Libertarian Party: Stay Out of Ukraine — and Everywhere Else

(From the Intellectual Ammunition section in Volume 19, No. 5 of the Liberator Online. Subscribe here!) While the Republicans and Democrats argue about where the U.S. military should intervene next, and how many more billions of tax dollars to spend doing so, the Libertarian Party is singing a very different song. “Libertarians are lining up to run for federal office in 2014 on a platform to cutmilitary spending immediately by at least 60 percent, close a substantial number of overseas military bases, and bring troops home,” says a news release by the Libertarian Party. Specific Libertarian proposals to downsize the U.S. military, while keeping America far safer than now, include:

• Immediately withdraw all troops from Iraq and Afghanistan and bring them home to their families.
• Stay out of Syria, Ukraine, and every other foreign conflict.
• Close unneeded U.S. military bases and outposts in more than 130 countries around the world, and bring our troops home. First on the list are the massive deployments in Germany, Italy, South Korea, and Japan — countries that can, and should, fund their own military defense.
• Close at least half of the nation’s 4,402 domestic Department of Defense sites.
• Use 100 percent of operating cost savings to reduce the federal income tax, balance the federal budget, or both.
• Sell off all foreign and domestic real estate holdings of closed military bases and Department of Defense sites — while requiring that all proceeds be used to pay down existing government debt. Not a penny of this money, stresses the Libertarians, should pay for more government spending.

All of this is consistent with the Libertarian Party’s platform on National Defense, which reads: “We support the maintenance of a sufficient military to defend the United States against aggression. The United States should both avoid entangling alliances and abandon its attempts to act as policeman for the world. We oppose any form of compulsory national service.” Plus, said Geoffrey J. Neale, chair of the Libertarian National Committee, it just plain makes sense. “Reducing and eliminating military bases in foreign countries will remove a major source of hostility towards the United States, reduce the threat of a terrorist attack, and reduce federal government debt by $300 billion,” Neale said. “Cutting military spending by $600 billion every year will go a long way toward balancing the federal budget and ending the federal income tax,” he said. “This will give back $5,000 every year to each taxpaying family in the United States; stimulate investment in small businesses; and create millions of sustainable, private-sector jobs. Plenty of jobs for veterans and millions of others now out of work.” Learn more about America’s fastest-growing political party, the Libertarian Party, at their website.