Poll: Isolationism soars among Americans

[Douglas Carpenter]

Source: Associated Press (AP)

By BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer Barry Schweid, Ap Diplomatic Writer – 1 hr 11 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Americans are turning away from the world, showing a tendency toward isolationism in foreign affairs that has risen to the highest level in four decades, a poll out Thursday found.

Almost half, 49 percent, told the polling organization that the United States should "mind its own business" internationally and let other countries get along the best they can on their own, the Pew Research Center survey found. That's up from 30 percent who said that in December 2002.

Results of the survey appear to conflict with President Barack Obama's activist foreign policy, including a newly announced buildup of 30,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan to fight Taliban and al-Qaida extremists.

"Isolationist Sentiment Surges to Four-Decade High," the nonpartisan research center headlined its report on the poll about America's role in the world.

Only 32 percent of the poll respondents favored increasing U.S. troops in Afghanistan, while 40 percent favored decreasing them. And fewer than half, or 46 percent, of those polled said it was somewhat or very likely that Afghanistan would be able to withstand the radicals' threat.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091203/ap_on_re_us/us_american_isolation

[msongs]

1. time to slash the pay of generals and cut the military budget by half nt

[The Northerner]

2. About time

Unfortunately, it took too much time and money for the populace to probably reach this sentiment.

[LynnTheDem]

12. Don't forget blood.

Tons of American blood, to steal other nations' resources to ensure the rich elite US corporations remain rich and elite.

American blood spilled for US corporations...not to mention the millions of non-American lives slaughtered and destroyed.


And Americans wonder why we're called "the Great Satan"?

[Name removed]

35. Deleted message

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[KakistocracyHater]

37. Christ & Ante-Christ, just like Ares & Anteares

I suspect there is alot of distortion concerning religions. The above refers to the Sign of the Ram & a star in the Sign of Scorpio-both ruled by Ares/Mars 2000 or so years ago. It's the End of the Fishtail

[w4rma]

3. Many conservatives tend to support whatever the "evil" Democrat in charge doesn't.

They are very reactionary. The only way to get these conservatives on board is by getting conservatives that they respect to honestly speak out in support of the policy. Unfortunately for our foreign policy efforts, the Republican Party has decided to undermine everything the Obama administraton supports with the hope that they might be allowed to run things again, sonner rather than later.

[AlphaCentauri]

4. the world hate us mentality

[WriteDown]

5. We don't need another Woodrow Wilson....

someone who campaigned on isolationism and then got us involved in The Great War almost immediately. We need REAL isolationism. No entangling alliances.

[rockymountaindem]

6. Okay, but then let's not complain when things don't go our way abroad n/t

[WriteDown]

8. You won't hear any complaints from me....

Let the world handle its own problems for a while.

[Romulox]

26. Out of curiousity--when is the last time things went "our" way abroad, do you reckon?

:shrug:

[rockymountaindem]

33. Hmmm... 2001?

We didn't have any trouble getting other NATO members on side to invade Afghanistan, for the most part. One might argue that they are still going our way in some aspects. We're seemingly getting closer to establishing an international consensus on Iran that reflects our own stance, for instance. There are all kinds of things happening out there all the time. They aren't all bad simultaneously.

[Romulox]

45. Ummm, it's 2009, that self-same war is still on, and "NATO support" has turned out to be a joke.

Bad example.

[OHdem10]

7. Having been left jobless or living in fear of losing a job by the Free

Traders and in a financial bind due to the Gamblers on Wall Street,
most Americans are really feeling who is helping us??? We can only
give so much--now we have nothing to give.

This underlies all other thoughts.

[HippieCowgirl]

9. Is Isolationism an ideology supported by one side or the other?

My knee-jerk reaction is that liberals would tend to be more globally aware, and conservatives more isolationist, but that could be completely wrong. Is there any indication that it is a political ideology, or more just a general feeling of the population polled?

[The Northerner]

14. Conservatives were isolationist

Well, the majority of them were in the early and mid-1900s incl. which included people like Robert Taft. The modern-day conservatives could learn a lot from him.

But, those were the days before the neocons joined the party.

[harun]

16. It is where they lost me, once they went neo-con I had to say good-bye.

[Posteritatis]

21. There's no shortage of isolationists or nativists around here

Most of the other responses in this thread, for instance.

[Romulox]

27. "Enlightened self interest" is the very soul of democracy...

