The political rebranding of Isolationism....

Or, how your elected officials continue to treat you like idiots.

Its return today, as well as the ease and frequency with which it is made, are a reminder that a step away from foreign policy orthodoxy and toward a position of urging restraint -- no matter how tepid -- can make one susceptible to the isolationist charge. It's only from the perspective of that orthodoxy would the recent warnings of American overstretch could be considered a retreat from the global stage.

If anything, the political debate in Washington is not between isolationists and internationalists. It's a far more constricted discussion between those who want to see the U.S. maintain its position as the world's predominant power and those who want to see the U.S. maintain its position as the world's predominant power slightly less. A debate about whether U.S. global dominance is actually in the country's best interests is one that the United States need to be having - not a false one over whether a new wave of isolationism is afoot. It isn't.

The Atlantic