The Myth of American Isolationism

I like the Economist’s Democracy in America blog very much and I like my friend Erica Grieder too. But her recent post on the debt-ceiling deal, the Pentagon’s budget and the resurrected “threat” of American isolationism won’t wash. Contemplating some conservatives’ willingness to imagine cuts to the security budget she writes:

There has always been an isolationist streak in the Republican Party. It’s been suppressed in recent decades, particularly during the administration of George W. Bush. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were priorities for Mr Bush, and his presidency was polarising. This gave rise to a situation where support for those military interventions was conflated with support for Mr Bush, and the odd Republican (or Democrat, such as the hawkish Joe Lieberman) who broke rank would end up marginalised. Now the lines are a little blurred. It is unsurprising that Republicans would be less likely to rally round military interventions initiated by a Democratic president, which partly explains their tepid support for Barack Obama’s intervention in Libya.