“Support the troops” is the most overused platitude in the United States, but still the most effective for anybody who seeks interpersonal or economic ingratiation. The platitude abounds with significance but lacks the burdens of substance and specificity. It says something apparently apolitical while patrolling for heresy to an inelastic logic. Its only concrete function is to situate users into normative spaces.
Clichés aren’t usually meant to be analyzed, but this one illuminates imperialism so succinctly that to think seriously about it is to necessarily assess jingoism, foreign policy, and national identity. The sheer vacuity and inexplicability of the phrase, despite its ubiquity, indicates just how incoherent patriotism is these days.
Bell, a law professor at Chapman University and a legal consultant to the Honduran "startup city" project, spoke at Reason's Los Angeles headquarters about why libertarians should be interested in the potential for new forms of governance within the proposed "zones of economic development" (ZEDEs) being pushed in Honduras. He addressed various legal challenges and setbacks that prior efforts faced, such as Paul Romer's failed RED zones.
Yesterday I attended a press conference held by the brand new Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity, an educational 501(c)(3) that will collect and produce news and commentary on US foreign policy and put on seminars to teach primarily young people about non-interventionism.
As previously noted, the executive director of the Institute is Daniel McAdams, the foreign policy advisor to Paul when he was still in the House of Representatives. After Dan’s introduction, Ron Paul spoke, along with Rep. John Duncan (R-TN), the last Republican in Congress who voted against the Iraq War, Rep. Walter Jones, Jr. (R-NC), and former Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) – all of whom are on the board of the Institute. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) also spoke.
Aside from the educational website and seminars, the Institute will follow congressional votes and grade members of Congress according to their adherence to non-interventionism and protection of civil liberties.
That the Ron Paul Paul Institute’s primary focus will be foreign policy is very fitting. Paul’s two historic presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012 invigorated the libertarian movement in an unprecedented way, bringing countless newbies and converts into the ideas of free markets, limited government and peace.
As much as Paul rejuvenated the libertarian movement, there still exists a longstanding habit among many leaders and organizations to underemphasize the importance of foreign policy. It’s harder to persuade people that flag-waving and militarism runs counter to peace, liberty and prosperity, I guess. So, there is a serious need for a more prominent stand on a non-interventionist foreign policy and that’s a demand the Ron Paul Institute seeks to fulfill.
Ron Paul helped popularize Randolph Bourne’s famous remark that “war is the health of the state.” That also happens to be Antiwar.com’s motto. Naturally, we’re excited to see where this goes.
Last night, on the 3rd anniversary of the start of the Wall Street Heist of 2008, I spoke at Bunker Hill Community College in the Charlestown section of Boston...
How long, Mr. Goldman, Mr. Sachs, Mr. Merrill, Mr. Lynch, how long? How high can you build the gates? I know you didn't receive a beggar's education, so that means you know the historical answer: You can't build them high enough.
In 1981, the United Nations General Assembly created an annual International Day of Peace to take place on the opening day of the regular sessions of the General Assembly. The purpose of the day is for "commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and peoples."
Twenty years later, in 2001, the General Assembly, desiring to draw attention to the objectives of the International Day of Peace, gave the day a fixed date on which it would be held each year: September 21st. The General Assembly declared in its Resolution 55/282 that "the International Day of Peace shall henceforth be observed as a day of global ceasefire and non-violence, an invitation to all nations and people to honor a cessation of hostilities for the duration of the Day."
The Resolution continued by inviting "all Member States, organizations of the United Nations system, regional and non-governmental organizations and individuals to commemorate, in an appropriate manner, the International Day of Peace, including through education and public awareness, and to cooperate with the United Nations in the establishment of the global ceasefire."
The United States has announced that its next test of a Minuteman III will occur on September 21, 2011. Rather than considering how it might participate and bring awareness to the International Day of Peace, the United States will be testing one of its nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles that, 20 years after the end of the Cold War, continue to be kept on high-alert in readiness to be fired on a few moments notice...
