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Monday
October 1, 2007

Altruism Corrupts Foreign Policy by Joseph Rowlands

There's plenty of criticism of the US foreign policy. It doesn't seem to have any coherent principles guiding it. We need a foreign policy based on rational principles. One characteristic of a rational foreign policy would be the need to have clear goals and the need to stick with them. The choices would be guided ... (Read more...)
Discuss this Article (29 messages)

Post 20

Thursday, October 4, 2007 - 7:20pm

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We need to free our energy entrepreneurs to produce more energy for the sake of the profits they expect to make and plan to keep--a policy that would bankrupt kleptocratic oil states in short order.

This is one root cause of our current world disorder -- we shackle our own producers and tell them they can't drill for oil in Alaska or within the first several miles of the coasts, which allows tyrant-controlled oil states to prosper without market competition, which affords them unearned power to forestall their making sure that their interests are aligned with ours.

Ed

Post 21

Thursday, October 4, 2007 - 7:34pm

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But crimes committed abroad ought to be outside US government jurisdiction, because if our government assigns itself a role as global cop, Americans will be coercively harnessed to the cause of unending "wars of liberation" that free no one, but that expand the reach of government into every aspect of our lives.

This is what I fear; moreso than I fear becoming beheaded by a crazed, Koran-thumping savage (anytime soon).

Ed

Post 22

Thursday, October 4, 2007 - 7:59pm

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*sigh of relief* (hopefully not to be misinterpeted and distorted as a sanction to terrorists)

Post 23

Friday, October 5, 2007 - 6:30am

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1 million people were not killed by the US - this is a sick lie, Mark.

First of all - how can "sanctions" kill anyone if they simply mean that we choose not to trade with someone? Is that not a peaceful action neutral nations can take?

Second, the numbers are lies.

Third, the deaths are a result of Sadaam, who caused the sanctions.

Fourth, the deaths are a result of Sadaam, who used what trade he did have to build his military and palaces, rather than help his people.

Finally, we killed a lot of Germans in WW II and they are not terrorists. A LOT more than we have done in Iraq, where military action has been attempted to minimize casualties, almost to the point of altruism.

Your willful twisting of reality is sickening.

Post 24

Friday, October 5, 2007 - 10:40am

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Kurt,
I agree with every one of your points. How we have proceded from those points on has been negligent. Unemployed ,hungry Iraqi's are excepting money to feed their familys from the highest bidder , even as we are there. Saddam starved his people, they are ready to eat. You can't leave Iraq at a border checkpoint without an adequate check at US gunpoint (wise) but people (terrorists from Iran sure as hell can and w/ 700,000 Iraqi refugees sitting around the border) ( like the illegals that cross our borders) can pour in with weapons and money using borders such as the 90 mile stretch in the Shiite Wasit province SE of Baghdad. Employed Iraqi border guards will take bribes. Commander Mueller of the 3rd division, who is at the heart of the US push to stop the smuggling, has himself said it would be virtually impossible to secure the 900 mile stretch that is the Iran-Iraq border.
What do you propose the Commander ,Generals, Majors do about this swarming red ant threat now? If you've answered this question elsewhere, please direct me to the post that is specific to this question , with my thanks, Gigi

(Edited by Gigi P Morton on 10/05, 10:42am)

Post 25

Friday, October 5, 2007 - 1:36pm

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Well thats a whole different ball o' wax Gigi, but a border is a finite problem. My suggestion for an easy fix would be to heavily mine the border and completely block off access except for the main checkpoints. It is not an insolvable issue - but can't be solved if you tie your hands behind your back. I also think at this point we need to bomb the Iranian factory that produces some of the weapons they send in (the shaped charge mines) and their nuclear sites, those we can identify, with stealth bombers.

Post 26

Friday, October 5, 2007 - 5:24pm

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Kurt, who chose not to trade? It wasn't individuals, our government forcibly prevented trade.

Post 27

Monday, October 8, 2007 - 6:31am

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Jon - that may be true - and is a good point, but it doesn't change the fact that not trading is not the same as committing an act of aggression.

Stopping trade is almost never a good idea. The exception would be during an active war with another nation. To an extent, the situation in Iraq was sort of an "ongoing war" of some type as the cease fire was not a full peace treate, but that was not the point I was making. I was not arguing in favor of that policy, but saying that a policy of a trade embargo does not make one guilty of not providing for the "needs" of the opponent.

Post 28

Tuesday, October 9, 2007 - 6:10pm

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But the real fight for a rational foreign policy must start with a war on the ethical system of altruism.

It is discouraging to me that so many alleged 'Objectivists' fail to see how the principle of rational egoism applies to self-defense in a time of war. The key moral question is: what strategy has the best hope of minimizing further loss of American lives? The fact is that anything less than a resolute determination to smash Islamic fundamentalism will fall well short of the goal of convincing Islamist sympathizers to permanently renounce their despicable, anti-life ideology and destructive intentions.

Yaron Brook makes the point that one positive aspect of the current world crisis is the golden opportunity it provides for Objectivists to demonstrate the practical value of our philosophy (and ethical egoism in particular) for living on earth. Those 'Objectivists' whose moral timidity prompts them to call for restraints on our military's ability to end this crisis are not only helping to sabotoge the war effort and jeopardizing American lives; they are directly undermining the long-range prospects for the spread of Objectivism.