Libertarians don't like war!

Click here to see Senator Rand Paul's response to President Obama's Libya Address.

I have encountered a few people who really don't understand Libertarians or what we stand for. These are those folks who "know what they know" and aren't interested in disturbing their comfortable view of the world with new information or facts. It's easy to find out what we are about in the information age... or... just ask a Libertarian.

I would like to make one thing clear: we don't like war!

For the record, I am a veteran with twenty-two years of service in the Regular Army, half of my service overseas. While I may hate war, I honor my fellow veterans who fought in past wars or are fighting today's wars. As for those who send them... perhaps... not so much.

I am "liking" Rand Paul more every day. I don't agree with everything he says or believes; however, I agree with most of what he says and believes. I absolutely agree with his position on war.

Rand Paul's stand in his response to President Obama's speech is a Libertarian stand and a core belief. "We" don't like war in general and then only to defend the homeland or clear and present threats to the homeland. "We" would not have taken America into Iraq or Libya and would have supported a much more limited role in Afghanistan seeking out and killing those who were a threat to us.

Personally, "I" would have used special operations, bounties and surrogates for the last one (Afghanistan) preferring unconventional responses to asymmetrical threats. It would have been cheaper to simply pay off a few Afghan tribal leaders to "take out" Bin Laden and his Lieutenants... which they would have been happy to do (for the right price). Instead, we established an unstable and corrupt "Democratic" Government that costs Billions of dollars and the blood of our finest to "prop up" indefinitely.

Libertarians such as myself have always had to compromise on candidates from traditional parties choosing the one who "offended us least". I believe most Libertarians (such as myself) fall into that broadly defined "independent" category that really decides who gets elected. There haven't really been that many viable Libertarian candidates.

It appears that is changing. After years of being ignored, Ron Paul is on the House Banking Committee overseeing the Fed. Rand Paul is in the United States Senate and getting unusual exposure for a freshman. Some may say that neither has a chance at the Presidency; however, these are the same folks who dismissed a first term African-American Senator from Chicago with a "funny name".

I am really looking forward to 2012.