Why Libertarians Should Be Pacifists, Not Isolationists

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

Bryan Caplan argues that libertarians should be pacifists — against all war — not just isolationists:

My claim is that in practice, it is nearly impossible to wage war justly, i.e., without trampling on the rights of the innocent. Every viable military organization in history has used forced to acquire resources, recklessly endangered civilian lives, and embraced some variant on collective guilt. War is a dirty business. It’s just too hard to win if you play fair.

At times like these, Caplan’s credibility drops like a rock. I said as much in the comments:

So a Caplan-libertarian nation is at the mercy of any invading army composed of unwilling conscripts? It doesn’t take a nuanced game-theoretic analysis to see how this plays out.

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