Great featured essay today by Chris Leithner on non-interventionism. Of the Founders, he writes,
Far from being backward, xenophobic and the like, many possessed a keen interest in foreign languages, history, culture, technical and economic developments. Indeed, several ranked among the best literary, technical and commercial minds of the late-eighteenth century. On cultural, scientific and economic grounds, most (Hamiltonians were perhaps an exception) favoured extensive and unfettered private associations with foreigners.
I needn’t take the obvious (and painfully true) jabs at the current president here, for his affliction is America’s. His ignorance is hardly exceptional. Ironically, as the U.S. imperium has grown, with peals of self-applause from the “internationalists,” Americans’ interest in and knowledge of the world has shrunk. Eighty-five percent of the young adults taking this simple survey could not find Afghanistan, Iraq, or Israel on the map. This contrast has been drawn before, of course, but usually by those who see only a funny coincidence. I find no humor and very little simple coincidence any longer.