Foreign Policy Debate (9/18/04)

                                    A BIG WELCOME TO

                       ******* F R E E E X C H A N G E ! *******

                              A San Francisco Supper Club

               Dedicated to Rationality, Objectivity, Free Minds,
                                  and Free Markets.

                              ON SATURDAY EVENING,
                    SEPTEMBER 18, 2004 THERE WILL BE

           A DEBATE with DR. IVAN ELAND and TIM STARR on:

                 "WHAT IS THE PROPER FOREIGN POLICY
                                FOR A FREE SOCIETY?"

                                      DESCRIPTION:

For most of us the tragedy of September 11, 2001 was appalling and
heartbreaking. But the response to this terrible event by the US

government,

particularly the war on Iraq, has evoked heated and

emotionally-charged arguments among

libertarians and Objectivists regarding the appropriateness or

morality of this

response.

Libertarian non-interventionist doves seem to follow the Rothbardian

model,

and come in many varieties. On the other hand, libertarian hawks do

not

necessarily support much of US foreign policy, past or present. They

too are of

varying stripes.

Randy Barnett, famed Objectivist/libertarian legal scholar put it

this way:

"Given the stance of most of the Liberty &Power contributors on the

'war on

terror' in general, and the Iraqi war in particular, the time may be

ripe for a

full fledged debate on the relationship between libertarianism and

foreign

policy. It appears that there is an assumption on the part of many

libertarian

intellectuals that libertarian principles entail a very specific

version of

"non-interventionism" in foreign policy.
    "I believe that this is a categorical mistake, and that
non-interventionism (which I favor), and its exact contours, does

not follow deductively from

libertarian first principles. In other words, two people holding

exactly the

same commitments to libertarian principles can favor radically

different foreign

policies. I realize that this is a cryptic observation, but I do

fear that

the recent anti war vociferousness of some libertarian

intellectuals, of whom I

have the highest regard and respect, may unfairly tag all

libertarians with a

very particular set of foreign policy positions about which even

radical

libertarians actually differ.
    "I confess that my instincts here are driven by the fact that I

disagree

sharply with the anti war stance of these libertarians, and they

with me, but

I do not believe my libertarian principles, or my commitment to

them, have

changed in the slightest. Because I think neither has theirs,

~something other

than libertarian first principles are at stake.~ (EMPHASIS ADDED)

About all this

I am open to reasoned argument. I have not given this matter any

sustained or

systematic thought, but the time may be nigh to do so."

    This debate may well be enlightening for even the most

well-informed

libertarians. It is my fervent hope that everyone, debaters and

audience alike,

will come away with a deeper respect for the view that opposes their

own. Don't

miss this !!

NOTE: The debate being advertised by press release to local papers

and the

LP News. RESERVATIONS BY E-MAIL OR PHONE STRONGLY RECOMMENDED,

(although the

floor will be available). ;>)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES:

IVAN ELAND, representing the anti-interventionist side, is Senior

Fellow and

Director of the Center on Peace &Liberty at The Independent

Institute and

Assistant Editor of "The Independent Review." Dr. Eland is a

graduate of Iowa

State University where he received an MBA in applied economics. He

received a

Ph.D. in national security policy from George Washington University.

He has been

Director of Defense Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, Principal

Defense

Analyst at the Congressional Budget Office, Evaluator-in-Charge

(national

security and intelligence) for the US General Accounting Office, and

Investigator for

the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He has testified on the

military and

financial aspects of NATO expansion before the Senate Foreign

Relations

Committee, and on CIA oversight before the House Government Reform

Committee, and the

Department of Homeland Security before the Senate Judiciary

Committee.

Dr. Eland is the author of "Putting Defense Back into US Defense

Policy:

Rethinking US Security in the Post-Cold War World" and "The Efficacy

of Economic

Sanctions as a Foreign Policy Tool." He is a contributor to numerous

volumes,

and the author of forty-five in-depth studies on national security

issues. His

articles have appeared in "Arms Control Today," "Bulletin of the

Atomic

Scientists," "Emory Law Journal," "The Independent Review," "Issues

in Science and

Technology" (National Academy of Sciences), "Mediterranean

Quarterly," "Middle

East and International Review," "Middle East Policy," "Nexus," and
"Northwestern Journal of International Affairs."

Dr. Eland's popular writings have appeared in such publications as

the "Los

Angeles Times," "USA Today," "Houston Chronicle," "Philadelphia

Inquirer,"

"Dallas Morning News," "Insight," "San Diego Union-Tribune,"

"Washington Post,"

"Miami Herald," "St. Louis Post-Dispatch," "Newsday," "Sacramento

Bee," "Orange

County Register," "Chicago Sun-Times," "Washington Times" and

"Defense News."

He has appeared on ABC's "World News Tonight," NPR's "Talk of the

Nation,"

PBS, Fox News Channel, CNBC, CNN, CNN "Crossfire," CNN-fn, CNN

International,

C-SPAN, MSNBC, CBC, Radio Free Europe, Voice of America, BBC, and

other local,

national, and international TV and radio programs.

TIM STARR, representing the pro-self-defense through preemption

side,

attended UC Santa Barbara. Afterwards, as a Libertarian Party

staffer, he campaigned

for Marrou for President in 1992, and was a member and volunteer for

the

Libertarian Party of California for several years afterwards.

Mr. Starr is a military historian and scholar, having read over a

thousand

books on international history, especially military history, as well

as on

foreign policy and other topics. He will bring little-known facts to

bear on this

subject.

Tim Starr has lectured and debated at Free Exchange several times in

recent

years, and most recently gave a talk this summer at the Eris Society

Conference

in Aspen, Colorado, on "Why War Is Not Necessarily the Health of the

State."

He also participated the same day in a debate on "War on Terror? or

War on

Freedom?" .

Mr. Starr also is a contributor to the "Freedom Network News," the
newsletter/ magazine of the International Society for Individual

Liberty. Tim has

attended the last 11 ISIL world conferences.

Since 9-11, Mr. Starr has created a yahoo list for pro-war

libertarians

called "FightForLiberty," and is working on a website of the same

name. Its URL

will be FightForLiberty.org.

Tim Starr's profession is the computer industry as a consultant and

in

startup companies. Currently Mr. Starr works at Topica in San

Francisco, where he is

the Privacy and Standards Associate.

* * *
ANNOUNCEMENT:

For those of you who don't already know, Mike Mayakis, a past Free

Exchange

speaker and debater, died on August 17th after an 8-year battle with

CLL

(Chronic Leukemia). His significant other, Betty Honeycutt, says,

"Please feel free

to pass this along to anyone that knew Mike and help me spread the

word. I am

holding a memorial on the 25th of September in Atherton, California.

If

anyone wants to write me, my e-mail address is betmeee@...."
Our home address is 4632 18th Street, #1, S.F., CA 94114.
Phone: 415-552-1876.

If you want to attend the memorial, please send me an e-mail so I

can start

making a list. Mike always had a positive outlook on and zest for

life and we

will miss him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
QUOTE OF THE MONTH:

One of my favorite quotes comes from H. L. Mencken. He said that

"For every

complex problem there is a solution that is simple, neat and wrong".
                                                 # # #

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