It is my opinion that where American went wrong was our post WWII shift from isolationism to a superpower. That is quite a statement to make, but I feel as if countries such as Canada and New Zealand have foreign policies more in line with what I consider American values. The government is bloated and the world hates us for good reason. We put puppet governments in place and kill hundreds of thousands, under the guise of spreading freedom while at the same time never giving up anything when it comes to our "national interest."
How can you claim to be helping others while never wavering from your own national interest? Obviously another country's interests aren't going to be perfectly in line with yours, so you cannot help a nation while protecting your own interest completely at the same time. We must either impose our will on another country, or aid what is outside of our national interest. It seems to me we have failed to ever do the latter in our foreign policy.
This is not Bush's fault. Bush has simply committed the same mistake again in Iraq. This is the fault of Democrats, Republicans, and most everyone in between. Johnson should have never escalated Vietnam, Clinton should have never intervened in Somalia or Kosovo. These are all situations that go against our previous, longstanding policy of being isolationist.
I realize isolationism in the 19th century sense is different than that in the 21st century, as economic globalization is inevitable. But will we ever see a presidential candidate committed to the withdrawal of our troops from foreign soil, from the interventionist attitude that has become so ingrained in the political theory of most Americans? It seems like so many other issues this one isn't even up for debate.
How can you claim to be helping others while never wavering from your own national interest? Obviously another country's interests aren't going to be perfectly in line with yours, so you cannot help a nation while protecting your own interest completely at the same time. We must either impose our will on another country, or aid what is outside of our national interest. It seems to me we have failed to ever do the latter in our foreign policy.
This is not Bush's fault. Bush has simply committed the same mistake again in Iraq. This is the fault of Democrats, Republicans, and most everyone in between. Johnson should have never escalated Vietnam, Clinton should have never intervened in Somalia or Kosovo. These are all situations that go against our previous, longstanding policy of being isolationist.
I realize isolationism in the 19th century sense is different than that in the 21st century, as economic globalization is inevitable. But will we ever see a presidential candidate committed to the withdrawal of our troops from foreign soil, from the interventionist attitude that has become so ingrained in the political theory of most Americans? It seems like so many other issues this one isn't even up for debate.