[IMC-Editorial] Op-Ed: Should the U.S. Send Troops to Liberia?

[The Ayn Rand Institute]

Dear Editor, 

Please consider this Op-Ed submission from the Ayn Rand Institute.

FOREIGN POLICY AND SELF-INTEREST

A foreign policy based solely on America's self-interest is not simply practical, but 
*moral*--which is why any "humanitarian" mission, such as the proposed campaign in 
Liberia, is a moral crime.

By Peter Schwartz

Those who claim that the United States has a moral obligation to send troops on 
a "humanitarian" mission to Liberia have it exactly backward: our government has a moral 
obligation *not* to send its forces into areas that pose no threats to America's well-
being. It is America's self-interest that should be the standard for all foreign-policy 
decisions--and not just because such a standard is practical, but because it is *moral*.

America was founded on the recognition of each individual's right to life, liberty and 
the pursuit of happiness. This means that the government may not treat the citizen as a 
serf--as someone who exists to serve the needs of others. Rather, each citizen is a 
free, sovereign entity, entitled to live his own life for his own sake. No matter how 
loudly some people may wail about their need for your services, you are your own master. 
That is the meaning of your inalienable rights.

Those rights are contradicted by a foreign policy that makes Americans sacrifice 
themselves for the sake of others, such as the Liberians.

When the government of a free country performs its proper functions, it uses force only 
to protect its citizens' freedom. When the lives or property of Americans are at risk 
from some aggressor-state, our government uses force in retaliation, to keep its 
citizens free--free to pursue the goals and values that advance their lives.

This is what we did in Afghanistan and Iraq. Although administration officials are 
afraid to say so openly, we overthrew those countries' governments strictly for our own 
benefit. America went to war to protect the interests of *Americans*. No dictatorship 
has a right to remain in power, and any dictatorship that has the capacity to use force 
beyond its borders and has shown a willingness to do so against U.S. interests is an 
objective threat to us and is a legitimate target for our military. Osama bin Laden, as 
well as Saddam Hussein, posed dangers--to Americans. The soldiers we sent to those two 
countries were fighting to defend their own interests. (Obviously, others also benefited 
from America's actions, but that was a secondary consequence; it was not our primary 
purpose and should not have been the standard that guided our decisions.)

Sadly, our policymakers are unwilling to defend the justness of a foreign policy of self-
interest. Instead, they keep invoking selfless justifications. Our motive, they say, was 
not to keep Americans safe, but to help the oppressed Iraqis (the invasion was 
called "Operation: Iraqi Freedom") or to shield other countries from the dangers of bin 
Laden and Hussein. This altruistic premise is what makes the administration try to 
accommodate anti-Western "sensitivities" in Afghanistan and Iraq. This premise is what 
keeps the administration from using sufficient force to rid those lands of all remaining 
threats to Americans. And this premise is what leaves the administration philosophically 
helpless to resist the calls for becoming enmeshed in the problems of Liberia.

We desperately need some courageous official who is willing to state categorically that 
a moral foreign policy must uphold America's self-interest--and that by shipping troops 
to Liberia, we are *sacrificing* our interests. We are telling our soldiers to risk 
their lives in a senseless attempt to prevent, temporarily, rival warlords from 
butchering one another.

Contrary to the assertions of all who have suddenly become eager for a new American 
military presence abroad, offering ourselves as sacrificial fodder on "humanitarian" 
missions is not a virtue, but a moral crime. Where is the "humanitarian" concern for 
*Americans*? Why should Americans be urged to give away their money, their energies and 
their lives on a campaign that does not serve their interests? There are no rational 
grounds for asking Americans to suffer more, so that the Liberians may (perhaps) suffer 
less. When we are not being threatened, the government has no right to put American 
soldiers in harm's way. Our armed forces are supposed to be our means of self-defense--
not self-renunciation.

If the administration wants to help the Liberians achieve peace and prosperity, it can 
start by mailing them copies of the Declaration of Independence. But if we genuinely 
value our freedom, we cannot make America into the self-abnegating slave of the entire 
world. To send our troops into a battle in which they have no personal interest--to send 
them to fight for the sake of warring tribes in Liberia (or Rwanda or Somalia or Kosovo)-
-is to negate the principle of *individual liberty*, upon which America is based.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Mr. Schwartz, editor and contributing author of Return of the
Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution by Ayn Rand, is chairman of
the board of directors of the Ayn Rand Institute (www.aynrand.org) in Irvine, Calif. The 
Institute promotes the
philosophy of Ayn Rand, author of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead.

Copyright © 2003 Ayn Rand® Institute

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