Where Libertarians Go Wrong in Foreign Policy

the AZEL PERSPECTIVE Commentary on Cuba's Future, U.S. Foreign Policy & Individual Freedoms - Issue 32

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Classical liberalism is the tradition of ethical, political, legal, and economic thought that centers on individual liberties. For libertarians, individual freedoms are dominant. This view is in sharp contrast with all forms of collectivism where the collective is considered the organizing principle for policy making, and group rights trump individual rights.  With respect to individual rights, the American political taxonomy of liberals and conservatives is incongruous, and we often find ourselves advocating for greater personal freedoms while concurrently supporting a larger role for government. Republicans advocate for less government involvement in economic matters, but often argue for more government control on social topics. Democrats want the government out of our private lives (as it should be), but then seek extensive government regulations on businesses.   Libertarians notice this philosophical inconsistency and point out that, by definition, an expanded government entails diminished liberties. It gets even more confusing because political sobriquets are flawed shorthand expressions of philosophical views, and these conceptual imperfections are magnified in the realm of foreign policy. Take, for example, the clash between Republican Senators Marco Rubio and Rand Paul regarding U.S. economic sanctions towards Cuba. Senator Rubio, a conservative Cuban-American, supports the economic sanctions whereas Senator Paul, a philosophical libertarian, opposes the embargo sanctions. Both Senators are committed anticommunists and would like nothing more than to see an end to the oppressive Castro regime. Senator Rubio sees the embargo as a useful foreign policy tool, whereas Senator Paul abhors it as a restriction on the individual freedoms of Americans to do business as they please. Both Senators make powerful, eloquent arguments for their respective positions. However, Senator Paul, without realizing it, betrays his own beliefs. Classical liberalism is the philosophy of freedom, but being a libertarian means caring about freedom for all peoples, not just Americans. Senator Paul is right to defend the freedom of American businesses to do business unimpeded by government, yet classical liberalism is a universalist philosophy concerned with freedom everywhere not just with the freedoms of groups in ones own community. In defending exclusively the freedom of American businesses, the Senator inadvertently creates a chauvinistic, group-specific class and steps into collectivism. Libertarianism is about individual rights, not group or regional rights. Classical liberals are always suspicious of group rights.   It may be in the commercial interest of American businesses to do business with the Cuban government, but interests are not the same as rights. In fact, interests may be opposed to rights, a point that James Madison makes brilliantly in his definition of “factions” in Federalist No. 10. Thus, the interest of American businesses must be weighted against the rights of the Cuban people. Nonetheless, to Senator Paul’s point, the presumption must always be for liberty, and interference with the freedom of American business must be justified. And to Senator Rubio’s point, if libertarianism must care about freedom for all peoples, then the lack of liberty suffered by the Cuban people must be factored into Senator Paul’s calculus. Yes, the embargo restricts the freedoms of a small number of American companies that may be willing to venture into the high-risk, low-returns Cuban market. But it is a market where American companies will be required, under Cuban law, to participate in an Orwellian staffing process of enslavement under which the Cuban state retains approximately 92% of an employee’s salary in violation of international labor protocols. American companies must also agree to become minority partners with the Cuban military who will be the controlling shareholder. That is, American companies must partner with the same military that enforces the comprehensive depravation of personal freedoms for eleven million individuals in Cuba. This is an ethical dilemma that should not be callously dismissed with platitudinous statements praising the virtues of trade. Here is where libertarians must make a choice between defending the group-specific regionalist interest of American businesses -in clear contradiction of libertarian principles- or standing for the universalist values of individual freedom that transcend national borders. This values conundrum often positions classical liberalism as an odd political philosophy when articulating foreign affairs policy. It need not be. The default libertarian position should always be to side with the liberty of individual human beings everywhere. Please let us know if you  this article. This article was originally published in English in the PanAm Post and in Spanish in El Nuevo Herald.   José Azel, Ph.D. José Azel left Cuba in 1961 as a 13 year-old political exile in what has been dubbed Operation Pedro Pan - the largest unaccompanied child refugee movement in the history of the Western Hemisphere.   He is currently dedicated to the in-depth analyses of Cuba's economic, social and political state, with a keen interest in post-Castro-Cuba strategies as a Senior Scholar at the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies (ICCAS) at the University of Miami and has published extensively on Cuba related topics. In 2012 and 2015, Dr. Azel testified in the U.S. Congress on U.S.-Cuba Policy, and U.S. National Security.  He is a frequent speaker and commentator on these and related topics on local, national and international media.  He holds undergraduate and masters degrees in business administration and a Ph.D. in International Affairs from the University of Miami.  Dr. Azel is author of Mañana in Cuba: The Legacy of Castroism and Transitional Challenges for Cuba, published in March 2010 and of Pedazos y Vacios, a collection of poems he wrote as a young exile in the 1960's. José along with his wife Lily are avid skiers and adventure travelers.  In recent years they have climbed Grand Teton in Wyoming, trekked Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and Machu Pichu in Peru.  They have also hiked in Tibet and in the Himalayas to Mt. Everest Base Camp. They cycled St. James Way (El Camino de Santiago de Compostela) and cycled alongside the Danube from Germany to Hungary. They have scuba dived in the Bay Islands off the Honduran coast.  Their adventurers are normally dedicated to raise funds for causes that are dear to them.  Watch Joe & Lily summit Kilimanjaro. Books by Dr. José Azel Mañana in Cuba is a comprehensive analysis of contemporary Cuba with an incisive perspective of the Cuban frame of mind and its relevancy for Cuba's future. Buy now   Pedazos y Vacíos is a collection of poems written in by Dr. Azel in his youth. Poems are in Spanish. Buy now

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