It’s not ‘loopiness’; it’s paleo-conservatism that calls for a restoration of the constitution and a limited foreign policy. I’ll echo Pat: A Republic, not an Empire.
Some of the theories being floated on this thread makes Pat look rational.
I truly believe that the rise of China and India will see a return to old school balance of power politics. Folks should stop listening to fools like Hannity who talk about "World War IV" and a "new cold war" and instead brush up on their Metternich and Kissinger.
A mulipolar world will bring a greater degree of order than the "crusader state" envisioned by the neoconservatives, whose idiotic support of a unipolar world leads to them opposing such positive developments as a European Army (why the hell are we still in Germany?). Nevertheless, the US is already too involved in international polity and economics to advocate the passive neutrality supported by the Paleocons (although Pat himself does not even go that far, I was thinking more of the Chronicles crowd).