1996 Libertarian Campaign Platform

13. National Defense & Foreign Policy

Our government has spent trillions of dollars on the military since World War II, and yet we are completely vulnerable to the whims of any two-bit dictator who can get his hands on a nuclear missile. And by involving ourselves in a multitude of treaties around the world, we are liable to be drawn into World War III by a petty dispute between third-rate powers.

Republican politicians believe we must defend our "national interests" by roaming the world in search of trouble. And, somehow, almost anything that happens anywhere is cited as a threat to those national interests. Consequently, the Republicans keep us on the brink of trouble at all times.
Democratic politicians don't have a clear-cut attitude toward foreign policy. But to prove they're as tough as the Republicans, they put our money and lives on the line in the affairs of other countries all over the world.
Harry Browne, the Libertarian candidate, will bring American troops home to America at once. He will remove us from the entangling alliances that Thomas Jefferson warned us against. He will see to it that America has a proper defense against any missile attack, so that we will no longer need retaliatory weapons and intimidating military power. We will be far safer than we are now, while spending far less money on the military.