U.S. Isolation: Good or Bad?

[Beowulf DW]

According to a recent Pew Research Center survey, covered in a recent article of the Centre Daily Times, 49% of Americans (the highest percentage in decades) now believe that the U.S. should "mind its own business."

Do you think this is a good thing or a bad thing? Would the U.S. and the World be better off if we just keep to ourselves for a little while?

 

[orangebandguy]

What? As in separating yourselves from the UN?

I don't want what happened in Fallout to become a reality. It's how it all starts.

But in all seriousness I think you need be restrained a little bit with all those nukes and everything, I may have deviated entirely from what you meant but your post isn't very clear.

 

[El Poncho]

Well, I guess they shouldn't keep to themselfs but don't think it's them who have to do something all the time, or am I making no sense?

 

[Hurr Durr Derp]

There's a difference between "minding your own business" and "keeping to yourself".

I think (I don't know of course, not having seen the article you refer to), that when people say America should mind it's own business, they mean that America should see to its own problems in stead of telling the rest of the world what to do.

US isolation would be a bad thing, both for America itself and the rest of the world.

 

[fenrizz]

Isolation would be a bad thing, for both the US and the rest of the world.
But if you could maybe keep some restraints on your urge to wage war, that would do the world a lot of good.

Diplomacy can be efficient, sanctions too.
War, and violence should always be used as a last resort.


And please start making awesome cars again, there is nothing quite as awesome as late 69's/ early 70's muscle cars! *drewl*

 

[Aztek463]

Isolation would be a bad thing, for both the US and the rest of the world.
But if you could maybe keep some restraints on your urge to wage war, that would do the world a lot of good.

Diplomacy can be efficient, sanctions too.
War, and violence should always be used as a last resort.

Agreed. Total isolation is not the answer, but showing a lot more self-restraint is a good start.

 

[Travdelosmuertos]

That whole Wilsonian "leave the world to it's own devices" idea only let Germany get too far in both World Wars. If only something had been done earlier in each war the Allies might not have fucked up the world so bad. Couldn't have Iraq been three separate countries for three separate peoples? Couldn't there have been a better solution for the Palestinians? These are things that we are paying for now and I can't help but wonder what would have happened if we had helped out earlier in World War I and not have crushed Germany to the point that an extremist like Hitler could trick the entire country into following his insanity.

On the other hand, we learned our lesson and then went too far in the other direction during the cold war, performing black ops in countries that are currently causing us problems (i.e. Iraq, Afghanistan), and training some of the terrorists that we search for today.

 

[Poomanchu745]

Yes and no. If we close our self off from the rest of the world then there are certain economic implications. We have to give money to less fortunate countries to help them out. I think a situation like Finland would be nice. Mind our own business with our military while giving a lot of money to less fortunate countries. We need to cut back our military expenses and keep it to defense only I think.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Would the U.S. and the World be better off if we just keep to ourselves for a little while?

Very very bad. Whether they like it or not the world operates on a global scale now, nobody can truly just 'mind their own business'. In everything from basic manufacturing to military equipment in the US is reliant on foreign input (seriously, in an M1 the armour is English and the gun is German). Simply dropping out of involvement with foreign countries is no longer an option, the US economy would instantly and most likely permanently grind to a halt if it tried.

Ultimately that kind of thinking process comes back to haunt you in usually violent ways, if you try and keep the outside world out eventually it will come banging on your door.

 

[AkJay]

Well, we do act as the sort of "World Police", so in that essence, yea, we should stop sticking out noses into other countries business.

 

[Amnestic]

Define "mind its own business". That has a load of connotations and I'm not sure which one I should be debating.

Should they stop trying to "bring democracy to other countries"? Probably. You should probably hurry up and pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan while you're at it.

Should they close off the borders, restrict trade, eliminate all immigration and build a 500ft high wall around their country? Ah, no. Considering how much of the U.S. deficit other countries own, they actually can't isolate themselves. They rely on other countries and other countries rely on them.

Best thing you could do is stop spending 0.7-1.1 trillion dollars a year on defense and military costs. Seriously. That's just farkin' stupid.

 

[NeutralDrow]

I'd say it'd be flat-out bad, but that's wrong. It'd be impossible.

 

[Supreme Unleaded]

YES, jeez the U.S. is policing the world and being a ***** about it.

"Oh [insert random country below poverty line here] has alot of poverty in it, lets go help"

20 countrys later

"Oh lets go help"

U.S. meets resistance in said country.

"Fight em, we hate em, kill them all."

Now while that might not all be true it puts it all in perspective, pretty much if a country doesnt agree with the U.S. then its therefor bad.

The thing is, we're still in a finacial crisis and we need to solve that, plus there are thousands of other problems.

 

[rainman2203]

I'm all for isolationism. Let the rest of the world solve its own problems- they obviously don't want our help and we don't do a very good job anyway.

 

[Beowulf DW]

What? As in separating yourselves from the UN?

I don't want what happened in Fallout to become a reality. It's how it all starts.

But in all seriousness I think you need be restrained a little bit with all those nukes and everything, I may have deviated entirely from what you meant but your post isn't very clear.

No, not seperating ourselves from the U.N.

We just wouldn't interfere in global politics, and issues (i.e. global warming, various conflicts). Basically, it's the idea that we need to stop sticking our collective noses into other countries' business.

 

[Cabisco]

No, in ways I think their should be more done, take Dafur, The Rwanda genocide etc. Now imagine how different those would go if the US, europe etc all sent in a force to stop it and not the timid UN peace keepers (who i feel for but are just not allowed to do much to help).

The problem is people don't really like doing the right thing, unless it helps them. People are always against getting involved in things unless it directly effects them, until after the event has occured... It's why i'm strangely both pro iraq and afghanistan, yes we may have gone in for the wrong reasons but at least we are actually attempting to make the world a little bit better for people (i'm referring to the right to vote, womens rights, democracys not dictorships etc etc etc).

Simply put, the world will be a horrible place for many until those of us who have the luxury of choice choose to use our combined might to stop it. America shouldn't stop, no other country could take its place.

 

[Captain Pancake]

Did you see what happened to the world last time they went isolationist?

No thank you. Perhaps stop starting pointless wars, but if something happens with your allies, we'd like to have some sort of support.

 

[TailsRodrigez]

No, the U.S. should be concerned with global politics, but a lot of what has happened over the last decade hasn't been how we should act.