Dear friends,
I woke up this morning trying to remember which country we were bombing this week.
South America? Africa? The Middle East again?
It’s getting hard to keep track.
At some point in the last year we’ve had military exchanges with Iran, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Nigeria, and Venezuela—and I assume a few other places that simply didn’t make the evening news. The Pentagon moves quickly these days. Blink and you’ll miss a small war.
But don’t worry. I’m sure it’s all under control.
Somewhere in Washington, a room full of very serious people assures us that every one of these conflicts is absolutely necessary for our safety. And freedom, of course. Freedom is always involved—usually right after the missiles.
The remarkable thing is how normal this has become. Wars start, expand, blur together, and fade into the background noise of American life—just another line item in a trillion-dollar budget.
Meanwhile the national debt explodes, Congress avoids actually declaring war, and the public is expected to nod politely and keep paying the bill.
Libertarians have always held a strange and radical belief: the United States should not be involved in half the world’s conflicts at any given moment. The military should defend the country—not roam the planet looking for the next geopolitical bar fight.
So forgive me if I seem confused about where we’re fighting this week.
The list keeps getting longer.
And by tomorrow there will be another headline, another crisis, another conflict—while the last one quietly fades from memory.
Apparently managing wars across the planet is simple enough.
Sincerely,
Reese Wood
Chair, Libertarian Party of Wisconsin