In next week’s upcoming issue of Newsweek, Fareed Zakaria opines in an article titled Appalling — But Not Hopeless; he covers his view of the outcome of the Iraqi police action led by the US military.

As a pacifist and political isolationist, I am surprised by Zakaria’s change from Jacobin-supporter to what some consider a neoliberal. The questions he asks in the article must sting the Jacobins in seeing one of their ex-beloved diving in and asking questions that the supporters seem to stay away from.

I can admire Dr. Zakaria for prompting the readers of Newsweek to think deeper about the reasons for the police action, but I don’t think I can agree with his final assessment of the situation: the basis is appalling, and the outcome is hopeless, no matter what the desire.

In my opinion, intelligent men understand that the only change an individual can make is one that takes advantage of opportunities to better themselves. I have seen in my life that giving anyone more than they have deserved leaves most able to continue the path they were always heading on — the same path that left them without items of need. The typical story is the son who receives his first car from his parents — and treats it badly. How often has a grandchild received a big inheritance from a grandparent only to spend it quickly leaving the grandchild in a worse situation that before the inheritance?

The Iraqi people are no different, not from what I can tell. Saddam was a dictator, and possibly an evil man (I can make no judgement as I have never had the opportunity to meet him). Yet can one man disease an entire group of people? It takes more than one man, and there is no way for foreigners to ever truly understand the reasons for political unrest. No matter how much we try to make the entire situation in Iraq boil down to one or two or five problems, the problems are much deeper — the reality of the situation comes from the fact that the people of Iraq either were not upset over the available opportunities, or the people who were affected were in the great minority.

Whatever the outcome of the intervention by the US military, we have to realize that all our previous interventions have not brought the peace and stability that we the people were promised. Kosovo’s new Prime Minister is a former military general, and the country just saw its first bank bankruptcy last week. The Korean situation is not better than it was before our intervention, and Vietnam seems to be ahead of the pack based on their relationship with other Asian (and even communist) nations — not because of any help from the US other than our credit cards.

Those are just 3 “big” interventions that don’t show must sign of growing because of our intervention — much of their growth was due to market decisions made by the world’s buyers, not the world’s bombs. Even beyond those 3, the list of recent interventions is long and there aren’t many positives in the growth of the people and the culture:

Panama, Yugoslavia, Honduras, Turkey, Libya, Cuba, Laos, Cambodia, Angola, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Grenada, Bolivia, Liberia, Bosnia, Croatia, Congo (Zaire), Sudan, and Afghanistan were all places our military intervened, and in not one situation can we admit that the outcome outweighed the cost in lives, dollars, and loss of personal freedoms within our country. Most of these countries are no longer in the main news, but a quick run through Google News shows the unrest is still there, and many times the unrest comes directly from the people we put in office or left there.

I appreciate Zakaria asking questions of the situation, but I can’t agree that the situation isn’t hopeless. Our country continues to drive up the debt — passing on the costs of the military actions to the next generations, and the country also continues to inflate the dollar, devaluing the life savings of millions of working and retired citizens. Even if Iraq comes out a little ahead of where they were in the 80s (during Saddam’s reign, at a time when the country had many prosperous citizens and towns), the US will suffer not just today but for many decades in the future.

It is time to step back, step out, and return to being a country that trades openly with all while not forming alliances with any. Being the most powerful country in the world can be very important in terms of preventive defense positions within this country, but aggressive offense positions in the world are slowly ripping apart our culture, our economy and our lives.

Discuss this article here.

Over the next few months I am considering financing a new drive to rid the world of idiots — the Realize All Politicians’ Evilness drive.

We have a primary election tomorrow in my area (Lake County, Illinois). All over my village are signs to vote for this candidate or that — and all candidates are open about cutting some programs while growing others. No one wants to admit that their programs are generally evil — taking money from me to give to someone else, with no accountability or even an admission for the collusion in the wealth transfer. My local churches do more for the poor than the government ever has, but the government wants more.

I’d like to finance some signs to put up in the fall elections in your local village. The designs would be signs such as:

This was a 2 minute creation — I’d like to start creating more slogans and signage that shows people that the only vote is a vote for themselves. I’m looking for a good domain name (voteforyourself.com or something available) to promote as well.

Most villages allow signage in the village to promote a given candidate — most won’t allow these signs. Yet these signs can start a movement to changing politics by revealing the problems with Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians — we believe we can give one man the power over dozens, thousands or millions. I’m a fan of unanimocracy — no law is passed unless every voter votes unanimously for it, and no law stays on the books for longer than 3-5 years. For those not familiar with unanimocracy, it is another word for market anarchism.

If you’re interested in helping get ideas together, please come and discuss this idea here.