Should the United States isolate itself?

No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.

- John Donne (1571 or 1572 - 1631), English poet and scholar

Meditation XV11, Published in 1624 as part of Donne's essays and meditations

There is a Christian concept that you love your family and then you love your neighbour, and then you love your community, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens, and then after that, prioritize the rest of the world. A lot of the far left has completely inverted that.

- U.S. Vice President JD Vance in a January 29, 2025 interview on Fox News with Sean Hannity

JD Vance

JD Vance is wrong.  Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others.

- Pope Leo XIV

Pope Leo 1V

Obviously, Pope Leo strongly disagrees with JD Vance's concept of love.  The teachings of Jesus also contradict Vance's notions about Christianity.  Christ made it clear in the parable of the Good Samaritan that everyone is our neighbour.  We are all members of the human race.  We have an obligation to serve humanity.  Isolationism doesn't work.  The United States cannot separate itself from the rest of the world.  As human beings, we all share the planet Earth.  To vilify immigrants, migrants and refugees, whether legal or undocumented, is absolutely cruel and detestable.  To unleash ICE agents on innocent people, and to take the life of a human being, Rachel Nicole Good, is an atrocity, an abomination.  The 37-year-old mother was not a "domestic terrorist."  She was a human being.  She was shot three times by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, Minnesota who called her a profane name.  Trump and Vance, Ice agents and others, fail to realize that Rachel Good's death diminishes them because, in the words of John Donne, "Each man's death diminishes me, for I am involved in mankind."  They do not realize that the bell rings for them.

Therefore, the United States should not be cutting foreign aid.  It should not be withdrawing from international agencies.  America is not, and cannot be an "island unto itself."  It will always be "a piece of the continent, a part of the main."

Wendell Wilkie, the Republican candidate for the American presidency in 1940, had a very different view of the world than Trump, Vance and their supporters.  After losing the wartime election to Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, Wilkie embarked on a seven-week tour of the world.  In late 1942, he met with many of the Allies' heads of state as well as ordinary citizens in places such as Russia and Iran.  

In April of 1943, Wilkie published a book called One World, inspired by his travels.  One World became a bestseller.  In fact, it spent four months at the top of the New York Times bestseller list.  It sold 1.5 million copies during those four months.

A new edition of Wilkie's book should be published around the globe.  It should be required reading for all members of the United States Congress, although it would be anathema to the MAGA base.  One World advocates an end to colonialism and equality for non-whites in the United States. It challenges the doctrine of American exceptionalism.  Wilkie's travels led him to the conclusion that the world is inter-connected and that isolationism is no longer possible.

When you fly around the world in 49 days, you learn that the world has become small not only on the map, but also in the minds of men. All around the world, there are some ideas which millions and millions of men hold in common, almost as much as if they lived in the same town.

- Wendel Wilkie, from One World

In his book, Wendel Wilkie stresses that the "reservoir of goodwill" towards the United States" is much stronger than toward other contemporary powers.  He writes the following:

I found this dread of foreign control everywhere. The fact that we are not associated with it in men's minds has caused people to go much farther in their approval of us than I dared to imagine. I was amazed to discover how keenly the world is aware of the fact that we do not seek—anywhere, in any region—to impose our rule upon others or to exact special privileges ... No other Western nation has such a reservoir. Ours must be used to unify the peoples of the earth in the human quest for freedom and justice.

Wendell Wilkie

My, how times have changed since Wilkie's day!  There is no longer a great deal of goodwill toward America after Donald Trump's tariffs and his ICE attacks.  I can imagine what Wilkie would think about Trump's foreign policy and his unlawful attack on Venezuela.  I'm certain that Trump would dismiss him as a radical leftist.

     

- Joanne