There’s an AWFUL lot of space between “isolationism” and sabotaging pipelines, spending 20 years trying to democratize a place where almost none would even vote for democracy, and certainly not for decadent western sleaze that we were trying to impose as an alternative to tribal brutality.
There is an awful lot of space between “isolationisam” and having a military presence in 100+ countries.
There is an awful lot of space between “isolationism” and having a State Department, FBI and CIA who would coordinate to resist the lawful instructions from the U.S. President and Commander-In-Chief in order to make sure we don’t become “isolationist”.
You nailed it.
America has a major identity problem both on micro and macro levels. Just exactly who do we think we are and who do we want to be? These two questions when answered honestly determine where we fall on the spectrum of of isolationism and globalism.
I’ll forego a dissertation on the micro-level and any discussion of what’s the definition of a man or woman since I contend when when we decide what kind of nation we want to be it will require individuals to become the men and women to meet our goals. As a nation, we need to decide the roles we play in the world given our limited population (335m of 8b) and our national resources.
Do we want to be able to feed ourselves and be the breadbasket of the world?
Do we want to be the leader in medicine and producer of pharmaceuticals for our own use and the world?
Do we want to be energy dominant, meet our domestic needs and be a net exporter of energy?
Do we want to be the world’s leading exporter of manufactured and technological goods?
Do we want to be the most literate and best educated people in the world?
Do we want to be the most productive (in the economic meaning of the word) nation in the world?
Do we want to be the most nationally secure country in the world?
Do we want to be the most financially sound nation in the world and provide the world’s only reserve currency?
Do we want a unique American culture and embrace it?
Do we want to be the world’s most free and responsible men?
Do we want to be a principled and moral nation?
Answer each of these questions with the bias of how it benefits you, everyday Americans, our nation as a whole and the rest of the world. Seriously, pause right here and answer the above questions from the perspective of how they improve or diminish your life and the lives of your children and grandchildren.
Most of the above requires interaction with the rest of the world, not isolationism. Concurrently, most of the above requires significant inward focus that we do not have presently. It should be noted that focus requires efficient and effective uses of our treasure, natural resources, manpower, and application thereof for our individual and national interests.
If we choose to be the above, there is a point that we must limit our foreign aid to advice and our military use to defending America and our interests. I contend the latter is defined by how military intervention personally benefits the vast majority of American citizens, not just an elite few.
Personally I have no problem with America being the world’s leader, but we need to do that by being a model of success and not forcing others to be us. Others can choose to emulate or not. That’s their choice and their freedom to do or not do. They must take responsibility for themselves and live with the consequences of their choices. That goes doubly for us. We shouldn’t be so arrogant to think we have all this figured out. We certainly do not. We cannot even agree upon what we want to be as a nation, let alone agree how we get there.