Libertarian Party Links Boston Marathon Bombing to US Foreign Wars

The Libertarian National Committee issued a surprisingly strong press release on May 1, comparing the Boston Marathon bombing to America's foreign wars.

It took about two weeks after the bombing for the LNC to draft and release the statement because, according to Paulie on Independent Political Report (Comment #5): "There was quite a bit of debate on LNC about the content of a statement, if any."

Here are the portions I find especially gutsy (coming from a historically timid LNC):


"While we strenuously condemn acts of violence against innocent men, women, and children as occurred on April 17, we also condemn the U.S. government's routine perpetration of such injustice on others throughout the world. As one example, U.S. drone strikes kill many times more civilians than terrorists.

Such disregard for human life is morally reprehensible. In addition, it unnecessarily engenders enemies of the United States.

Spokespersons for the military claim that the federal government does whatever it can to minimize civilian casualties. Perhaps it does from their current perspective. But from an honest and realistic perspective, their perpetual calls for military action do not minimize civilian casualties, but instead increase them.

To avoid harming innocent others, the Libertarian Party urges President Barack Obama and members of Congress to:

1. Stay out of foreign conflicts, including Syria. The goal of our military should be defense only, not attempting to brutalize the world into acceptance of our cultural values, to impose 'democracy' (its practice in U.S. elections leaves much to be desired), to control foreign resources, or to intervene for other purposes.

2. Immediately end all trade sanctions, including sanctions against Iran and North Korea. Sanctions all too often end in war, as was the case in Iraq. They furthermore disrupt the peaceful influence of international businessmen and women who have every incentive to avoid war and violence.

3. Begin to shut down the vast majority of our foreign military bases and bring our troops home. Our wealthy allies can pay for their own defense, and our military bases in less friendly areas serve to create more enemies.

4. Immediately end all military alliances, including those associated with NATO. The Cold War is over. We have enough nuclear weapons to destroy every country on earth. No country can reasonably declare war on the United States. The kind of terrorism we deal with cannot be addressed by massive military alliances. If a threat were to arise large enough to require an allied force to fight it off, we can create a new alliance at that time.

5. Immediately reduce military spending by 60 percent or more. When companies like Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Northrup Grumman profit from war, they have a powerful incentive to use their influence to encourage military conflict. Canceling multi-billion-dollar contracts for unneeded fighter planes, ships, and other military equipment will reduce the incentive to lobby for military adventurism. Associated cuts in government spending will reduce the deficit, reduce inflation, and stimulate the private sector economy, creating job growth.


Those are the key points. You can read the entire LP press release -- or if they've removed it, it's reprinted over here.