Evolving standards in the moral case for war.
“War is not all upside. It involves huge economic and moral costs. It is a systematic campaign of the destruction of capital, infrastructure, and human life in direct violation of national sovereignty. If you’re an uber-Libertarian, it may also bother you that war often involves the state sending its own citizens (and their financial resources) to fight and die on foreign soils based on a policy decided by a very few individuals. Hundreds of thousands of people will be reasonably expected to perish in a protracted campaign, mostly in the country we are “freeing.” This is irrespective of whatever moral justification the aggressor nation settles on to rationalize the pursuit. These costs must be subtracted from the benefits. Often the benefits never accrue because the hubris of nation building is terribly ill-founded. Yet that there will be costs is certain.”
