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I think America's foreign policy stems from a combination of antiquated Cold War systems propelling the military's involvement across the globe, and the decision to 'take the reigns' from the British after the World Wars and continue their legacy of policing in global politics. These are completely modern developments, however. They are certainly at odds with the original philosophies of the nation's founders. While I don't advocate isolationism, and I'm fine with alliances, I do think there was a lot of wisdom in Washington's advice to stay out of foreign conflicts. Yes, we're in a global village now, so we can't stay in our own corner away from everyone else, but there's no concrete benefit in being the police of the globe. It stems from some misguided moral duty that the British originally used to justify the creation of their empire.
Thing is, a lot of Americans feel this way... Don't get me wrong, there are hawkish, uninformed people too, but there's a large diversity of opinion and competing traditions now of this global police sect vs the original 'no foreign entanglements' philosophy. It's close-minded to think that there aren't Americans that still subscribe to the latter. One needs only realize the massive power of the military industrial complex (which Eisenhower warned us about, unfortunately, to no avail) to understand how their monetary influence can steer our policy and drown out the voice of those who think things that aren't convenient to their agenda. That's why it's a little frustrating to hear anti-American sentiment that doesn't acknowledge the variety of opinion on the issue, or at least acknowledge that there is serious propaganda going on that guides the "less intelligent" into their foolish opinions (for instance... there's a commercial currently airing in the US on television that shows the US navy in various heroic situations and then boldly proclaims their motto - "The US Navy - A global force... for good". I feel like vomiting every time I see it.)
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