Formerly LPQC News
No. 4
April-May 2002
|
QUEENS LIBERTY Formerly LPQC News |
Vol. 7 No. 4 April-May 2002 |
In This Issue:
The Middle East Crisis: Comments by Ron
Paul
LPQC Moves to Queens Boulevard In June
Protestors Rally To Defend Residents From Land Grab
The situation in the Israeli-occupied West Bank territories deteriorated into virtually all-out war in the past week, with both sides escalating the rhetoric and violence. The continued leadership of PLO Chairman Arafat seems doomed. The administration now finds itself in an uncomfortable but familiar role as peacemaker for the middle east conflict; Presidents from Carter to Clinton have tried and failed to create lasting peace. Yet while our diplomatic efforts are well-intentioned and needed, we must resist efforts by the UN and some in the administration to go beyond diplomacy and impose our political will in the Middle East.
Remember that American tax dollars have been instrumental in the incredible militarization of the entire region. We give Israel about $3 billion each year, but we also give Egypt $2 billion. Most other Middle East countries get money too, some of which ends up in Palestinian hands. Both sides have far more military weapons as a result. Talk about adding fuel to the fire! Our foolish and unconstitutional foreign aid, though debatably well-intentioned, only intensifies the conflict.
Congress and each successive administration pledge their political, financial, and military support for Israel. Yet while we call ourselves a strong ally of the Israeli people, we send billions in foreign aid every year to Muslim states like Egypt, Syria, and Turkey- states that many Israelis regard as enemies. From the Israeli point of view, many of the same Islamic nations we fund with our tax dollars want to destroy the Jewish state. So while Israeli Prime Minister Sharon understandably touts his close alliance with the U.S., many average Jews see America as hypocritically hedging its bets.
This illustrates perfectly the inherent problem with foreign aid: once we give money to one country, we have to give it to all the rest or risk making enemies. This is especially true in the Middle East and other strife-torn regions, where our financial support for one side is seen as an act of aggression by the other. Just as our money never satisfies Israel, it doesn't buy us any true friends elsewhere in the region. Foreign aid or not, the Islamic world sees America as a constant aggressor in the Middle East. Muslims resent our role in bringing the Shah of Iran to power, and they resent our permanent military bases in Saudi Arabia. They view our ongoing bombing and sanctions campaign in Iraq as wholly unjustified, believing it harms innocent Iraqis but not Saddam Hussein. They especially resent our tremendous financial support for Israel. In the eyes of many Muslims, to be at war with Israel is to be at war with America.
It is time to challenge the notion that it is our job to broker peace in the Middle East and every other troubled region across the globe. America can and should use every diplomatic means at our disposal to end the violence in the West Bank, but we should draw the line at any further entanglement in this deadly and ancient dispute. We can not impose political solutions in Palestine or anywhere else. Peace can be achieved only when self-determination operates freely in all nations. "Solutions" imposed by outsiders or the UN cause resentment and seldom produce lasting peace. Respect for self-determination really is the cornerstone of a sensible foreign policy, yet many Americans who strongly support U.S. sovereignty advocate interventionist policies that deny other nations the same right. The interventionist approach that has dominated American foreign policy since World War I has produced an unmitigated series of disasters. From Korea to Vietnam to Kosovo to the Middle East, American military and economic meddling has made numerous conflicts worse, not better.
Washington and Jefferson had it right when they warned against entangling alliances, and the history of the 20th century proves their point. The simple truth is that we can not resolve every human conflict across the globe, and there will always be violence somewhere on earth. If we care about the self-determination of thr Israeli and Palestinian people, and if we care about the constitution, we must adopt a nuetral, diplomatic role in the conflict and stop funding both sides.
Eight is often called the number of new beginnings. In light of the timely need for change, and to celebrate its' staying power, the Libertarian Party of Queens County has recently decided to go "prime time" and relocate to the Kew Gardens area along Queens Boulevard for its' monthly meetings, beginning with the eighth Annual Convention it will hold on June 8th, 2002.
Meetings from June onward will continue to be held on the second Saturday of each month, but will begin at 12:00 pm in the new area. The June 8th convention will be at Pasta Lovers' Trottorias, 'a casual Italian restaurant' located on Queens Boulevard roughly 2 blocks south of Union Turnpike (across the street from Queens Borough Hall). Beginning in July, the location for regular business will be Inca's, an elegant Peruvian Restaurant 1 block north of Pasta Lovers.
An exciting convention is lining up, featuring two topics for which main speakers have already been confirmed: Gun Rights and NY Politics, address by Diane McKeough ( NYS Director of Armed Females of America); and Islam, the Middle East, and Libertarianism Since 9/11, address by Dean Ahmad (Director, the Minaret of Freedom). Other potential speakers were still being finalized at press time.
For further details about the June 8th event, contact John Clifton. Developments with LPQC may also be followed by subscribing to its Yahoo Groups discussion list at www.groups.yahoo.com/lpqc
Members of the Libertarian Party of New York and residents of 99 Orchard Street rallied March 24th in front of the building threatened with seizure by their neighbor, the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. The Museum seeks to expand at the expense of residing owners Lou and Mimi Holtzman, co-owner Peter Liang and their tenants by having the Empire State Development Corporation condemn the modernized building, which the Museum will gut and turn into a tenement-style building.
Manhattan Libertarian officer Jim Lesczynski is coordinating the protest. He derisively remarks, "At a time when the Lower East Side and the entire city is desperately short of modern housing, our government is helping to destroy it in order to build a monument to the decrepit living conditions of the neighborhood's dark past. What's next, a blue ribbon commission to restore the historic crack houses and sex parlors of Times Square?"
This is not the only property rights fight the Libertarians have waged against eminent domain abuse. On Long Island they have rallied support for St. Luke's Pentecostal Church against the Town of North Hempstead. State Chair Richard Cooper, who led that effort, contends, "Instead of tenant of today living there, Ruth Abram, the Museum's director, will have living history interpreters portray immigrant tenants of the past. All this paid for by New York's taxpayers, and to benefit a private organization at the expense of private Landowners and their tenants. LPNY condemns this eminent domain abuse violation of property rights as unjust, outrageous, and comically absurd."
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