Posted on 12/20/2013 7:08:07 AM PST by Colonel Kangaroo
“Neo-isolationism is the direct product of foolish globalism. … Compared to people who thought they could run the universe, or at least the globe, I am neo-isolationist and proud of it.”
Those are not the words of an old America Firster, but the declaration of that icon of the liberal establishment Walter Lippmann in 1967, a year before he endorsed Richard Nixon.
In 1968, it was Nixon urging we stay the course in Vietnam, as Sens. Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy were clamoring for retreat and swift withdrawal.
In 1972, it was Democratic nominee George McGovern who would run on the neo-isolationist slogan “Come Home, America!” and win the endorsement of the New York Times and Washington Post.
Today, neo-isolationism, bred of that “foolish globalism” of which Lippmann wrote, has made a comeback. For the first time since polling began in 1964, it is the dominant sentiment of the nation.
According to a new Pew poll, 52 percent of Americans believe “the U.S. should mind its own business internationally and let other countries get along the best they can on their own.” Only 38 percent disagree.
Asked if the United States should think less in “international terms but concentrate more on our national problems,” Americans agree by 80-16, or a ratio of 5-to-1.
As Max Fisher of the Washington Post writes, this sentiment manifest itself decisively in the uprising last summer against U.S. intervention in Syria. Red line or no red line, the people told Obama, we want no part of Syria’s civil war. It is not our war. Obama belatedly agreed.
The roots of the new isolationism are not difficult to discern. There is, first, the end of the Cold War, the liberation of the captive nations of Europe, the dissolution of our great adversary, the Soviet Empire, and the breakup of the Soviet Union. The Cold War, our war, was over. Time to come home.
The Bushes and Bill Clinton said no.
So we let the New World Order crowd have its run in the yard. We invaded Panama, intervened in Haiti and Mogadishu, launched Desert Storm to liberate Kuwait, bombed Serbia for 78 days to force it to surrender its cradle province of Kosovo.
Came then the blowback of 9/11, following which we had the Afghan war to overthrow the Taliban and create a new democracy in the Hindu Kush, the invasion and occupation of Iraq to strip Saddam Hussein of weapons of mass destruction he did not have, and the air war on Libya. Others may celebrate the fruits of these wars but consider the costs:
A decade of bleeding with 8,000 U.S. dead, 40,000 wounded, $2 trillion sunk, Iraq and Libya disintegrating in tribal, civil and sectarian war, Afghanistan on the precipice, and al-Qaeda no longer confined to Tora Bora but active in Pakistan, Libya, Iraq, Yemen, and Syria.
While America was caught up in these wars, China swept past Britain, France, Germany, and Japan to emerge as the second largest economy on earth. Using her $250-$300 billion annual trade surpluses with the United States, she has been locking up resources across Africa, Latin America, Australia, and Asia.
Now Beijing has declared its own Monroe Doctrine to encompass the East and South China seas and all islands therein and to challenge the United States for hegemony over the Western Pacific.
Consider, now, what America was up to this past week.
Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland was in Kiev, egging on protesters demanding the resignation of the elected president, should he choose a Russia-led customs union over the EU.
Will someone explain exactly what business it is of the United States which economic union Ukraine chooses to join, or not join?
Even as we are pushing Kiev toward the EU, conservative and populist parties are rising across Europe to get their countries out of the EU, including in Britain where the Tories are demanding a vote.
John (“We are all Georgians now!”) McCain was also in Kiev threatening sanctions if the government clears its main square of squatters the way we cleared Zuccotti Park of Occupy Wall Street.
The demand that Ukraine be gentle with its demonstrators was issued as the U.S. was lifting sanctions on Egypt’s army, which this year arrested President Mohammed Morsi, jailed thousands of Muslim Brotherhood, and mowed down hundreds in Cairo’s streets in an action John Kerry described as “restoring democracy.”
What hypocrites we must seem to the world.
Now, President and Mrs. Obama and Vice President Biden have, on the high moral ground that Russia has outlawed LBGT propaganda, declared they will not attend the Sochi winter Olympics.
Yet are we not courting Iran? Did not Obama bow to the king of Saudi Arabia? When was the last time they had a gay pride parade in Riyadh, Tehran, Mecca, or Qom?
How can a nation as polarized morally and paralyzed politically as ours lead the world? It cannot. The people sense what the elites cannot see.
The American Century is over. Time to restore the republic.
Invasion and occupation and rebuilding of distant and poor Muslim hellholes is a loser.
You dont see China doing it.
