Rule number 1, military for defense only. Rule number 2, first learn rule number 1. The libertarian stance on the military is a bit more reserved than the average conservative stance. This does not mean that libertarians are anti-military or that we are even anti-war, but we do believe that war is a last resort, used only for defense. We tend not to believe in the draft, and we do not buy into police actions, nation building, or “spreading democracy” through military intervention. Freedom is something that people have to get for themselves, it is not a gift to be handed out to those who are not ready.

That said, there are a few arenas of agreement that most libertarians have with the conservative military position.

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The drug war. A colossal waste of money and manpower with results that should have been expected considering the disaster that was prohibition, a war on alcohol that succeeded in veritably creating organized crime in this country. Of course, it would not be the first time clear lessons of history were completely ignored by our government, but it is no less frustrating.

The libertarian stance on drugs has been a political white elephant for the party. In my political strategy articles I admonish libertarians to put their position on drugs on the back burner. Even in cases where a candidate has not mentioned drugs, it tends to be brought up by opponents because it is a hot-button, emotionally charged issue that when attacked in sound-bite form tends to make the libertarian under fire look like a crazy extremist. The only defense is to downplay the issue and point out the silliness of the attack and hope that it gets dropped. That said, I would like to let the conservatives out there in on the reasoning behind the drug stance in the libertarian platform.

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In recent years, especially the last 2 or 3, many conservatives have been looking seriously at third parties, especially the Libertarian Party as a new home for their vote. For the most part, their former party was the Republican Party, but the actions of the Republicans have been increasingly indistinguishable from the opposing party, with some actions even more atrocious in their invasion of individual liberties and cost to the taxpayers. This trend has even lead to some comments that the LP is being taken over by Republicans, or that libertarians are just anti-war republicans, etc. While this is not the case, I do welcome the huge influx of former, or reformed, republicans. I am, in fact, one of them myself, only my transition was about 10 years ago.

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Once again Rush and many others are decrying the growing movement towards a third party. I understand this sentiment from a strategic standpoint, but I do not agree that their stratagems are properly thought out. For a strategic political maneuver, a third party is essential. Not to mention a third party will be necessary for most people to truly begin to vote as they were meant to, for a representative, not a politician or the “lesser of two evils”.

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