War, Reason, And Libertarians‪.‬

I thank the editors of Reason Papers for hosting the comments of Spengler, Irfan Khawaja, and Roderick Long on my No Victory No Peace. (1) No author can ask more than to be taken seriously. These gentlemen did that. I especially appreciate that their thoughts proceed from an attachment to liberty. In sum, Spengler agrees with my understanding that war means killing until the enemy cannot or will not continue as such, and raises the practical question: What will it take? Khawaja admirably describes and agrees with my thesis in principle, but disagrees with every part of it in practice largely because he posits the enemy as immune to defeat. Long cheers my love of liberty and lack of faith that government will safeguard it, notes correctly that nevertheless my thoughts have nothing to do with Libertarian orthodoxy, and then restates that orthodoxy's tautology: War is useless because the only enemy is the state, and all states are created equal.