Independent Institute and Non-Interventionism
March 6, 2026
The Mission of Independent Institute is to boldly advance peaceful, prosperous, and free societies, grounded in a commitment to human worth and dignity.
Why do we lead with “peaceful?”
First, of course, is the fact that it accords with the latter part of our mission statement: military interventionism always results in the death of individual human beings, individuals of equal worth in the eyes of our Creator, who have no culpability in the supposed rationale for the intervention.
Yes, we condemn the brutal, repressive, and illegitimate Iranian regime, as we unequivocally condemn totalitarian governments of every type. As lovers and champions of liberty, we have an exceptional appreciation for those yearning to be free.
America is a country born of a people who rose up against tyranny and fought a long and bloody revolution to secure our Liberty. So, at this 250th anniversary of the American founding, especially, we must recognize that our Founders in no way envisioned or endorsed a government that would undertake foreign adventuring, regardless of the nobleness of the cause.
Our stand against foreign interventionism and the military-industrial complex is rooted in Independent’s founding and continued research. From Bob Higgs’s 1987 book Crisis and Leviathan, to our more recent book, Chris Coyne’s In Search of Monsters to Destroy, our work shows that virtually all government programs, including the welfare state, grew from and had all of their precedents in the government’s global military establishment. Virtually every aspect of the welfare state was first conceived and justified as a “necessary” part of the defense system, usually during war, but also in peacetime in ways that were reminiscent of warfare.
We have thus always understood that in order to reduce the size and scope of government’s interference in our lives and markets, we must roll back the vast defense establishment. Socialization and nationalization of our security no more accords with freedom than does socialism in any other field. In fact, the Second Amendment was written to enshrine the idea of a popular, indigenous defense for Americans as opposed to a conscripted standing army for a King or President’s political ambitions.
More recently, and especially since the instigation of the War on Terror, we have witnessed the wholesale evisceration of Americans’ traditional rights to privacy and liberty. Today, our population has become inured to being treated as guilty when traveling, increased now with the advent of ICE agents being emboldened to demand “your papers” in the street. Our every phone call, conversation, email, text, and internet activity is captured by the NSA and stored, indefinitely, from whence it can be mined at will for “evidence” of any person whose “guilt” the state may wish to establish. (But, the argument goes: If you have nothing to hide why should you worry? Stalin’s secret police chief Lavrenti Beria well understood: “Show me the man and I’ll find you the crime.”)
Our police departments have been militarized, equipped with surplus military equipment, including tanks. Cameras are positioned virtually everywhere, with recognition software and AI tools enhancing (sometimes falsely) the identification and tracking of individuals simply going about our business.
Thus, it is simply impossible to boldly advance prosperous and free societies without peace: war and its attendant apparatus are the enemies of prosperity, and especially of free societies.
None of this is new to Independent: we took a firm stand on 9/11 when we issued our Statement on the Terrorist Attacks, and our work before and since has constantly and consistently reflected our clear opposition to the dangers of the military-industrial complex and foreign adventuring.
Our hopes and prayers remain steadfast for the people of Iran—and those everywhere—for their success in achieving the liberty they so rightly seek.
We urge Americans to fight to regain the liberties we once valued and recognized as foundational to our very being; and we will continue to boldly advance peaceful, prosperous, and free societies, grounded in a commitment to human worth and dignity, as we have for the past 40 years.