You and I may disagree about just what is in our self-interest, but it's pointless to attempt to make pursuing one's self-interest into a vice.

[Posteritatis]

29. I don't consider isolationism especially enlightened. (nt)

[Romulox]

30. Right. But there's no obvious reason why your view should prevail

seemingly through nothing more than the sheer power of your own self-certitude! :silly:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

36. Conservatives are more MENTALLY isolationist

Liberals are willing to care what other countries think.

[Turborama]

44. There's only one thing I'm sure of, Libertarians like Ron Paul are the hard core isolationists n/t

[ixion]

10. there is much to be said for minding your own business

and in this case, I think it's appropriate.

We're a sinking ship, and the only way we're going to be able to change that is if we start taking care of our own ship, and stop worrying about what other ships are doing.

We need to make things here again.

We need to produce our own food, grown locally.

We need to cut our dependence on foreign oil.

We need to stop jailing non-violent drug offenders so that our social fabric can mend.

These things are all "minding our own business," and are all things that would benefit us in the long run.

Outsourcing to India, China and Mexico, and maintaining hostile occupations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere do not help.

[LynnTheDem]

11. Good. Excellent news that the rest of the world will be extremely happy to hear.

How 'bout we feed our own starving children? How 'bout we house our own homeless? How 'bout we educate our own preople? How 'bout we work on liberating our own people? How 'bout we join modern industrialized nations by providing healthcare for ALL our citizens?

End the invasions.

We'd have more $ than we knew what to do with.

[Overseas]

13. Maybe its the 1 Trillion spent on Bush-Cheeney wars, while national health security

must somehow be "revenue neutral." It was disturbing to see Republicans trying to cut public money out of our national health security while rubber-stamping billions more for remote wars that have dragged on longer than WWII.

Tired that we can continue pouring money into wars that make us less secure with their "collateral damage" (aka killing civilians accidentally) which just end up creating more enemies for the USA to fight.

Maybe enough people saw SICKO, and realize the quality of life in countries that don't spend More Than All Other Countries Combined on their military, includes nearly free health care.

[ronnie624]

15. U.S. Seen as Less Important, China as More Powerful

Isolationist Sentiment Surges to Four-Decade High

<http://people-press.org/report/569/americas-place-in-the-world>

[Ian David]

17. Gee, even Merle Haggard guessed this a couple years ago...

Merle Haggard - America First
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jrHPjm4qKM

[PHIMG]

18. Oh noes! Isolationism is scary.

Not doing everything the military industrial war machine asks - isolationism!

Thank of all the no bid contracts that won't be awarded!

[Therellas]

38. lol....sounds so existential

i disagree with the protectionism.

[ronnie624]

42. Lol. Perceptive.

It is our burden to "solve" the worlds problems. It would be wrong of us to leave other countries to "get along as best they can on their own". How would they ever get along without our sapient, benevolent and charitable guidance? We have an obligation - nay - a sacred imperative to appoint ourselves as the "World Leader". And that's all there is to it.

[grahamhgreen]

19. We also need to get rid of all of our CEOs and board of directors who are trashing the system.

[David__77]

20. Hoepfully that trend increases.

We need to have a healthy respect for national sovereignty.

[Odin2005]

25. Fuck "national sovereignty". Nationalism is a cancer.

[Romulox]

28. Without nations, all that remains are multinational corporations.

There is an intersection of corporatism and anarchy (see Iraq, e.g.)

[Odin2005]

31. I prefer a global democratic government.

[Mudoria]

32. No thanks

[Regret My New Name]

40. heh, that won't happen any time soon.

Never mind if a single government is even the best idea.

[treestar]

22. 49% is not quite half

that's soaring? Aside from that dishonesty, that's good news. The right wing has lost again.

[denem]

23. FDR campaigned to 'Stay out of Europe'

while doing everything possible to get involved. Isolationism, a core ideology of Taft Republicans, bit the dust in 1942. The Truman doctrine of 1947 has been US foreign policy since 1947.

Brush off FDR and Truman if you want.

[Odin2005]

24. This is definitely NOT good.

[yurbud]

34. disagreeing with unnecessary wars is not isolationism

anymore than not eating people is vegetarianism.

[Regret My New Name]

41. but....

what if you only eat Terry Sch... never mind.

[Douglas Carpenter]

39. a kick for the next shift

[Ter]

43. Thank God

Issolationalism is a beautiful thing. No more wars that don't concern us!