The idea that nations have some sort of collective "national interest," or even a "manifest destiny," is not realistic in any coherent sense. There is no "national interest," because only individuals have real interests: the "national interest" is a floating abstraction, a ghost. American foreign policy is made by people: specific individuals who act in what they regard as their own interests. These individuals – our rulers – may differ greatly in terms of ideology, and personality, and yet they all have one motive in common, and that is the continuation and extension of their own power.
In analyzing the ebb and flow of America’s relations with the world, libertarian realists take this guiding principle as their starting point – yet it is only the beginning of our analytical efforts. What must follow is an empirical examination of the relevant facts and relationships, and, most of all, a focus on individuals and their interests – the key decision-makers whose beliefs, ambitions, delusions, and idiosyncrasies can set us on a course for good or evil.
What good is all this theory, anyhow? What do we need it for? We need it to understand the world – and to predict the future. Of course, no one has a crystal ball, or any mystical power to unlock the secrets of the future. Yet, given some basic axioms – the main one being that politicians are solely concerned with keeping and expanding their own power – we can establish the parameters of the probable, and – in a necessarily limited sense – chart the course of things to come.
Keeping all this in mind, one can say with some confidence that the political stars are perfectly aligned for war in the Middle East – specifically against Iran. Although no one can know for certain when the first blow will be struck, the coinciding interests of our political elites in both parties, and the strenuous efforts of certain foreign lobbyists and their American fifth column, are rapidly propelling us into a conflict of global dimensions.
The idea that the world economy is being deliberately sabotaged invites the question: by whom? One could easily draw up a long list of individuals, as well as political and corporate entities, who would benefit greatly from such a catastrophe. In my own shorthand, I refer to the "War Party," but in establishing this broad category we are only at the beginning of our task of determining who are the warmongers among us.
