for the Libertarian
Party over what it managed in 2008. On the surface this would indicate that
libertarian ideas are fringe ideas with no hope of gaining currency with the
American public. However, these numbers do not tell the true tale. While the
public may not realize it, the truth is that libertarian ideas are quite
popular with the American people.
Noninterventionism
The Democratic and Republican Parties are both war parties.
At issue between them is not whether the United
States should be militaristic. The only
issue is the particulars that that militarism should take. Should it manifest
itself in limited “kinetic military actions” or in full scale regime changing
invasions? Yet, it turns out that the traditional American position of
nonintervention – the foreign policy strategy that the early American
presidents exercised in order to allow the United
States to avoid doom in the jaws of a
European conflict – that has been resurrected by Ron Paul is favored by the
American people.
A May 2012 poll taken by Associate Press-Gfk found that only
27% of Americans supported U.S.
military efforts in Afghanistan
while 66% opposed the efforts. Even more tellingly, over half of respondents
stated that they believed that American military presence in Afghanistan
was doing more harm than good.
While perhaps war fatigue could explain this growing
dissatisfaction with military efforts in Afghanistan,
other polls reveal that Americans are growing wary when it comes to new U.S.
military interventions. A March 2012 Gallup poll indicated that only 25% of Americans believe that the United
States has a responsibility to intervene in Syria
while 64% believe that the United States
has no such responsibility. The popularity of the Progressive/Neoconservative
idea that the United States
must be the “policeman of the world” is diminishing with the American
people. Even after reports of alleged
atrocities in Syria
were issued, American support for military intervention in Syria
still remained at only 33%. In March of 2011, a similar poll found that only
27% of Americans favored the United States
intervening in the fighting in Libya
while 63% opposed it. Following the tragic murders of Americans in Benghazi
that resulted as blowback for President Obama’s “military kinetic action” in Libya,
Americans are likely to finally realize the perils of American military
intervention.
Despite the popularity of peace, neither major American
party has embraced it. The fact that there are votes to be gained by taking a
less belligerent foreign policy stance yet neither party has embraced such a
position is an indication that the special interests of the Military-Industrial
Complex may be valued more highly by American politicians than the preferences
of the American people.
The War on Drugs
Libertarian stalwart Ron Paul has said: “This war on drugs
has been a detriment to personal liberty and it's been a real abuse of liberty.
Our prisons are full with people who have used drugs who should be treated as
patients – and they're non-violent. Someday we're gonna awake and find out that
the prohibition we are following right now with drugs is no more successful,
maybe a lot less successful, than the prohibition of alcohol was in the '20s.”
President Obama has done nothing to scale back America’s
counterproductive and expensive “War on Drugs” despite the fact that he has
admitted to using illegal drugs in his youth. The Republicans appear to have no
interest in admitting defeat in this “war” either. Yet, Americans are not
optimistic about it. According to a November 2012 Rasmussen poll, only 7% of
Americans believe that the government is winning the “War on Drugs” while 82%
believe that it is losing. The votes to
decriminalize the recreational use of marijuana in Colorado
and Washington show that the
stage is set for the end of the unjust and militarized persecution of
recreational drug users. These sentiments are not unique to Colorado
and Washington. A May 2012
Rasmussen poll indicated that 56% of Americans favor the legalization of
marijuana.
If Americans support the legalization of marijuana in
increasing numbers, why has neither major political party taken a position
against federal enforcement of laws against marijuana? The likely answer is
that campaign contributions from pharmaceutical companies, cigarette companies,
and alcohol companies are what are influencing mainstream American politicians.
These industries do not want competition from legal marijuana, and the lives
destroyed by the “War on Drugs” are seen by these corporations as acceptable “collateral
damage” in service of their profits.
The National Debt
Democrats and Republicans pay lip service to the national
debt, but few politicians outside of Ron Paul and those who embrace his ideals
take it seriously. Ron Paul has called the national debt “the single biggest
threat to every American man, woman, and child.” However, it appears that the American people
do take the dangerous national debt very seriously. A Gallup poll conducted in March of 2012 indicated that 73% of
Americans were “very” concerned about the amount of U.S. debt held by foreign nations. Even more tellingly, a May
2011 Reason-Rupe poll found that 69% of Americans consider reducing the
national debt “very important” and 74% of Americans favored “a spending
cap that would prohibit the government from spending more money than it takes
in during a fiscal year.”
Cutting Military Spending
Ron Paul favors cutting military spending. He scoffs at
alleged plans for cutting military spending that would merely slow the rate at
which military spending grows. He points out that “even if we were to slash our
military budget in half, America
easily would remain the world’s dominant military power.” Yet, hawks in both
parties cringe at the very notion of any military cuts. This ridiculous
attitude is best expressed by the neoconservative former Ambassador to the
United Nations John Bolton, Despite the fact that the United States military
budget is ten times larger than China’s, Bolton claims that the Pentagon has been reduced to “clipping
coupons” while the Chinese military is “celebrating Mardi Gras.”
The truth is that Americans are actually closer in attitude
to the libertarian Ron Paul than the neoconservative John Bolton on this issue.
In a unique study conducted in May of 2012, the Center for Public integrity,
the Program for Public Consultation (PPC) and the Stimson Center found that
Americans favor cutting military spending by 18% – with Democrats favoring a
22% cut and Republicans favoring a 12% cut. This study showed participants the
size of the budget for the military compared with government spending on other areas
and then provided arguments for and against military spending cuts. When
presented with actual data and reasoned arguments instead of histrionic talking
points, Americans favored the libertarian position on military spending over
the positions of leaders in both major political parties.
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