Gary Johnson believes strongly that we have a solemn obligation to honor those who have fought for us, sacrificed for us, and put their lives on the line to defend our great nation. When it comes to fulfilling that obligation, there can be no equivocation.
The objective of both our foreign policy and our military should be straightforward: To protect us from harm and to allow us to exercise our freedoms.
Over the past couple of decades, it is difficult to see how the wars we have waged, the interventions we have conducted, the lives sacrificed, and the trillions of tax dollars we have spent on the other side of the globe have made us safer. If anything, interventionist policies have made us less safe.
Many senior military and foreign policy analysts have concluded that the rise of ISIS, for example, was encouraged by instability created by our meddling in the affairs of others. The last several administrations, both Republican and Democrat, have used our military resources to pursue regime changes, embark on impossible nation-building exercises, and to establish the United States as the policeman of the world.
The results: New enemies and perpetual war.
We have enough problems to solve right here at home.
We must repair relationships with our allies, clarify our objectives, and only send our brave members of the military to war when clearly authorized by Congress after meaningful, transparent deliberation and debate.
The idea that we can defeat terrorism by simply putting more boots on the ground or dropping more bombs ignores the reality that this expensive tactic simply hasn’t worked.
