| | Let me introduce myself, this is my first post. My name is Marcus, I have no concluded philosophical convictions I can only describe them as leanings. Among my leanings I'm quite similar to objectivism though I am ultimately mystic. I'm a libertarian with anarchist leanings. I'm also very anti-war, i'm also a oliver stone, michael moore, bill hicks, george orwell, and ayn rand fan.
I've been reading solo for a while and something that disturbs me is how pro conservative you guys are. Libertarianism isn't conservatism yet you guys seem to write bush a blank cheque on foreign policy. He can be a corrupt president with numerous provable ties to saudi companiess, and a war monger who sent young americans (dying everyday) to an unjustified invasion of iraq, the iraqi people are certainly better off without saddam but was that the way to do it.
Some of the arguments I get are:
When I say young americans have died pointlessly. The argument is war is hell, people die in wars. War is hell, people do die in wars. Are you honestly telling me that bush did everything in his power to get rid of the saddam regime peacefully, without bloodshed. From the first time we heard bush talk about the iraq regime as part of the axis of evil did he suggest we try him as a criminal in front of a world tribunal, no. The argument I usually receive for that is, oh yeah like saddam will just say ok try me as a war criminal, maybe not but at least you will have exhusted all possible non-violent solutions. And even if not you will have the support of the world. Another argument is that the soldiers knew the risks when they signed up. I have a close friend who's in the army he knew the risks before he joined up, but he thought like I naively did, that the british and american government would only risk the death of it's citizens unless it was absolutely necessary.
When I say the middle east hates the western world even more now than before. The argument is usually they hated us before, they hated our values before. We have undoubtedly made ourselves more hated now than ever before. The british and american troops handling of arab prisoners, raids, killing of innocents, disrespect of muslim rituals and cultural values, has added to more young arab men outraged by western imperialism joining a militia group.
When I say that the war was primarily about money. Being called reactionary is usually the response. The bush family has been known to have had business ties with the saudis way before september 11th. The oil in iraq during the war was being extracted and cultivated by american oil companies that are partially owned by saudi investors family. I thought the oil was for the iraqi people to rebuild their land with bush? They may claim it's being cultivated to be handed over to the iraqi people, bush also mentions he has a bridge in brooklyn he wants to sell us.
When I say FBI employees, Congressmen, have come forth proclaiming the corruption and lies of the bush administration. The claims are usually swept under the carpet, dismissed as hogwash. Despite high ranking government officials making these allegations.
I guess it's a hard predicament you american objectivists are in. If you vote for kerry you will give up less freedom but save the lives of many american soldiers and poor brown people who will be subjected to the bush administrations foreign policies. But if you vote for bush you keep the middle and upper class people investing in the companies who are and will profit from the war happy, lower taxes, more freedom. but on the down side you will have blood on your hands. If I was american I'd sway to kerry.
For the vast majority of objectivists, if not all, who will ignore me as a leftist in libertarian clothing, and vote for bush. Please promise to do one thing watch where he strikes next, probably palestine, watch how many young soliders die, watch how many terrorist attacks increase, and watch as thirty years down the line you realise the iraq war was unjusitified, and a black time in political history.
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