We hear ad nauseum from political and media elites that the war in Ukraine is about preserving "our freedoms"
Murray Rothbard had something to say about this sophistry.
Image Credit:Fokke Hassel / Getty
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Western leaders have declared that Ukraine was defending not only its own freedom, but ours too.
President Joe Biden, to whom apparently “freedom is priceless,” vowed to support Ukraine for “as long as it takes.”
In turn, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that the American support for Ukraine is not charity but an “investment in global security”. Other commentators also argue that a Ukrainian victory would strengthen global freedom by deterring other aggressions from autocratic powers like China. Yet, these positions are at odds with the clear antiwar stance of Murray N. Rothbard, one of the most prominent American libertarians of the twentieth century.
Rothbard made a clear distinction between the interests of governments as opposed to those of private individuals, which are subject to the government’s monopoly of violence in a specific territory. He believed that all interstate wars lead to an increase in the government aggression of both domestic and foreign individuals. The aggression against innocent people is inevitable because each state derives its capacity to wage war from taxpayers; in the case of a military conflict, it will intensify its local aggression either through taxation or conscription or both. At the same time, because the citizens of the enemy country are the resources allowing their state to fight, they and their property will be targeted through military action.
According to Rothbard, war never enhances freedom, only domestic tyranny, “a tyranny that usually lingers long after the war is over.” Therefore, any libertarian should pressure governments to avoid going to war against other countries and negotiate peace as soon as war breaks out.1 However, let’s see if the conflict in Ukraine is likely to advance freedom or not.
read more at https://www.infowars.com/posts/rothbard-was-right-wars-dont-enhance-freedom-they-destroy-liberty/
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