What the Libertarian Party Wants on Foreign Policy

Lauren Daugherty

Politics, Americas

Let us not be hostage to how things have been done in the past.

This year, record numbers of Americans voted for Libertarian candidates. The Libertarian presidential nominee, Gov. Gary Johnson, received over four million votes, three times the previous record. For perspective, four million votes is about the voter turnout in a state the size of Virginia. He did this without the tremendous funding and free media attention that Clinton and Trump received.

Notably, Johnson was very popular in multiple polls of active-duty military. One can reasonably theorize that this is because of Gov. Johnson’s stance on the use of military force. Gov. Johnson advocates limiting the use of our military by withdrawing from regional conflicts and focusing purely on defense.

Indeed, after fifteen years of highly active involvement in the Middle East, many of our most devoted military personnel are tired and questioning the effectiveness of our continued involvement in these types of struggles. Fifteen years ago, American leaders thought that the U.S. military could topple a foreign government, clean things up, install new leadership and leave successfully. Our military is very powerful and, but leaders overestimated the very complex challenge of nation building.

Now that we have seen first-hand how challenging that truly is, American leadership should and must re-evaluate our military and foreign policy strategy and tactics.

The Libertarian Party defaults to liberty. We want people to be free to make their own decisions without interference from the government and we think that the only proper role of government is to defend people from force and fraud.

As President-elect Trump lays the foundation of his presidency, we ask him to use the change in administrations — as presidents in the past have — as an opportunity to open new doors and hit “refresh” on various critical topics around the world.

Prioritize Diplomacy

For decades, the United States has over-prioritized the use of military force as a tool in foreign affairs. The reasons for this are simple. Firstly, we have a very powerful military. Secondly, Americans understand the use of military force. It is visible. Voters want visible action. Other tools for international influence are less visible and less understood by voters. And since we live in a democracy, our leaders, rightly or wrongly, cater to what resonates with voters.