Huh? What happened to the evils of military adventurism and interventionism that sits at the core of libertarian foreign policy? Gary Johnson not only supports the military action but thinks it should have come sooner. What the what?

He said that his understanding of the LRA is that it “is the worst terrorist group on the planet over the last few decades. They have been directly responsible for tens of thousands of deaths, mutilations, [and] rapes. They are incredibly bad actors who are not based in one country [but] they maraud over several countries in Africa.”

Johnson said that, as President, he would have acted immediately after the legislation had been passed. He would have sent a strike force that could have achieved its aims quickly – eliminating the Lord’s Resistance Army.

“It’s go in, get the job done – period — and get out,” he said.

Don’t get me wrong, I totally agree. When we launch military action we should be overwhelming and decisive. And I’m actually pretty okay with the deployment of forces in an advisory role to support Uganda, which has sent its own troops to fight Al Qaeda in its region.

Johnson also rightly says he “doesn’t want to stand by and watch genocide go down”. But again, that’s somewhat of hawkish stance. There are areas of the world with far more people suffering on a far grander scale than in Uganda. Look at Darfur. Should we deploy troops there, too? Just so long as Congress says it’s okay?

Again, I’m good with that. But then I’m not a big libertarian. I’d get kicked out of a libertarian convention the second they learned of my “Nuke ‘em from space” take on foreign policy. Johnson, on the other hand, is one of only two libertarians in the race.

I guess he’s trying to provide an outlet for folks who are libertarian on most issues but believe in a strong military and forcefully stopping genocide. Which is actually quite a few people, myself included. And unlike liberals who want to send the military everywhere but defund it, Johnson notes that military action requires a well-funded military. Which just makes me like him more.