Should the USA adopt an attitude of isolationist policies?
The upsides of isolationism are (1) you redirect resources away from playing global cop and toward fixing problems at home or closer to home; and (2) perhaps your friends and allies will do more to manage international security affairs instead of free-riding. The downsides are (1) you no longer have as much influence over international affairs, which means you cannot create as much opportunity for prosperity for your businesses; and (2) far-away problems left untended may eventually arrived at your shores.
Isolationism is a fools path. Let me give you an example; 80 years before Columbus set sail for the orient, the Chinese empire was the strongest, most sophisticated, most technologically advanced country in the world-(invented & perfected high-quality metalurgy, had sent a fleet of a thousand ships to the shores of Africa (and there is some evidence, though not conclusive, that a Chinese fleet had even explored parts of the Americas) was trading high quality goods (spices, ceramics, textiles) wordwide). Then in the early 1400’s the Middle Kingdom closed itself to the outside world. Within a century, Portuguese & Dutch traders had forced trading concessions from the Chinese. By the 1800’s, China had been completey divided up in to ‘spheres of influence’ essentially zones of control by the major European powers, with the Chinese gov’t a puppet of those same powers. All of their major advantages in trade, science & technology had evaporated. Only within the last 20 years have the Chinese,
