The American Empire – Contemplating isolation.

One of the more interesting subtexts of the presidential campaign in the United States has been the debate over whether the nation should withdraw from most of its foreign entanglements. The issue has not been at the center of voters’ concerns, however it has hit a nerve among them, because the proposal comes at a time when the US is bogged down in Iraq and is uncertain about its role internationally. The candidate who has gotten the most mileage out of this is the libertarian Republican Ron Paul. He has situated his foreign policy aims between the twin goalposts of the ideas expressed by America’s Founding Fathers and a defense of state sovereignty. As his campaign website explains: “Both [Thomas] Jefferson and [George] Washington warned us about entangling ourselves in the affairs of other nations. Today, we have troops in 130 countries. We are spread so thin that we have