War and Trade Restrictions: Fallacious Paths to National Security and Prosperity

The US is ignorant of how to achieve two major goals: security and prosperity. Due to this ignorance, it has engaged in an undeclared war in the Middle East and has instituted protective tariffs at home. The war in the Middle East will not enhance American security, and the protective tariffs will cause economic harm at home, both completely opposite results of their authors’ intentions.

Background to the Pre-emptive War on Iran

The more dangerous policy is pursuing national security via regime change overseas. For decades, the US has engineered the overthrow of the political leadership of countries deemed vital to its interests. The latest, of course, is Iran, to which end the US has collaborated with Israel, who is pursuing her own security agenda called “Greater Israel.” Whether the US agrees with Israel’s goal or not, it makes no difference. Both the “Greater Israel” tactic and regime change in Iran not only will fail but the attempt was never necessary in the first place.

Israel responded to a horrendously vicious and evil attack upon its settlements by terrorist groups with an unprecedented scorched earth military response against bordering civilian populations. This policy almost instantly switched the world’s moral outrage from the evils of the terrorist attack to shock at Israel’s callous response.

Then Israel was able to enlist the US in attacking Iran—the “head of the snake”—first last June against Iran’s nuclear facilities and now against Iran’s leadership, military sites, and oil facilities. It has been completely successful in achieving these tactical goals, but the strategic goal of regime change eludes it.

Since MAD works, why the pre-emptive attack?

Without going into the current state of the conflict, let us just consider whether this tactic was necessary to achieve its stated goal of “regime change” even if eventually successful. I say it was not necessary. Both the US and Israeli leaders have convinced themselves that—if allowed to produce nuclear weapons—Iran will use them in a first strike against Israel and, perhaps, the US, even if such a first strike resulted in the complete nuclear annihilation of Iran itself by either a nuclear-armed Israel or by the US.

Therefore, unlike other nuclear powers—some of which are very hostile to the US and Israel—Iran must be the target of a pre-emptive military strike, the goal of which is regime change. Although there is no guarantee that a nuclear Iran would not commit suicide, the US and its allies faced just such a prospect during the Cold War. The US policy for that regrettable era was “Mutually Assured Destruction” (MAD). Neither the US nor the Soviet Union would attempt a first strike because the other would retaliate with an equally devastating strike. MAD worked for forty years and was deemed a success. Why would it not work against Iran today? Are today’s leaders completely ignorant of what worked in the past? I think not. Yet they either have convinced themselves that it will not work against Iran or there is some other goal in mind.

Capitalism is Win-Win

Next, let us turn to the US response to the growing economic might of China. There are two underlying and fallacious economic premises which guide American economic policy and perversely undermine the goal of furthering American economic prosperity. One, that other nations’ economic growth comes at the cost of American growth, and, two, that such growth is a danger to American national and economic security. This fallacious mercantilist view of the world has resulted in the imposition of economic sanctions by the US against perceived economic rivals and has caused half the world to form organizations, such as BRICS and the Shanghai Gold Exchange, to bypass the US dollar controlled international trading mechanisms, specifically the SWIFT trade messaging system.

Trade Settlement in Real Money, Not Debased Fiat Money

The main feature of these new organizations is for trade among countries that do not interfere in the internal affairs of other members and settle trade in a medium of exchange that will not depreciate, namely, gold. When the US unilaterally suspended redemption for its currency in gold in the fall of 1971, its gold was held within the continental US and could not be claimed by its rightful creditors. BRICS has addressed this risk. China—the leader of the BRICS group—is building gold vaults outside China so that members can redeem trade credits in gold itself or in yuan backed by gold.

These defensive responses are expensive and were only initiated because the US used its control of the dollar-based system to punish members for being on the “wrong side” of international disputes that had little to do with trade settlement. It was the typical hubris of a hegemon.

But the US should encourage and celebrate the economic growth of other nations, because these nations will contribute goods and services to the world and buy our goods and services in return. In fact, the only thing holding America back from full enjoyment of the world’s output is our own fallacious economic policies, primary tariffs. China’s population is roughly four times that of the US. It just stands to reason that a capitalist China would eventually have a greater GDP than that of the US. So what? There is no way that a China—even ten or twenty times the GDP of the US—could threaten our security. Our security is guaranteed by our nuclear arsenal housed in silos in America, under the sea in ballistic missile submarines, and by long-range bombers, the so-called nuclear triad.

China’s prosperity will make America even wealthier, just as a more prosperous Japan, South Korea, Italy, Germany, Russia—the list goes on and on—will offer Americans more and better goods and services. This is the wonder of free market capitalism in which everyone participates willingly and without coercion. The US does not need to intervene in the internal affairs of trading partners.

Get Government Out of the Way

The main threat to American prosperity is posed by our own government in the form of trade restrictions and internal regulations that make investing and producing so difficult and costly. But this is America’s problem and no one else’s, just as the internal affairs of other countries are none of our business.

America needs to shed its world domination mentality that will eventually destroy our prosperity. Bring our far flung military home. End debasement of the dollar. The goods of the world will be laid at our feet by willing sellers. Willing buyers will line up to buy our products. No government intervention is necessary.