And we can’t forget Clinton’s part in it either. We’ve had a generation of uninterrupted self-destructive foreign policy since Reagan and the end of the Cold War.
Now, President and Mrs. Obama and Vice President Biden have, on the high moral ground that Russia has outlawed LBGT propaganda, declared they will not attend the Sochi winter Olympics.
Yet are we not courting Iran? Did not Obama bow to the king of Saudi Arabia? When was the last time they had a gay pride parade in Riyadh, Tehran, Mecca, or Qom?
How can a nation as polarized morally and paralyzed politically as ours lead the world? It cannot. The people sense what the elites cannot see.
The American Century is over. Time to restore the republic.
Well said, Mr. Buchanan.
Our self-destructive foreign policy started earlier than that.
It goes at least as far back as Kennedy & Johnson.
Sorry, I missed the word “uninterrupted” the first time I read it.
Although Clinton was politically smart enough with Serbia war to make it US soldier casualty free, and not invade it and end up with us owning the resulting mess.
Just bombed it and then walked away.
From the perspective of the average American Clinton beat Serbia and it was cost free.
With GWBush they didnt seem to know what they were taking on, nor really have planned out such a difficult and costly task of invasion and occupation.
And like Obamacare they set expectations high, only to have it fall apart after the 2004 election (2012 in case of Obama)
In fact Obamacare seems like Obama's Iraq invasion in many ways :"You break it you own it"
“And we can’t forget Clinton’s part in it either.”
“Although Clinton was politically smart enough with Serbia war to make it US soldier casualty free, and not invade it and end up with us owning the resulting mess.
Just bombed it and then walked away.
From the perspective of the average American Clinton beat Serbia and it was cost free.”
“A decade of bleeding with 8,000 U.S. dead, 40,000 wounded, $2 trillion sunk, Iraq and Libya disintegrating in tribal, civil and sectarian war, Afghanistan on the precipice, and al-Qaeda no longer confined to Tora Bora but active in Pakistan, Libya, Iraq, Yemen, and Syria.”
Since 1945, this country has not won any of the eight or ten wars, excuse me “interventions” we have got involved in. All we have done is piss away our finest and when the survivors come home broken and bent, they are discarded like old shoes. Just look at the latest ‘budget’
Where did the cuts come from? DISABLED VETS! They sure as hell did not cut aid to illegals or foreign dictators or welfare or even Social inSecurity. Nope, just the disabled vets. Most of whom are disabled because of the politician's actions.
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I agree,
I was no fan of that bombing war for those reasons
but unlike Vietnam and Johnson, Clinton got Serbia to cave by just bombing them.
So the actions didnt change Americans perceptions of US engagements.
And it didnt bring the sort backlash that we saw with Obama and Libya.
While I lean pretty hard to the Isolationist front, this article is ridiculous in its oversimplicity and failure to recognize the reality control of the seas and manupulation of key markets plays in the day to day prosperity and success of “The Republic.”
Fool-hardy is taking an approach this simple.
We need a mix of fortress America, unquestioned rule of the free seas, and dominating air wherever we go.
However, this is all a non-starter as long as borders remain open and we continue importing every single dam vagabond from every single country in the world, especially Muslim ones, as a matter of deliberate and continually policy. You need to meddle and have control over the places these leeches come from if you are going to let them all live and move here willy-nilly. Otherwise you are inviting yourself for the worst Trojan virus/attack ever.
Get the borders sealed shut, stop LEGAL immigration, starting with banning Muslims first, then we can start talking about military projection abroad versus home.
There are certain squabbles we should never get involved in, Intra-Arab/Muslim being foremost...The more they kill each other off, the better.
Sorry Pat our “elite” is going to ride this beast till it drops. And if you want to join this elite you need to sound like a crazed utopian while at the same time have the morals of a shark.
“Our self-destructive foreign policy started earlier than that.
It goes at least as far back as Kennedy & Johnson.”
Add one more president, Harry Truman with his Korean War which set the standard of bad ROE’s and never fight a war for victory.
This is the mantra of those who fervently believe that America's best days belong to the past.
The Cold War is not over while a communist occupies the White House and the predominant political ideology in the land is marxist. Any analysis of anything about our role in the world protecting ourselves and others has to take this into account. We must come to the realization that Obama and Putin and others are aligned against the American people. We are under attack and they mean to destroy us. An argument over Putin’s handling of gays is nothing but smoke and mirrors to make it appear like Obama opposes him. He does not.
Buchanan for President.
If we’re going to keep meddling, nation building, whatever you want to call it, then we need the draft and a special tax to fund the Empire’s exploits. Let’s see how many are still up for it then.
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