The Libertarian Defense Caucus

By Michael E. Fournier, MBA.

Ron Paul defends the libertarian position of individual freedom from an individual as well as a national perspective.  Individual freedom makes sense as long as a society is living under the same set of laws; and those laws protect individual liberty equally for all citizens.  But what if the law protected the liberty of some individuals and not others?  Surely this can be compared to America before civil rights legislation.  Slaves had no acknowledged rights at all and after emancipation, blacks in the south had few rights.  In this sense it is clear that the individual liberty of white individuals was protected while that of blacks was not.  This same argument can be carried out to members of our society who feel themselves subjugated even today, users of marijuana for example.  These members of the society organize with like-minded citizens within the society to attempt to equalize their liberty with the rest of society. 

For a society to possess individual liberty it is clear that all members of that society must also possess the same rights of individual liberty as all the other citizens.  For any citizens who may be subjugated, not possessing the same amount of liberty as other members of the society, it becomes their mission to obtain the same amount of liberty as everyone else, whether this be by force, legislation or some other means.  So as civil rights has attempted to equalize the liberty of black citizens, also members of the society who use marijuana make their attempt at liberty as well.  Some would still hold that things are still not equal due to wealth, political favor, being members of powerful lobby groups (unions).

If a nation possesses some amount of liberty due to the laws of that nation, it does not hold that any nation as citizen of the world holds the same amount of liberty as any other nation and that we can get along with those nations simply by applying that assumption on a worldwide basis.

Nations hold certain amount of strengths as citizens of the world due to economic, military, alliances, and many other conditions.  Some nations, in this respect are subjugated citizens of other nation citizens simply due to these factors.  It is unlikely that all nations will hold the same beliefs at any point in time regarding the individual liberty of other nations.  In fact, we have many examples of nations throughout history attempting to subjugate other citizen nations.

The Romans, the British, the Nazis, and lately the Islamic nations believe that they are superior and rightfully subjugated other nations.  I am not attempting to say that the Nazis and British subjugated other nations for the same reasons, but they were able to exert their military, economic and other advantages over other nations of the world, subjugating those nations and the liberty of those nations as equal citizens of the world.

Just as a subjugated group within a nation takes matters into their own hands to equalize their liberty with other members of that society, nations who are citizens of the world must make the assumption that they are or will be subjugated at any time due to these same reasons and take the necessary steps to ensure that they have the liberties that they expect.  If China for example were to exert their economic muscle and subjugate the liberty of other nations’ citizens are we to sit by and be subjugated?  We probably would, like oppressed minorities within our own nation, take a stand to equalize our nation within the citizens of nations and again maximize the liberty of our nation compared to others.

For these reasons, it remains important to be ready, even though we may be a leader among nations at the moment and enjoying the amount of liberty that we allow ourselves.  Other nations are trying to not just equalize the situation but subjugate us and lessen our liberty.  Our own President also seems to believe that we have too much liberty in relation to other nations and is trying to lessen our liberty to equalize things.  So forces both internal and external to our nation are trying not only to equalize our liberty but to subjugate our own cherished liberty to other nations.  Not to prepare for this eventuality is naïve.

Disclaimers:

The views, opinions, positions or strategies expressed by the author and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, positions, policies, or strategies of The Libertarian Defense Caucus or any individual Caucus member thereof.

 Editor’s Note: Please give a warm welcome to our newest member of The Libertarian Defense Caucus; Michael E. Fournier.