Who's really isolationist?

"Of all manifestations of power, restraint impresses men most."
-- Thucydides, Ancient Greek Historian

Those who don't automatically support the U.S. flexing military muscle on the international stage are often derided as "isolationist." What's really isolating us, though, is an over-reliance on the use of force as the answer to all diplomatic disagreements.

There is a time to smack the other guy--but to be a just war, some grave offense should have occurred first. Preemptive war is a great theory, but a messy reality. Up to the point one has been attacked, every effort should have been made to live in peace. Somehow we lost the patience for that, and it's not all just a post-9/11 phenomenon.

We seem to forget there are ways to influence others besides the billy club. For instance, geography should have made us Cuba's largest trading partner, with all the influence that would bring. Yes, Castro runs a communist dictatorship -- one that particularly wounds our pride. When he lost his Soviet patrons (thus ceasing to be much of a threat), we missed an opportunity by not lifting the embargo. We target leaders with such sanctions, but in reality alienate entire populations who see our actions as hurting them more than the handful of autocrats we're feuding with. Our response so far to Venezuela's direction under Hugo Chavez shows we've learned nothing from five decades of Castro as a gadfly.

Cuba, in particular, shows the limits of our economic clout. Rather than bring down a regime we dislike, our boycott merely shifted opportunity to others and ensured we have no voice in the situation. That will hurt us when Fidel finally kicks the bucket.

Friendships aren't made overnight. Unfortunately, enemies can be. We seem far more adept at making the latter. For all those pointing to our military might and thumping their chests about our "singular greatness," I ask: who's really the isolationist?