Empire and the U.S.
While we can drift into the subject of U.S. colonization, I think the point I was trying to make was on isolationism, not colonialism.
For decades, peace and freedom across the world have been largely preserved by the United States and its troops and equipment. Sometimes it's been mostly money spent. Sometimes it's been lives.
How many people realize that until the early 1990s, we had twice as many troops in Europe as we now have in Iraq?
It would be tempting to tell the world "do it yourself from now on," and bring everything home. I may start a new thread on this subject.