The American Heritage of 'Isolationism'

[fastpat]

I am an "isolationist" in the best sense of our heritage.

The American Heritage of 'Isolationism'

by Gregory Bresiger

You’re against the war in Iraq. In fact, you’re skeptical about the concept of nation-building and wonder about all of the U.S. interventions in history, from Haiti to the Philippines, the latter resulting in a bitter insurgency at the beginning of the 20th century in which U.S. troops resorted to torture. No, you’re not a noninterventionist. You are told that you are an “isolationist.”

You had your doubts about America’s participation in NATO, especially today with Poland and the Baltic republics a part of this alliance that has members on Russia’s doorstep. This is now an alliance that some Russian nationalists see as aimed at their country. It is an alliance, you fear, that could easily draw the United States into another cold war or maybe hot war. You’re an isolationist.

You were a “dove” in the 1960s and 1970s. You were against America’s war in Vietnam. That war still disturbs you to this day. You’re upset when you see a movie such as We Were Soldiers or read books such as The Best and the Brightest or Bob Kerrey’s horrific story of his time in the Special Forces (When I Was a Young Man). Yet, you are told – again and again – that your worldview is one of hopeless naïveté. You are an isolationist.

You opposed President Clinton’s and President George H.W. Bush’s failed attempts to bring democracy to Somalia. You question whether democracy can be installed and nurtured in Iraq within a few years, or many years, of American occupation.

You are not desensitized to the injuries and deaths you read about in the papers, as so many other video-game-loving Americans are. Instead, you are troubled by the deaths of both Americans and Iraqis. These disturbing feelings point to one thing: you’re an isolationist.

You worry about the hundreds of military alliances that connect the United States to practically every dispute or potential disturbance in the world. To you, this is a recipe for a foreign policy of endlessly making enemies. Again, you’re an isolationist. Accept this media term and, by implication, you’re assumed to be a hopeless boob without culture or understanding of events overseas.

Or are you? Possibly you are holding to an American tradition almost as old as our nation.
Read the complete article