Isolationism - Internationalism - Separatism

In the early years of this country, up to the time of World War I, many people in this country advocated a foreign policy of isolationism.  They felt we should just mind our own business, be self-sufficient, and ignore the rest of the world.

Actually, this still does not sound too bad except it is unrealistic in today’s world.  The world has gotten too small and the United States of America is a world power whether we like it or not. 

We have now adopted a foreign policy of internationalism.  We are probably the greatest economic and military power on earth. 

Militarily, we have become the world’s police force.  We have troops stationed all over the world.  We sometime fight wars on multiple fronts.  We may have to fight on foreign lands, but we cannot occupy countries for extended periods of time.  How can we afford this?

We pick allies and we pick enemies, but it never seems to be that simple.  Sometimes we act like middle school kids picking teams.  Sometimes we call evil dictators our allies.  Sometimes we support change like in Egypt when the new President is from Muslim Brotherhood.  The Muslim Brotherhood is probably not our ally.  What were we doing?  

Diplomatically, we give money to countries all over the world.  I don’t agree with giving any foreign country money, but I especially object to giving money to counties that hate us and try to do us harm at every opportunity.  Are we trying to buy their friendship, or are we being blackmailed? 

We make loans to foreign countries that we forgive without payment, while we borrow money from China.  We send aid all over the world when there is any kind of disaster.  How can we afford this? 

Thomas Jefferson and most of our founding fathers advocated a foreign policy of Separatism.  Jefferson described separatism as:

“Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with

all nations – entangling alliances with none.”

This makes a lot of sense to me.  Financially we may

not have a choice.  We can’t afford to be the world’s police force.  We can’t afford to send money to every country and corrupt politician in the world.  Disaster aid may need to come from individuals and charitable organizations instead of our Federal government. 

        Jefferson and our founding fathers were pretty smart.  Maybe we need to listen to them and take a closer look at a foreign policy of separatism.