| | Mark,
I appreciate your very civil reply to my thoughts. I strongly agree the Austrian economics tradition is extraordinarily valuable. I was lucky as a 12 yo to find Henry Hazlitt's "The Great Idea" in our local library. The book fascinated me and I read it several times. I also read all I could get my hands on of Robert Heinlein. When I found Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" I found I was in complete agreement.
Here's where my problem with your pov starts:
"I get tired of the infatuation with military crusading so apparent among those who often post here."
I am not an anarchist or a pacifist. I believe a standing military force is a necessary and legitimate function of government. I respect the military professions and the military arts as a necessary and important part of a viable society. I don't think this view is contrary to reason, human nature, or to the ideas of the Austrians or to the views of Ayn Rand. I believe Mises' view is the importance of the military and the occurrences of wars will wither as more of the countries of the world become more and more free market oriented. This makes sense to me. But, until that happens, the free world must continue to maintain the capability to defend itself against its enemies abroad. The more strength and resolve we show in regard to our defense the less necessary the actual use of force becomes. I hold this pov, I applaud others who hold this point of view because in the long run it results in more peace and less loss of life and a quicker transition to open societies throughout the world and truly open and free markets everywhere. Your continued denigration of people who hold this point of view as some sort of bloodthirsty savages strikes me as irrational and obsessive.
Yes, I've read the accounts of Pearl Harbor being a set-up by the United States government as an excuse to enter the war. I don't believe it. I am deeply disappointed the United States government repatriated thousands of Russian soldiers back to the USSR after WWII to their deaths it turned out. But I believe the officials that made that decision did not know what the ultimate outcome of their decision was going to be. We could go on and on but the net good produced by the United States by it's existence, both for it's citizens and the citizens of the world is enormous compared to the isolated errors.
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