Liberty and Pacifism Bryan Caplan Dep’t of Economics Mercatus Center George Mason University

Pacifism I’m a libertarian and a pacifist. –pacifism: The doctrine that disputes (especially between countries) should be settled without recourse to violence; the active opposition to such violence, especially the refusal to take part in military action –pacifist: An individual who disagrees with war on principle Key point: By “pacifism” I don’t mean opposition to all violence. I don’t deny the right of self-defense; I deny the premise that “national defense” is self-defense.

“National Defense” Is Aggression For the libertarian absolutist, the case for pacifism is easy: Your rights are not a license to violate others’ rights. Fiscal problem: Military action is wrong unless 0% tax- funded. Deeper problem: Military action is wrong if it deliberately targets or recklessly endangers innocent individuals – people who have not personally aggressed. No real-world war is even close. If a cop fought crime the way that “nice” governments wage war, we’d put him in jail. You could take this as a reductio ad absurdum of libertarian absolutism. But you can build the case for pacifism on much weaker premises.

The Common-Sense Case for Pacifism Premise #1: The immediate costs of war are clearly awful. –“A hospital alone shows what war is.” - Remarque Premise #2: The long-run benefits of war are highly uncertain. –See World War I for starters. –Facts: “Deterrence” often provokes – and “appeasement” often placates. Premise #3: You shouldn’t violate libertarian rights unless the long-run benefits substantially exceed the short-run costs. –The case of forced organ donation. The case for pacifism fails in weird hypotheticals, but rarely if ever in the real world.

Objections Pre-Answered Collective guilt: “There are no ‘innocents’ on the other side.” –Kids? Dissidents? The apathetic? It’s on them: “The bad guys are using innocents as human shields.” –Plausible in narrow cases. But living within a few miles of a bad guy doesn’t make you a human shield. “The long-run benefits of war aren’t highly uncertain to me.” –Let’s bet - and I want odds.