How did this come to pass? Historian Charles Beard may have predicted this development. Writing over 70 years ago, Beard noted in A Foreign Policy for America that three strands of thought were apparent in U.S. history. The first and earliest had to do simply with securing the homeland -- "continentalism," a view often vilified as "isolationism." Next came imperialism, which the United States began to manifest in the latter half of the 19th century by seeking to extend American influence over others and their resources. Last came internationalism, personified by President Woodrow Wilson's mission to improve the world by spreading democracy.
Beard was a clear-eyed critic of imperialism and thought that internationalism in the name of democracy -- both in his time and in the future -- would prove a costly folly. But he was writing in 1940, a time when the American failure to engage more actively in the world nearly led to the triumph of the Axis powers. So his critique was largely discredited then, and it remains relegated to the edge of U.S. foreign policy now. Beard's fear that an internationalist approach to world affairs would become dominant has been fully realized. He predicted that the results of such a strategy, pursued over the long term, would inevitably lead to a "melancholy performance … based upon some misconceptions respecting the nature and propensities of men and nations."
Among presidential contenders over the past year, only Ron Paul was willing and able to articulate a clear critique of the internationalist bent in U.S. foreign policy that was widely heard, if not heeded. His message was picked up by most of the other minor-party candidates, but all told, they will amass no more than a percentage point or two of Nov. 6's votes. This despite the fact that very significant portions of the American public, across the political spectrum, prefer a much less interventionist role in the world.
Indeed, according to the 2012 Chicago Council Survey, only one-fourth of Americans express concern about protecting human rights in other parts of the world, while four-fifths list "protecting the jobs of American workers" as their highest foreign-policy priority. Further, a Pew Research Center poll released in September notes that over half of retired military officers think that the use or threat of force is relied on too heavily in U.S. foreign policy. Nearly two-thirds of government experts in international security share this view, and the same degree of disapproval is expressed by professional scholars in the field.
Given these important indications of concern, it is clear that a national discussion about foreign-policy strategy is overdue. And maybe, just maybe, the debacles of the past decade, the disorder of the present, and the darkening prospects for a world that lies so clearly beyond our ability to control will at least open up the possibility of a thoughtful discourse about America's future role in it.
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