Brian M Downing
Isolationism was once essential to the American identity. We had two oceans to protect us and trade opportunities across both. Isolationism has come and gone over the years. A new form, a counterfeit one, is taking hold in Washington. Our allies see the new isolationists as dangerous. Russia and China find them useful.
Europe then
FDR faced strong opposition to involvement with another war in Europe. In 1938 the US had the 19th largest military. Two years later it was the 17th largest – not because of a boost in defense spending, because the Third Reich dismantled the Polish and French armies. Authorization for conscription (one-year service) passed in 1940 and was renewed just before Pearl Harbor by a single vote. Sen Burton Wheeler (D-Montana) warned that another world war would “plow under every fourth American boy.”
Wheeler had World War One in mind, as did most Americans. Isolationist sentiment based in small towns and rural expanses had fallen away with the Spanish-American War and the call to arms in 1917, but the high casualties and cynical peace agreement brought it back. Europe was plagued by militarism and imperialism. Better to stay behind our ocean walls.
With the fall of France and the Battle of Britain, however, Americans began to feel that involvement, though regrettable, might be necessary. The attack on Pearl Harbor ended debate. Senator Wheeler said, “The only thing now to do is lick hell out of them.” We did. (1)
Europe now
Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany are gone. However, a resurgent Russia and China want to weaken the West and become world hegemons – a more serious threat than the one posed by Japan and Germany. Russia has taken parts of Georgia and built bases in the Middle East. Moscow is now trying to conquer Ukraine and speaks proudly of restoring lost territory. Russian tanks fly the hammer and sickle – not to honor Marx’s ideology but to restore Stalin’s empire.
The American and NATO response has been strong. Japan and S Korea understand what’s at stake and they too send aid. Russia is bogged down and suffering high casualties. The Moscow-Beijing axis is being stopped. Yet aid is now held up in the GOP-led House of Representatives. Why?
Pre-WW2 isolationism was based in part on the bitter experience of WW1. Recent wars haven’t been successful but they haven’t been costly either. Casualties in 1918 were ten times those since the wars following 9/11. Support for the military remains strong in GOP states but resistance to Ukraine aid is strong in Washington.
What of Europe as militarist-imperialist and predisposed to bloodletting we should avoid? The continent is no longer warlike, at least west of the Russian border. Europe has enjoyed its most peaceful period since the Visigoths et al overwhelmed Roman defenses.
The Russian danger today isn’t hypothetical. It’s present in a large-scale, ongoing war with attacks on population centers, deportations, and massacres. True, Johnson, Gaetz, Cruz, et al have never worn the uniform let alone deployed into the fray. That’s clear. But unlike the buildup to Vietnam and the Gulf wars, military and intelligence figures, retired and active duty, speak in unanimity of the danger. Nor are there questions about the merits of our ally. Ukraine is a developing democracy with a determined, effective army.
Withholding support to Kyiv is based on intense, irresponsible partisanship in Washington. Each party has, following Michels’s Iron Law of Oligarchy, lost sight of national interests and pursued its own petty agenda, with the paramount, all-consuming objective being the destruction of rivals. The GOP has taken Michels to dizzying heights, endangering the nation and much of the world as well.
Another basis is Donald Trump’s aberrant defense of Vladimir Putin. This may stem from the mutual admiration of powerful figures and the attraction of business opportunities in a growing Russia. It may also come from hope of support from a like-minded Machiavellian ruler when a new order is brought to America.
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The GOP, in its present cult-like form, can rally a base but not govern the country or uphold long-standing obligations in the world. Its actions and inactions are shortsighted, foolhardy, and possibly treasonous. Every world capital realizes it, Washington least of all.
(1) Wheeler quotes from Robert Dallek, Franklin Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, p 259 and Lawrence S Wittner, Rebels against War: The American Peace Movement, 1933-1983, p. 36.
©2024 Brian M Downing
Brian M Downing is a national security analyst who’s written for outlets across the political spectrum. He studied at Georgetown University and the University of Chicago, and did post-graduate work at Harvard’s Center for International Affairs. Thanks as ever to fellow Hoya Susan Ganosellis.