[nopardons]

As ISOLATIONISTS, Republicans wallowed in the depths of powerlessness and looked even more stupid than usual. If you want to go back to those bad old days, with the likes of Pat Buchanan, realize that this is the twenety-first century...not the 18th! And if it weren't for "nation building", Japan and Europe would never have recovered from WW II on their own.

[rfp1234]

--if it weren't for "nation building", Japan and Europe would never have recovered from WW II on their own--

Excellently stated; and the same is true for the former Confederacy as well.

[Jibaholic]

As ISOLATIONISTS, Republicans wallowed in the depths of powerlessness and looked even more stupid than usual. If you want to go back to those bad old days, with the likes of Pat Buchanan, realize that this is the twenety-first century...not the 18th! And if it weren't for "nation building", Japan and Europe would never have recovered from WW II on their own.

Europe was still nominally Christian and accepted Judeo-Christian values. And while pagan, Japan had a strong sense of order and work ethic. Culture matters - that is the real lesson of conservatism. You can't make chicken salad out of chickens***, and you can't make democracies out of Islam. Sheer partisanship is the only explanation I can think for why otherwise right-thinking conservatives would feel that you can.