Let me talk to the longtime libertarians for a minute

Reading this article got me thinking: Trump’s Everywhere War: An Insurrection Against the Constitution

My story is like a lot of yours. I fell for the war propaganda in 2003. I was angry that I was duped, and that anger is what led me to libertarianism after hearing Ron Paul speak in 2008. The militarization of American society since 2001 has never abated. The signs have always been there, and libertarians have always warned against them:

- Local police departments armed under the 1033 program

- The growing surveillance state revealed by Edward Snowden

- A continual war posture from the Department of Defense and politicians

- The repeated renewal of the Patriot Act and the AUMF

- The creation of Homeland Security, fusion centers, and the TSA

- The erosion of civil liberties, the rule of law, due process, indefinite detention, and free speech in the name of the War on Terror through places like Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib

- The constant states of emergency declared for financial crises and COVID

- Unlimited spending to fund it all, which has debased our currency and led to massive inflation, forcing individuals and institutions into survival mode. Liberty is a luxury belief and only thrives in times of economic growth

- The idea that a government should never let a good crisis go to waste

- Wars with no real exit plan, creating a “Forever War” mentality

- Allowing our government to destabilize other countries without Congressional approval, which has fueled border crises here and abroad, and expanded border control agencies

Now the war is coming home. If you were a libertarian during that era, do you remember saying something like, “Our interventions create terrorists. When our military invades a country and kills innocents, it is only logical that the rational people living there will fight back.”? That same feedback loop is forming here, and it will reach our cities if we let it.

So while I applaud Trump’s efforts to bring peace to the Middle East, we have to be honest that he is not a peace president. We cannot ignore that he gave ICE a budget larger than the Marines, that his administration used Palantir to build an AI-powered surveillance state, and that our government is conditioning us to accept tanks in the streets as if we are under siege when one block in one city has only fifty protestors acting like fools.

I became a libertarian because I wanted America to be more peaceful, not just abroad but in America too. Every generation faces the temptation to trade liberty for security, and for its leaders to turn fear into justification for power.

To achieve peace, we need a good dose of R. Lee Wrights and 2012 libertarianism: declaring “I Am Not at War.”

Ron Paul stood up to militarism when it wasn’t popular, and that’s what we admired about him. It’s remarkable how many people later admitted he was right and wished they had listened. We are in that moment again. It’s not popular to speak out against a militarized society or a government on war-footing, but it’s the right thing to do. Hopefully, this time ends better than the half a million dead in Iraq. It’s our choice to make.

P.S. for the non-libertarians: The issue is power, not which party is in control. Whenever government force (monopolized violence) becomes the primary tool for achieving political or social goals, it leads to less personal freedom and more death. Until we repent of this vice and move toward a better way of organizing society (voluntaryism), we will continue to arrive at the same conclusion with any side in control.