. . . muttered the ogre

Confessions Of An Isolationist Wannabe: John Hawkins writes on Right Wing News:

Rarely a day passes on the internet without another article being written that claims America is a “hegemon”, that we’re like “like Rome,” or that we want to “create an empire.” Take it from a Conservative, ultra-nationalistic, America-first hawk; Americans on the whole would rather drive bamboo shoots under their fingernails than “rule the world.”

So what? Here’s a little secret that the world would do well to remember: Foreign policy is not made by Americans-in-general.

So how the hell did we end up with our fingers in every bowl of soup from Bahrain to Brazil? It’s because we’re not content to sit around on our behinds while the entire planet collapses without us. . . . We’re the only thing keeping the planet from reverting back to an early 1800’s style plunder, war, and rampage philosophy.

Or so the politicians keep telling themselves.

If they really wanted to help the world’s hellholes, they could consider lowering agricultural tariffs, and cut off subsidies to foreign politicians (if even that word is not too polite for e.g. Mubarak).