(08-15-2018 12:58 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  

(08-15-2018 09:43 AM)BadgerMJ Wrote:  What I CAN'T get behind is......

Their almost hands off approach to world affairs. Sometimes tin horn dictators need a beat down BEFORE their terror (or whatever) expands. Sometimes we need to protect our vital interests despite what "others" think.

Their desire to have what amounts to open borders. Sorry, we need more restrictive borders, NOT more open ones.

The LP doesn't have total consensus on borders and immigration. Ron Paul is still the most prominent libertarian in the country. He was adamantly opposed to open borders. And I'm against open borders as well.

And by and large the LP is non-interventionist on foreign policy, which is not the same as isolationist. Now regardless of how you feel about that, it's important to first state that the US electorate by and large has turned away from foreign affairs. Period. Since George H.W. Bush the Presidential candidate with the most foreign policy experience has decisively lost in each Presidential election. There's D's and R's on the wrong side of that ledger in that time span.

Being non-interventionist is fine in some circumstances. I don't believe we have any business being the world's morality police. If one group of animals wishes to commit genocide against another in some third world crap-hole, that's their business. Civil wars as well, that should be decided by the people in that country, not us. I'm all for ONLY using the military when it affects vital US interests. I do believe we have the duty to destroy terrorists and extremists before they build up to the point of bringing the fight here. Nip it in the bud so to speak.

Part of having that type of foreign policy is that we vary greatly on what "vital US interests" entails. I was one of the people who believed that back in the day, the free flow of oil was vital US interests. Others disagreed. I'd simply tell them if gas hit $5/gallon, come back to me with that philosophy.

Switzerland is non-interventionist. North Korea was isolationist, and probably still is today, although that may be changing.