From David Holcberg at the Ayn Rand Institute:
The current debate raging over whether or not to send U.S. troops to Liberia reveals a lot about leftists and conservatives. While leftists clamor for U.S. military intervention, conservatives oppose it, but only meekly. Why?
Morality, the leftists believe, consists not in defending one’s interests but in sacrificing them. Accordingly, they advocate U.S. military intervention only when no U.S. self-interest exists (such as in Somalia, Bosnia and now Liberia).
Conservatives, who generally uphold military intervention when in the interests of the country, are morally disarmed by their own altruistic beliefs. They are unable to resist the leftists’ calls to sacrifice for the needy (abroad or at home).
Thus, as long as altruism remains the prevailing morality among our politicians, Americans can’t count on either the right or the left to defend their interests. Only when self-interest replaces altruism as a principle of domestic and foreign policy, will Americans be safe in their inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.