Why Can’t People Understand That War Always Destroys Wealth And Liberty?

{Editor’s Note: This is the 19th installment of a series of articles attempting to address the 32 questions posed by Ron Paul in his recent farewell speech given in front of Congress. Check out the previous installment, “Why Do So Many Accept That Government Can Protect Us From Ourselves Without Totally Destroying Liberty?”}Governments are obsessed with war and the United States, unfortunately, is not an exception.  The frequency in which the United States government calls on the military to intervene in the internal affairs of sovereign nations has desensitized Americans to the horrors of war.  Excluding active military and veterans, the majority of the populace does not respect the death, destruction, and human suffering resulting from war.  American children that turned 11 in October 2012 have not lived a day on this earth without their government waging war.  Appropriately, this age group one day could be referred to as "Generation War".In today’s society, staying current with the status of current military conflicts requires scouring the internet for news and updates, because the “watch dog” media rarely weighs in on the subject.  For this reason too many individuals forget that American troops are still being killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Children in America are not constantly reminded that their government is at war, but you can be sure that children in Iraq and Afghanistan are reminded daily of the hardships caused by war.The attached chart, compiled by the National Priorities Project, shows the amount of money spent by our government on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars since 2001.  The total cost of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, through September 30, 2012, totals $1.38 trillion.  The Iraq war accounts for $807.4 billion and Afghanistan represents $570.9 million spent.  All of this money is coerced from citizens of this country through taxation, deficit financing or monetization of debt.  The State, with a helping hand from the media, has convinced the people war is not only necessary, but protects liberty and generates wealth.  This could not be further from the truth. War is hell.  Far too many members of the United States and its' allied armed forces, along with citizens from Iraq and Afghanistan, have paid the ultimate price in the past decade.  The counter below, powered by Just Foreign Policy,  counts the amount of Iraqi civilian deaths since the United States invasion of the country in March 2003.  It is a shocking number.  Equally disturbing is the fact that a death toll of this magnitude does not garner daily attention from the mainstream media.  People should be outraged!Why can’t people understand that war always destroys wealth and liberty?It embarrasses me to share this fact, but through my mid-twenties I bought into and promoted the rhetoric spewed by the neoconservatives.  It is hard to imagine now, but during that time in my life it seemed logical that the United States government could profit from waging wars in foreign nations.  My hawkish logic operated on the assumption that destroying property in other countries would allow United States companies to swoop in and make a bundle rebuilding the infrastructure.  The only perspective presented during my schooling stated that World War II provided the economic boost necessary to end the Great Depression.  We were taught that war is good for the economy and necessary to protect our liberties.My past life as a neoconservative is beneficial because it allows me to draw on my former convictions and use that experience to communicate with practicing neocons.   My past beliefs provide an edge and help me to remain patient when attempting to explain the reasons why peaceful societies enjoy prosperity and more liberty than countries engaged in perpetual war.  Lew Rockwell states the following in, What You Should Know about War and the Economy, an article from March 2003:But let's return to the economic costs associated with war. It does not stimulate productivity. It destroys capital, in the same sense that all government spending destroys capital. It removes resources from where they are productive — within the market economy — and places them in the hands of bureaucrats, who assign these resources to uses that have nothing to do with consumer or producer demand. All decisions made by government bureaucrats are economically arbitrary because the decision makers have no access to market signaling.As Lew Rockwell explains, just like all government spending, war destroys wealth.  An American company might gain a contract to rebuild a bridge that was recently leveled by an American missile.  When this occurs, the money used to pay the government contractors is available because it was coerced from the taxpayer via direct taxation or deficit financing.  These funds were prevented from being applied efficiently based on market signals.  Instead of the capital being directed towards producing a good or service that advances society and increases quality of life, it is wasted on rebuilding a bridge, which previously confiscated tax dollars had been used to blow up.  Nothing new is generated and society gains nothing.  Wealth has been destroyed.The amount of liberty enjoyed by individuals always contracts when a country goes to war.  In the past decade we have witnessed significant liberty power grabs, which were supposedly justified by the war on terror.  The founding of the Transportation Security Administration, passage of the Patriot Act, the indefinite detention clause in the NDAA, and President Obama's secret kill lists among many others too numerous to mention, have expanded the power of the State.  Far too many Americans have been tricked into sacrificing liberty for the appearance of security because they mistakenly value the State over the collective power of liberated individuals.Receive access to ALL of our EXCLUSIVE bonus audio content – including “Conspiracy Corner”, “Degenerate Gamblers” and the “League of Liberty Podcast” by joining the Lions of Liberty Pride and supporting us on Patreon!