Maybe, but I subscribe to the notion that the U.S. has been an unquestionable force for good in this world. Just the fact that there even was a Cold War proves that. How much easier/cheaper would it have been to tell Western Europe, "Good luck, let us know how it all turns out!"? Talk about a strategic blunder of epic proportion...
I’ve never been able to buy into that. I think as a people we’re generally good and try to do good things. But our government is another matter entirely and has spent large portions of our history being abject sleaze. We could have easily helped out Western Europe in the Cold War without allying with tinpot dictators around the world. Nothing about the Marshall Plan required us to keep the Shah in power.