Faith in Government Leads To Empire

Sometimes the obvious needs to be stated. In an excellent piece on the hawkishness of the Democratic Party leadership, Justin Raimondo responds to the puzzle of why the supposed opposition party is basically in lockstep with the Republicans on military intervention abroad: "Why is the assumption of interventionism dominant in Washington's foreign policy discourse?"

Raimondo's answer is so simple that the radical implications may be missed:

...it is the natural tendency of the Washington elites to assume the efficacy of government action as the solution to all problems... The question isn't whether or not to intervene, but what strategy ought to underpin our intervention.

This is not just a problem with elites. This faith in government solutions permeates Democrats and Republicans on the ground. It is hard to feel much sympathy for lefties who teach that government is the solution to the needs of the poor, children, minorities, science and everything else and then are shocked, shocked!, when Americans support government intervention (whether unilateral or multilateral) as the solution to problems in foreign policy.

Those of us who have no faith in government action may seem radical and extreme, but let us be clear. The party of faith in government, the many who believe that government is a panacea to problems foreign and domestic, holds a position just as extreme and radical. There are two huge differences between us. The government party is by far in the majority, with throngs of adherents among Republicans and Democrats, red state and blue state, high and low. And the government party must hold on to their faith with eyes shut tight against not only the brutal wars and mass murders of the recent century but the ongoing theft, wars and tyranny with which the government "solves" problems every day.

http://blog.lewrockwell.com/lewrw/ar...8752.html#more