“And then our founders went to great lengths to stay out of the dispute between England and France at the end of the 18th century — for good reason.”
The main good reasons were (a) neither Britain nor France were democracies, and (b) in spite of ending British rule over us, we were essentially weak, in a global sense, compared to Britain and France. Later on when we had become strong we quit our isolationism when it comes to how our military was used - our wars with Mexico and Spain, our subjgation of the Philippines instead of supporting their independence and our bullying Japan to open trade with us. Context is everything.
In fact, it’s safe to say that the founders of this country would have been repulsed by the idea that every mouth-breathing moron who reaches the age of 18 should have the right to vote.