War and Foreign Policy

Jeff McMahan's subtle article is an outstanding account of the morality of preventive war, and not incidentally a sharp condemnation of the Iraq war.

Expect every government program to fail to achieve its stated aims – domestic and foreign – and you will hit the mark every time.

Presented at the Mises Circle in Manhattan: The Fed and War Finance (16 September 2006, University Club, New York, NY).

Presented at the Mises Circle in Manhattan: The Fed and War Finance (16 September 2006, University Club, New York, NY).

A smarter and more resolute government would not fritter away scores of billions of dollars annually on producing, deploying, and maintaining an array of weapons systems fit only for fighting a USSR that no longer exists.

From the book For A New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto, as narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.

This is what makes the claim so absurd that the US invaded in order to bring about freedom, democracy, and the rule of law. The war taught the advantages of all the opposite values. The Iraqis have been fine students of the moral nihilism unleashed by the US government's war on Iraq.

To the extent that government agencies own a portion of the stock market they are engaged in central planning.

This power to create money is what gives the president the chutzpah to go to war without seeking full financing or even much in the way of permission from Congress.

Morality knows nothing of geographical boundaries, or distinctions of race.