Human nature has never changed and events of the last 200 years should reinforce the views of the founders, not discredit them. I contend that today we suffer from hubris and greed. Greed for the power, prestige and wealth that comes with empire and global domination and hubris in that we think our empire will last when history tells us they all fail. Hubris in that we think our way is the proper way for everyone else and that we can change human nature through bribery or the bayonet.
Methinks it would be best to recognize the perils of the world and wisely avoid getting involved in actions that imperil our liberty and prosperity. It is the job, after all of the government to secure these things not diminish them through overseas adventurism, do-gooderism or flat out greed. Meddling, wars and occupations are costly and risky. Avoiding these and simply engaging in free enterprise is not isolationism as the detractors dishonestly contend. It is prudence.
There is a connection with the welfare state and the warfare state. In the name of national defense we accept higher taxes and regulations. We accept restrictions on our liberties in the name of safety. We accept larger and more intrusive bureaucracies, foreign aid (wealth redistribution), corporate welfare etc., and higher taxes to pay for it all. When the sum of these is added up, even this brief outline here the end product is less freedom and prosperity for us - proving the government has failed in its main purpose.
I don't have the time to respond point by point, but you made good arguments.
My primary reason for saying that the founders would be pleased was to state what I believe their intent was. I firmly believe that their belief in freedom and their attempt to write a constitution that guaranteed it for all was in response to the tyranny that they and their families had experienced in the past and under a horrible government and a social hierarchy that favored money and position only, to the exclusion of all else.
They had no freedoms and were at the mercy of government or the social system that recognized only names and positions. We certainly have lost some freedoms, but I did not advocate any position that leads to that. The States have done a excellent job of doing it without my help or even my vote. They have taken issue with every death and added some BS law to prevent it. Most all of the loss of freedoms have been done in the interest of public safety. I did not advocate it and I call it what it is, bull-crap!
Also, the oceans protected us then and no longer does. The reach of terrorists drives that home every day. We cannot protect our shores and remain a free and open country so we must go to where to problems are and eliminate them as best we can.
As to the success or failure of that effort, no person can say, but we know what will happen if we do not try. America has never taken territory when it has defended it's own, but I think we need to change that statistic. It is either that, or we will need to hire help.