Libertarian realism
<p>I hate war.  Even when the results of defeat would be worse than<br />
the results of war, I hate war.  It kills people and makes government<br />
stronger.  But when the results of defeat would be worse, I face<br />
reality and support war.</p>
<p>Our Islamist enemies want to kill us all &mdash; starting with Jews and<br />
gays, but continuing to anyone who doesn&#8217;t convert to Islam and accept<br />
shari&#8217;a and the whole nine yards.  That&#8217;s not melodrama, it&#8217;s<br />
reporting of the plain and simple statements Al-Qaeda uses in their<br />
recruiting videos. <em>They want to kill us all.</em>  They demonstrated<br />
the deadly seriousness of this aim on 9/11.</p>
<p>The choice between &#8220;support the war&#8221; and &#8220;allow the pressure off of<br />
enemies who want to kill us all&#8221; is not a difficult one. As a libertarian,<br />
I&#8217;m deeply sorry we live in a world where governments are doing the fighting<br />
for us, and I fear the consequences of the power they will amass while<br />
doing so. But I don&#8217;t see an alternative.</p>
<p>If I had a magic wand that could instantly materialize a world of<br />
private security agencies, insurance pools, and mercenaries capable of<br />
fighting the war on terror, I would have waved it long before 9/11.<br />
But I am not capable of changing the objective conditions of the war<br />
any more than I am of changing the murderous intentions of our<br />
enemies.</p>
<p>Though I&#8217;ve been accused of abandoning my libertarianism for a<br />
conservative position, I still believe in the non-initiation of force<br />
as strongly as I ever have.  I saw one damn huge freaking initiation<br />
of force on 9/11 &mdash; not just an attack on one city or one country<br />
but an assault on Western civilization.  Everything al-Qaeda&#8217;s<br />
propaganda organs have said since confirms that is what they intend.</p>
<p>George Orwell, writing during World War II, wrote:</p>
<blockquote><p>
Pacifism is objectively pro-fascist. This is elementary common<br />
sense. If you hamper the war effort of one side, you automatically<br />
help out that of the other. Nor is there any real way of remaining<br />
outside such a war as the present one. In practice, &#8216;he that is not<br />
with me is against me.'&#8221;
</p></blockquote>
<p>If Orwell were alive today, I have no doubt he would view this war<br />
as equally pressing, nor which side of it he would choose.  And all<br />
libertarians should heed his words.  We&#8217;ve shown far too much of a<br />
tendency to slide into denial about the war on terror and the<br />
consequences of refusing to fight it.</p>
<p>Sliding off into denial and fantasyland is not noble, it&#8217;s an<br />
abdication of our responsibility as human beings and members of a<br />
civilization.  If that denial becomes &#8220;the&#8221; libertarian position, our<br />
statist opponents will damn us as for deserting our neighbors and our<br />
civilization in its hour of need &mdash; and they will be <em>right</em> to<br />
damn us.</p>
<p>Other libertarians may fail this test.  I will not.</p>
