Libertarians and Iraq
by Bob Clasen
What motivates the State Department, the CIA or the Department of Defense to do their jobs competently and efficiently? They have no competition. Their main task it to keep their jobs and cover up mistakes. The experience of the past four years is that they are not very competent.
People in other countries do not participate in our government. They do not vote and cannot sue our government about a war. What motivation does our government have to reduce civilian casualties or to treat them justly? Very little, sad to say.
Why should we expect that our military is any more efficient than the post office, or the Department of Roads and Highways or the IRS? They have no competition. There is no market pressure forcing them towards efficiency.
Unlike market based decisions which are based upon millions of consumer choices, the decision to go to war is usually in the hands of a cabal of "experts" (currently the neocons) who disagree with other experts on practically everything. Where is the precise and accurate information necessary for our government to make a reliably good decision about the incredibly expensive decision to go to war? No where.
This is the Libertarian argument against preemptive war. Governments are too incompetent to be permitted to make such decisions.
see also http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2006/08/henry_at_crooke.html
What motivates the State Department, the CIA or the Department of Defense to do their jobs competently and efficiently? They have no competition. Their main task it to keep their jobs and cover up mistakes. The experience of the past four years is that they are not very competent.
People in other countries do not participate in our government. They do not vote and cannot sue our government about a war. What motivation does our government have to reduce civilian casualties or to treat them justly? Very little, sad to say.
Why should we expect that our military is any more efficient than the post office, or the Department of Roads and Highways or the IRS? They have no competition. There is no market pressure forcing them towards efficiency.
Unlike market based decisions which are based upon millions of consumer choices, the decision to go to war is usually in the hands of a cabal of "experts" (currently the neocons) who disagree with other experts on practically everything. Where is the precise and accurate information necessary for our government to make a reliably good decision about the incredibly expensive decision to go to war? No where.
This is the Libertarian argument against preemptive war. Governments are too incompetent to be permitted to make such decisions.
see also http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2006/08/henry_at_crooke.html
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