Conservatives Say US is Losing Influence Abroad


Yesterday, The Hill published an article on how conservatives are concerned that the U.S. is losing its global influence because of the Obama administration's policies. In the last year, some Republican lawmakers have bemoaned the Obama administration's policy on Syria and the nuclear deal with Iran (agreed to with other members of the P5+1 nations).
There are of course some Republicans who are not fans of the U.S. being overly involved abroad, including Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) who, as Reason.com's Nick Gillespie pointed in an article for The Daily Beast, "consistently take on their own party when it comes to limiting executive power, rolling back the surveillance state and other war-on-terror excesses and redefining foreign policy."
While some conservatives might argue that the U.S. is losing its global influence, recent polling suggests that most Americans support the U.S. minding its own business.
Earlier this month, the Pew Research Center published its latest poll on American attitudes towards America's place in the world. The results of the poll show that for the first time in almost fifty years a majority of Americans believe that the U.S. should mind its own business when it comes to foreign affairs.

Some Republicans might not be impressed with the state of America's global influence under Obama's presidency, but Pew's polling suggests that a majority of Americans are fine with the U.S. being less involved in other countries' affairs.
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post comments
But I wouldn't know who to vote for if the CIA didn't beam instructions into my brain!
Well, not Julia Gillard at least.
We offered the world ORDER!
Some men just want to watch the world burn.
you also offered us a more efficient way to share pictures of cats in hats. Guess which one we value more
I'm *laughing* at the superior intellect.
Yeah, it's okay for the white guy Bush to run around invading countries, but as soon as a black man starts to project some power in the world, all the honkies are like, "You can't DO that!"
RAAAAAACISSSST!!!!
the U.S. is losing its global influence because of the Obama last 20 or so administration's policies in addition to lackluster economic stature.
ftfthem.
Come on man roll that beautiful bean footage!
http://www.AnonIs.tk
I can't help but note that sentiment peaks when Dems are in office and wanes when they are out. So it would seem that Dems are pretty consistent in their level of opposition to foreign adventures (allowing for a long-term increase in trend) but Reps are more situational, being pretty comfortable with it when their guy is in power and opposed when the other guy is. Or is there more going on to it than this chart shows?
Or is there more going on to it than this chart shows?
When it comes to political charts, there is always less going on.
I but you would find the same trend for support for shrinking the government. When the R is in charge we need to raise taxes so the pentagon can prevent Armageddon. We an D we need fiscal sanity. Democrats always support expansion of the state and repubs jump on the band wagon when their guy is doing it.
Conservatives Say US is Losing Influence Abroad
Okay by me.
This from someone who ends everything with Carthago delenda est.
It would be helpful, to me anyway, if someone could specifically define "influence."
Seems to me there are plenty of ways to do this. Are conservatives worried that Americans won't be able to "export" its influence (however defined, soft or hard eg films, armies) will wane?
Are they arguing that the "world police" is the best way to preserve and protect American interests?
There worried about their campaign contributors in the MIC.