Letters to the Editor
Differences in Noninterventionism
In a TNA online article by Steve Byas (“Is Libertarian Gary Johnson a Good Alternative to Trump or Clinton?” posted May 30), he cited Gary Johnson’s “non-interventionist foreign policy,” stating that “those same views will be appealing to many of the paleo-conservatives.” However, while both paleo-conservatives and libertarians hold to an anti-interventionist foreign policy, the two differ significantly in specifically how they would carry it out.
Paleo-conservatives generally believe in the traditional American foreign policy as set forth in George Washington’s Farewell Address and later further developed under the Monroe Doctrine. The defense of the United States was seen in defending the Western Hemisphere from outside intervention, and the United States refrained from interfering outside of it. Libertarians, on the other hand, oppose virtually any U.S. defenses outside the borders of the United States. This was starkly seen in the 1980s. During that decade, libertarians were opposed to aiding anti-communist freedom fighters in Central America. Paleo-conservatives saw the communist seizure of Nicaragua and their attempted seizure of El Salvador as Soviet intervention and, thus, something to be opposed.
Libertarians are also for cutting U.S. defenses to the bone, thus seriously weakening the United States. Paleo-conservatives are for maintaining a strong defense, in line with Washington’s admonition, “To assure peace, let it be known that you are prepared for war.”
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