Gene Healy: It's Not Isolationist For America To Mind Its Own Business

Is it really a bad idea to oppose lobbing Tomahawk missiles at people?

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White house

A new poll from the Pew Research Center, "America's Place in the World 2013," brings some sobering news to advocates of armed international meddling. Among a survey of some 2,000 Americans, 51 percent believe that the U.S. does too much in helping solve world problems, and 52 percent say that the U.S. "should mind its own business internationally and let other countries get along the best they can on their own." Gene Healy points out that Americans' renewed appreciation for restraint looks like a return to what Thomas Jefferson, in his first inaugural address, called "the essential principles of our Government":