07 November 2016
By Jacob G. Hornberger
Eight years ago, President Obama had a chance to change the warmongering
direction that outgoing President Bush and the U.S. national-security
establishment had led America for the previous eight years. Obama could have
said, ''Enough is enough. America has done enough killing and dying. I'm going
to lead our country in a different direction — toward peace, prosperity, and
harmony with the people of the world.'' He could have ordered all U.S. troops
in the Middle East and Afghanistan to return home. He could have ended U.S.
involvement in the endless wars that Bush, the Pentagon, and the CIA spawned
in that part of the world. He could have led America in a new direction.
Instead, Obama decided to stay Bush's course, no doubt believing that he,
unlike Bush, could win the endless wars that Bush had started. It was not to
be. He chose to keep the national-security establishment embroiled in
Afghanistan and Iraq. Death and destruction are Obama's legacy, just as they
were Bush's.
Obama hoped that Hillary Clinton would protect and continue his (and Bush's)
legacy of foreign death and destruction. Yesterday, a majority of American
voters dashed that hope.
Will Trump change directions and bring U.S. troops home? Possibly not,
especially given he is an interventionist, just as his Clinton, Bush, and
Obama are. But there is always that possibility, especially since Trump,
unlike Clinton, owes no allegiance to the U.S. military-industrial complex,
whose survival and prosperity depends on endless wars and perpetual crises.
If Clinton had been elected, there was never any doubt about continued U.S.
interventionism in Afghanistan and the Middle East. Not only is she a
died-in-the-wool interventionist, she would have been owned by the
national-security establishment. She would have done whatever the Pentagon,
CIA, and NSA wanted, which would have automatically meant endless warfare —
and permanent destruction of the liberty and prosperity of the American
people.
It's obvious that Americans want a new direction when it comes to foreign
policy. That's partly what Trump's election is all about. Americans are sick
and tired of the never-ending wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen,
and elsewhere. That includes military families, especially the many who
supported Trump, Gary Johnson, or Jill Stein. Americans are also tired of the
out of control spending and debt that come with these wars. By electing Trump,
it is obvious that Americans are demanding a change on foreign policy.
Imagine the benefits to American society if Trump were to change directions on
foreign policy. No more anti-American terrorist blowback, which would mean no
more war on terrorism. That means the restoration of a sense of normality to
American lives. No more TSA checkpoints at airports. No more mass surveillance
schemes to ''keep us safe.'' No more color coded warnings. No more
totalitarian power to round up Americans, put them into concentration camps or
military dungeons, and torture them. No more power to assassinate people,
including Americans. In other words, the restoration of American civil
liberties and privacy.
The Middle East is embroiled in civil wars — wars that have been engendered or
magnified by U.S. interventionism. Continued interventionism in an attempt to
fix the problems only pours gasoline on the fires. The U.S. government has
done enough damage to Afghanistan and the Middle East. It has already killed
enough people, including those in wedding parties, hospitals, and
neighborhoods. Enough is enough.
Will Trump be bad on immigration and trade? Undoubtedly, but Clinton would
have been bad in those areas too. Don't forget, after all, that Obama has
become America's greatest deporter-in-chief, deporting more illegal immigrants
than any U.S. president in history. Clinton would have followed in his
footsteps, especially in the hope of protecting his legacy. Moreover, while
Trump will undoubtedly begin trade wars, Clinton would have been imposing
sanctions on people all over the world whose government failed to obey the
commands of the U.S. government. A distinction without a difference.
Another area for hope under a Trump presidency is with respect to the drug
war, one of the most failed, destructive, and expensive government programs in
history. Clinton would have followed in Bush's and Obama's footsteps by
keeping it in existence, if for no other reason than to cater to the army of
DEA agents, federal and state judges, federal and state prosecutors, court
clerks, and police departments whose existence depends on the drug war.
While Trump is a drug warrior himself, he doesn't have the same allegiance to
the vast drug-war bureaucracy that Clinton has. If we get close to pushing
this government program off the cliff — and I am convinced that it is on the
precipice — there is a good chance that Trump will not put much effort into
fighting its demise. Clinton would have fought for the drug war with every
fiber of her being.
There is another possible upside to Trump's election: The likelihood that Cold
War II will come to a sudden end. With Clinton, the continuation of the new
Cold War against Russia was a certainty. In fact, Clinton's Cold War might
well have gotten hot very quickly, given her intent to establish a no-fly zone
over Syria where she could show how tough she is by ordering U.S. warplanes to
shoot down Russian warplanes. There is no telling where that would have led,
but it very well might have led to all-out nuclear war, something that the
U.S. national-security establishment wanted with the Soviet Union back in the
1960s under President Kennedy.
The danger of war with Russia obviously diminishes under a President Trump,
who has said that he favors friendly relations with Russia, just as Kennedy
favored friendly relations with the Soviet Union and Cuba in the months before
he was assassinated.
Indeed, given Trump's negative comments about NATO, there is even the
possibility of a dismantling of that old Cold War dinosaur that gave us the
crisis in Ukraine with Russia.
How about it, President-Elect Trump? While you're mulling over your new Berlin
Wall on the Southern (and maybe Northern) border and your coming trade wars
with China, how about refusing to follow the 16 years of Bush-Obama when it
comes to U.S. foreign interventionism? Bring the troops home. Lead America in
a different direction, at least insofar as foreign policy is concerned — away
from death, destruction, spending, debt, loss of liberty and privacy, and
economic impoverishment and toward freedom, peace, prosperity, and harmony.
Jacob G. Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom
Foundation. He was born and raised in Laredo, Texas, and received his B.A. in
economics from Virginia Military Institute and his law degree from the
University of Texas. He was a trial attorney for twelve years in Texas. He
also was an adjunct professor at the University of Dallas, where he taught
law and economics. In 1987, Mr. Hornberger left the practice of law to become
director of programs at the Foundation for Economic Education. He has
advanced freedom and free markets on talk-radio stations all across the
country as well as on Fox News' Neil Cavuto and Greta van Susteren shows and
he appeared as a regular commentator on Judge Andrew Napolitano's show
Freedom Watch. View these interviews at LewRockwell.com and from Full
Context.
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